The Top 10 Best Hockey Movies
These Hockey Movies Are Ready to Hit the Ice!
Recently, Stars & Popcorn has tackled a whole heck of a lotta sports movie Top 10 Lists but I’d look like a total hoser if I forgot to pull together one for hockey movies, eh? Now, there aren’t a lot of hockey movies out there, but I thought I’d give’er a try anyway and managed to find 10 flicks that hopefully all you puck heads will enjoy. As I said, it was tough to actually find 10 movies without resorting to listing half the Mighty Duck flicks on here, but that just meant I got a chance to get creative. Because of that, I’ve decided to include any movie with hockey as a core theme or element for its story. That means, unlike a lot of the other sports Top 10 Lists, movies about fans or set with hockey as a major backdrop will be included (at least until more hockey movies are made). I’m also doing my best not to include more than one entry from successful franchises in order to give more films a chance to be included. So lace up your skates and grab your stick, because this list of the 10 best hockey movies is ready to hit the ice!
10. Sudden Death
Here’s where that creativity I was talking about comes in. So, technically, Sudden Death isn’t a movie about a hockey team or hockey players. However, it does feature Jean-Claude van Damme fighting terrorists at Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks. As hundreds of fans watch the game, JCVD has to fight off former CIA agents while trying to disarm a number of bombs planted around the arena. To make matters worse, he’s got his kids with him and you know how they can get when they’ve had too much sugar and there’s the smell of blood in the air. Sudden Death might seem like a bit of a stretch, but it does feature a cameo by NHL player Luc Robitaille. So, I’m going to allow it for now.
9. Tooth Fairy
Dwayne Johnson is no stranger to sports movies and appeared in the football films The Game Plan and Gridiron Gang (to be expected considering he played football in college). In 2010 he traded in the pigskin for a puck in the kids flick Tooth Fairy (not to be confused with the horror film The Tooth Fairy, which you definitely don’t want to show your kids). In it, Johnson plays a minor league hockey player who’s earned the nickname “Tooth Fairy” for hitting players so hard he knocks their teeth out. In a twist of fate, he’s forced to become an actual tooth fairy (apparently there are a lot of them) and has to put his “skills” to good use. This one is strictly a kid’s movie but features Johnson playing hockey a few times, which means it fits the criteria to appear on this list of hockey movies.
8. Idol of the Crowds
Lot’s of folks love John Wayne from his days as a bow-legged machismo soaked gunslinger in Westerns. Luckily, for the sake of this list of hockey movies, he appeared in Idol of the Crowds; one of the non-westerns he made for Universal. In it, Wayne plays a talented amateur hockey player who is recruited to play in the big leagues. He’s reluctant at first, considering he dreams of being a chicken farmer (it was 1937). When he learns how much money he could make, he realizes that pros can afford lots of chickens. His talent makes him a star, but being a simple country bumpkin, he soon finds himself getting taken advantage of by gamblers and dames. I guess he should have stuck to shoveling chicken… Well, you know.
7. Youngblood
Three of America’s sweethearts are in the next entry on this list of hockey movies. Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, and Keanu Reeves star in Youngblood. The film follows Lowe as he dreams of being a professional hockey player and makes his way to the great white north in order to try out for a team. He ends up earning a spot but learns the hard way that he lacks one crucial skill when it comes to the sport, he can’t throw a punch to save his life. Any fan of hockey knows that brawls come with the territory and with Lowe so easily beaten his days in the rink look like they’ll be short-lived. It would be a pretty depressing sports movie if things ended there though. So, Lowe learns the noble art of fisticuffs and returns ready to beat the snot out of anyone who crosses him.
6. Mystery, Alaska
Lots of folks play hockey up north because there’s not much else to do in the freezing cold. Mystery, Alaska tells the story of a small town that looks forward to the weekly hockey game that takes place on a frozen pond. There, hockey is the biggest thing in all their lives and the entire town gets in on it. This draws the attention of a writer for Sports Illustrated who runs a story on the games and suggests that the players are just as good as any NHL team. Now, the NHL doesn’t take the news lying down and they suggest an exhibition game between the New York Rangers and the local team. As far as hockey movies go, Mystery, Alaska got a lot of love from fans and it even got nominated for a few AFI lists. While the sport is a big part of the film, the real focus is on the small town and the relationships between the folk living there.