Plot Summary for
Slap Shot (1977) More at IMDbPro »

The player-coach of a small town minor professional league hockey team must deal with hostile crowds and on-ice thuggery in this warm-hearted and only slightly farcical look at minor league ice hockey. Written by roger@waycool.net

Once-great player/coach Reggie Dunlap of the Charlestown Chiefs is reaching the tail end of his professional career when the Charlestown Mill closes down and it becomes apparent that the team will fold at the end of the season. Coach Dunlap concocts a scheme that he hopes will create a will to win in his players in the hopes that a winning season might make sale of the team by its obscure owner possible. Dunlap plants a story with a local sports writer that a retirement center in Florida is interested in buying the team, which of course most of the team's player buy. The teams leading player, an Ivy League educated forward, thinks the story is bogus and remains cynical. Mired in 5th Place, three new players, the Hanson Brothers, arrive hired by crotchety general manager played by Strother Martin. No one has any idea what the Hansons are about but when the team watches the Hansons use aluminum to create what amounts to brass knuckles Dunlap, a believer in old time hockey, refuses to play the three roughnecks. After a few games, Dunlap is forced by circumstances to play the Hansons and when the crowd sees their brand of utter hockey mayhem they go nuts and adopt the three three (The Hanson Brothers Booster Club). The Hansons style of play rubs off on the rest off (except for the team's high scorer), and the Chiefs begin to win and virtually every game culminates with massive and bloody fights. This part of the film may seem farcical but having played ice hockey in New England during the era depicted in the film, I have to say the film does not stretch the truth by a great deal. I recall that most of our games ended in fights and game ejections and anyone who has ever watched a hockey fight knows how bloody they typically are. The film stretches credulity with the use of sticks in hockey fighting. Only rarely were sticks used since that typically resulted in a permanent league ban. The team begins to win using the violent approach and every home game becomes a sell out and even with away games, the team bus is followed by a boosters bus. There are two sub plots: One involves Dunlap and his estranged wife and team high scorer Ned Braedon's problems with his wife but these are really of secondary importance to the metamorphosis of the Chiefs from league doormats to the toughest team in the Federal League. What the film jokes about is the roll that tough and violent hockey played in the success of the team at that level back in the 1970s. At the minor league level, during that era, intimidation was critical and one intimidated by fighting and a brutal style of play. A team wanted its opponents to fear them. Officiating was generally played very loosely and the name of the game was mash and bash them. Before the championship game, Dunlap admits that he planted the story about a possible move to Florida and the team elects to play their last game in Charleston for real and avoid fighting. Unknown to the team, a half dozen NHL scouts are on hand to watch the toughest team in the Federal League. During the first period, the opposing teams, which has brought back all of its meanest players for a grudge match with the Chiefs, the Chiefs refuse to fight and end up looking very badly. Between periods, the general manager angrily tells the team about the scouts and calls them pussies. During the second period, the Chiefs come out swinging and the game quickly devolves into pure bedlam. Ned Braedon sits on the bench refusing to fight. During the fighting his estranged wife shows up for the game with a new look. Braedon elects to do something outrageous. He skates to mid-ice and begins a strip tease. This infuriates the opposing team's players and their captain slugs the referee, who forfeits the game to the Chiefs. Dunlap's style of play so impresses the coaches that he is offered a coaching job in Minnesota and he says he intends to bring his players there with him. If minor league hockey as violent as it is depicted in this film. No, it is not but it was nevertheless quit violent. Fights were common place and penalties were common. My last year of play I recall I was ejected from 6 of 25 games for fighting and I lost track of my penalty minutes. I was not unusual. The film presents a realistic view of minor league hockey with liberties taken with stick fighting, which was strictly forbidden. Most of the players in New England were Canadians (Junior A League) with a few Ivy Leaguers and players like myself from the new York City leagues (roughly the equivalent with Canadian Junior A). The games were fast, furious, and frequently brutal. Anyone watching to gain some sense of what its like playing minor league professional hockey will gain a reasonable understanding of the play by watching this movie. Written by Roger H. Werner

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