Get your (obscure) Hollywood hockey fix

Okay, so today is day five of this new, bleak, hockey-less existence. It feels like years since I’ve seen Kevin Hayes’ sweet face. The calendar on my phone keeps dinging to tell me that the Flyers play a hockey game tonight. But they don’t. They don’t.

What in the world do we do with our time?? Talk to people? Exercise? Go outside? No thank you, sir. That’s gross. At this point, you’re probably rolling through the hockey content you know and love, just to get a fix. You’ve watched Miracle 6 times since Saturday. You can quote Goon with frightening accuracy. Yesterday, alone in a dark room, perhaps you watched MVP: Most Valuable Primate. It’s fine, we aren’t here to judge you or your kinks.

But just in case you want something new, we’ve done the hard work of looking through the streaming services to discover some stuff that looks cool, or weird, or cool and weird, that might be a nice way to kill a few hours and get a little hockey in ya.

Flin Flon: A Hockey Town (2017)

Bobby Clarke is from Flin Flon, Manitoba. Did you know that? It was one of the first hockey things I learned about a million years ago which lead to one of my first loves about Canada: tiny towns with weird names. Moose Jaw. Swift Current. St.-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!. Canada is the best. Anyway, this is the story of how the heartbeat of so many small Canadian towns is its junior hockey team, and the way the community is shaped around it.

Available on: XFinity, Amazon Prime

Pond Hockey (2008)

This documentary looks at the culture of pond hockey and how the game changes when it moves from where it used to be played to indoor arenas.

Available on: Amazon Prime, YouTube

Tough Guy: The Bob Probert Story (2019)

We get a lot of stories these days about what life was — and is — like for NHL enforcers. Probert passed away in 2010, and this film is a portrait of the hockey legend told through his family, teammates, and fans.

Available on: iTunes, Amazon Prime

30 for 30: A Kings Ransom (2009)

Most new hockey fans can’t imagine the idea of trading Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid, but back in the late ‘80s the Edmonton Oilers traded Wayne Gretzky to Los Angeles and seeing how the whole thing played out is still wild, even today. 30 for 30 documentaries are almost always great and this one is no different, diving into how the trade impacted both the league and the fans of the game for years to come.

Available on: Netflix, Amazon Prime

Fire and Ice: The Rocket Richard Riot (2000)

Did you know that once, Maurice Richard was suspended by the league and the entire city of Montreal rioted in the streets? It’s WILD. Definitely a bit of hockey history you’ll want to know.

Available on: Amazon Prime

The Puck Hogs (2009)

Okay so I don’t know much about this film, but it’s a mock-umentary about a rec league team in the style of Spinal Tap and there might be boobs in it? They don’t all have to be serious. Or possibly even good.

Available on: Amazon Prime

Blood, Sweat and Beers (2009)

Another doc that follows another small-town Alberta hockey team on its quest for a championship.

Available on: Amazon Prime

Letterkenny (2016)

If all else fails, fire up your Hulu subscription and watch every season of Letterkenny, which is the funniest show you’ll ever see and also there are hockey players.

Available on: Hulu, Crave TV

Got any suggestions of your own for your fellow bereft hockey fans? Let us know in the comments!