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    • Ice Hockey Documentaries

    Hockey Documentaries: The NHL And Beyond

    For some people, ice hockey is such an important part of their life that they only refer to it as ‘hockey’, refusing to entertain the idea that there could be any sport with the same moniker.

    For others, meanwhile, the most they know about it is that Happy Gilmore was a terrible player, which forced him to play golf in the film that was named in the fictional character’s honour. That, and that there are often fights between players.

    Perhaps you fit into the latter category and would like to watch a documentary or two in order to get more of a grounding in what the fuss is all about.

    Here is a non-exhaustive look at the best hockey documentaries that you can watch right now:

    Untold: Crime & Penalties

    • Format: Documentary film, released as part of the Untold anthology series
    • First Released: 2021
    • Length: 1 hour 25 minutes
    • UK Age Rating: 15
    • Watch in the UK: Available with a Netflix subscription
    • Accessibility: English audio description and English subtitles are available. Netflix also permits offline downloads.

    Everyone knows that hockey players will occasionally engage in a physical battle or two, perhaps because one of their teammates was involved in a bad tackle, or maybe simply because it’s a Saturday.

    One of the documentaries that looks at an occasion when things went a bit too far is Untold: Crime & Penalties, which is part of the Untold series. It looks at the story of the United Hockey League’s team, the Danbury Thrashers. That alone might not sound like much of a story, but when you find out that the team was bought by a mafia-connected kingpin, it becomes a bit more interesting.

    James Galante was an associate of the Genovese crime family, who decided to buy the team as a gift for his 17-year-old son, AJ. He made him the President of the team as well as the General Manager, which went about as well as you might imagine such a decision went.

    What followed was a team that was more than happy to engage in a brawl or two, resulting in the Trashers becoming known as the ‘bad boys of hockey’. Neither the team nor the league that they played in exist any more, but the documentary takes a look at the likes of the sketchy business that went on within the organisation.

    Of Miracles and Men

    • Format: Documentary film and an instalment of ESPN’s 30 for 30
    • First Released: 2015
    • Length: 1 hour 42 minutes
    • Watch in the UK: No current UK streaming, rental or digital-purchase option. An imported Region 1 DVD is available through marketplace sellers, although it requires a compatible player.

    Part of another documentary series in the form of ESPN’s 30 for 30, Of Miracles and Men tells the story of one of sport’s biggest upsets. Directed by Jonathan Hock, it is an in-depth look at the time a hockey team representing the United States of America defeated the Soviet Union during the 1980 Winter Olympics.

    The thing that makes it the most interesting, though, is the fact that it focuses on the Soviet side of the match, rather than the Americans. The game itself became known as ‘the Miracle on Ice’, with countless examinations from the US side already available.

    Of Miracles and Men documentary

    This, however, features interviews with Russian players, who can recall each painstaking moment of the match that saw them lose 4-3 to the host nation. Hosted in New York’s Lake Placid on the second of February 1980, it was a medal round that everyone expected the Soviets to win.

    After all, they had won five out of the previous six gold medals available, so anything else would’ve been seen as an upset. The first period ended up in a 2-2 draw, with the expectation being that the Soviets would win when they went into the third period 3-2 up, only for the US to overcome expectations.

    Ice Guardians

    • Format: Documentary film
    • First Released: 2016
    • Length: 1 hour 48 minutes
    • UK Age Rating: 12
    • Watch in the UK: Available with an Amazon Prime Video subscription, free with adverts on Tubi, or to rent and purchase through Amazon Video
    • Accessibility: English closed captions are available.
    • Content Warning: Prime Video lists violence, substance use and foul language, and warns that flashing lights and strobing patterns may affect photosensitive viewers.

    Made in 2016, Ice Guardians is a documentary that takes a look at the world of enforcers in ice hockey. Featuring interviews with countless National Hockey League players such as Chris Chelios, Dave Brown, and Brian McGrattan, it would go on to be one of Sports Illustrated’s best films of the year.

    Nominated for four Rosie Awards and two Leo Awards, it is all about the people who are tasked with policing the match for their team. It is fair to describe it as a ‘pro-fighting’ film, which not everyone thinks reached the right conclusions around the idea of players hitting one another.

    Nowadays, the role of the enforcer isn’t such a prominent one in ice hockey. In days gone by, however, they were a crucial part of any team and you can hear from the fighters themselves in this documentary why they felt that their role was an important one.

    Of course, given the fact that the likes of Derek Boogaard, Wade Belak and Rick Rypien died playing hockey, many might want the documentary to delve into more detail about the darker side of the ‘enforcer role’ in the sport. If that’s what you’re after, then this one won’t be for you, but if you want to see the game’s more brutal side laid bare, then it definitely will be.

    The Russian Five

    • Format: Documentary film
    • First Released: 2018
    • Length: 1 hour 38 minutes
    • Watch in the UK: No current UK streaming, rental or digital-purchase option. Imported Region 1 DVDs are available from marketplace sellers, although they require a compatible player.

    The skill and ability of players from Russia is a big part of the reason why ice hockey managed to become such a globally popular sport. Towards the end of the 1980s, five players from the Soviet Union (Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Viacheslav Fetisov and Igor Larionov) left their home country in order to join the Detroit Red Wings.

    This documentary takes a look at the behind-the-scenes decisions that led to that happening, as well as the impact that such a choice had not only on the players but also on the entire sport of ice hockey.

    The Russian Five Documentary

    In the modern world, it can be easy to forget all about the post-Cold War climate of the 1980s that considered the ‘Red Threat’ to be a very real thing. Fans of the sport always wondered who was actually best, the National Hockey League players or those from the Soviet Union, which some felt was settled when the Russian players arrived in Detroit.

    That is thanks to the fact that the Red Wings hadn’t won a championship for four decades prior to their arrival, but the ‘Russian Five’ helped them to finally get their hands on the Stanley Cup once more, as explored in the film.

    29 Forever

    • Format: Documentary film
    • First Released: 2019
    • Length: 1 hour
    • Watch in the UK: No current legal UK streaming option. Available free on YouTube.

    Virtually every sport has its share of disasters that caused devastation and the loss of life. On that front, ice hockey is no different, with 29 Forever taking a look at one of the game’s most tragic moments. In was on the sixth of April 2018 that the Humboldt Broncos’ bus crashed, resulting in the deaths of 16 people and serious injuries to 13 others.

    It was close to the unincorporated community of Armley in the Canadian territory of Saskatchewan that a semi-trailer truck went through a stop sign and crashed into the northbound coach of the Broncos team.

    For many, what made the tragedy so unbearable was the fact that the Humboldt Broncos were a junior team from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The driver as well as 13 of the passengers died immediately, whilst two others died in hospital. It plunged the town, if not the entire country, into a state of mourning, which is all captured in the documentary.

    The story is obviously a tragic one, but it is also one of courage as well as perseverance, telling a tale of hope for the people that remain. It isn’t an easy watch, but it might be the most important on the list.

    Hockey: A People’s History

    • Format: Documentary series
    • First Released: 2006
    • Length: Approximately 45 minutes per episode; around 7 hours 30 minutes in total
    • Episodes: 10 episodes across one season
    • Watch in the UK: All ten episodes are available free through a third-party YouTube playlist.  Imported Region 1 DVD sets can also be found through marketplace sellers.
    • Languages: The DVD edition includes English and French.

    Whilst some find history in any form remarkably boring, others are keen to know where a sport came from and how it managed to become so universally popular. It is the latter group that Hockey: A People’s History is trying to appeal to. Set over a course of ten episodes, it goes into detail about the origins of the sport as well as how it has evolved over the years.

    Starting off as something of a niche sport in areas where there was a frozen lake or an ice rink, it grew to become incredibly profitable as well as popular. With each episode being nearly an hour long, this is as detailed as you could hope for.

    Whilst this is obviously a documentary series aimed at teaching people almost everything there is to know about the sport, it is also one that fans of hockey can turn to in order to learn more than they might otherwise be aware of.

    Here is a look at the ten episodes’ titles, which will give you more of a sense of what you can expect from the docu-series itself:

    • -A Simple Game
    • -The Money Game
    • -Empires on Ice
    • -The People’s Game
    • -A National Obsession
    • -The Golden Age
    • -Soul of a Nation
    • -Hope and Betrayal
    • -Winter of Discontent
    • -Reclaiming the Game