While hockey may not dominate the U.S. sports scene like it does in Canada and parts of Europe, it hasn’t deterred Hollywood from crafting numerous compelling films about the game. Sports inherently offer rich narratives and diverse subplots, making them a captivating subject for movies. We’ve seen a plethora of standout basketball and baseball films, though hockey tends to lag behind these and NFL football in American popularity. Despite its greater appeal in Canada and northern and eastern Europe, Hollywood has produced a commendable collection of hockey films.

The quick-paced, occasionally intense nature of hockey, combined with its cultural significance in certain regions, provides fertile ground for storytelling. We’ve combed through numerous hockey movies to spotlight the most noteworthy. The selection includes a mix of both lighthearted and serious films, with some that might have escaped the notice of even the most ardent hockey enthusiasts and film aficionados.

“The Mighty Ducks” earns its place on this list, albeit at the tenth spot, for several reasons. This 1992 Disney feel-good movie made a notable cultural splash, generating nearly $51 million from a modest $10 million budget, as reported by Box Office Mojo. Its most remarkable legacy might be the Disney-owned NHL team named “Mighty Ducks of Anaheim,” which adopted the film’s name and uniforms until the team was sold to Henry Samueli in 2005. Emilio Estevez stars as Gordon Bombay, a successful lawyer who, after a DUI arrest, is assigned to coach a struggling Pee Wee hockey team as part of his community service. As Gordon grapples with his own youth hockey history, facing off against his former harsh coach, he leads the Mighty Ducks to an improbable championship. Many actors from the film continue to have careers in the industry, though they have changed significantly over the years.

There are reasons “The  Ducks” warrants inclusion on this list, but almost as many that keep it in tenth position. To its credit, the 1992 Disney feel-good flick made a cultural impact and almost $51 million on a modest $10 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo.  Perhaps the most stunning legacy of “The Mighty Ducks” is the Disney-owned NHL team the name “Mighty Ducks of Anaheim” and uniforms from the film until the team was sold to Henry Samueli in 2005. Emilio Estevez stars in the film as Gordon Bombay, a wealthy lawyer who is arrested for driving drunk and assigned to coach a sad-sack Pee Wee hockey team as community service. Gordon ends up facing off with his own youth hockey past as well; his abusive coach from two decades past commands an opposing team, but Gordon and the Mighty Ducks win an unlikely championship. Many of the Mighty Ducks are still acting to this day, although most of them look quite different now.

“The film is predictable and formulaic: the “damaged coach revives hapless team of misfits” framework underpins other youth sports classics like “Bad News Bears” and “Little Giants” and there’s not much originality to screenwriter Steven Brill’s interpretation of the theme. Roger Ebert gave “The Mighty Ducks” two stars and wrote that it “might have been written by a computer program.” It is far more popular with audiences than professionals like Ebert and us here at Looper, and the film’s Tomatoes scores reflect this. The critics’ favorable rating is a woeful 27%, while audiences approve at a 65% clip. It inspired disappointing and a slightly off-theme animated , and the original remains the most significant and watchable of the bunch.

While “The Mighty Ducks” is an innocent boilerplate story of kids on the ice, “Net ” presents a deep dive into the financial and labor issues that challenged league management and players during the National Hockey League’s formative in the 1950s. Some of hockey’s legendary figures are portrayed in the film, including “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howe (Kevin Conway) and Ted Lindsay (Aidan Devine). “Terrible Ted” was a four-time Stanley Cup champion with the Detroit Red Wings who was  traded to Chicago in 1957, in retaliation for spearheading the of a players’ union.

The film pulls no punches in its depiction of those early labor relations between players and league and team management; The Hollywood News noted that it “presents bruising dialogue, clandestine meetings, and raw betrayal” and its main performers “embody the emotional toll with depth and conviction.”

Viewers weighing in on  give it an average rating of 7.1/10, and the film that originally aired on the CBC won four 1997 Gemini awards (Canada’s Oscars): best TV movie and best director for Jerry Ciccoritti, plus lead acting honors for Devine and a supporting actor win for Al Waxman’s portrayal of NHL pioneer Jack Adams. You can stream “Net Worth” on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Google Play, and every NHL fan should treat themself to this look at the league’s nascent years.

Gordie Howe earned the nickname “Mr. Hockey” during his long and distinguished career; the native played a record 1,767 NHL games over a remarkable 32 years. Howe initially retired in 1971, moving to an executive role with the Red Wings. The 2013 TV movie “Mr. Hockey” covers the astonishing comeback Howe made two years later at age 45 with the Houston Aeros of the fledgling World Hockey Association. Howe first returned to play with his sons Mark and Marty, but was still so effective on the ice that he hung on through 1980 with the New England (later Hartford) Whalers, scoring 41 points in the 1979-80 season before retiring for good. “Mr. Hockey” is a complete picture of the man who dominated the sport while prioritizing his wife and children, and there is plenty of real footage of Howe and his sons in action together.

“Mr. Hockey” stars Michael Shanks in the title role and Kathleen Robertson as Colleen, his long-time and wife of 55 years. It was a favorite of the Canadian Screen Award committee and the Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Foundation of British Columbia, which hands out Leo awards. It won three Leos in 2014: as best TV movie, for cinematography, and for Dylan Playfair’s portrayal of Howe. You can buy “Mr. Hockey” on DVD or stream it via Apple TV or the Roku Channel, and it’s a great history lesson for hockey lovers and newbies alike.

We’ve spent a bit too much time in the neutral zone of real-life hockey films, so we’ll slide the puck back to pure fiction for the next entry on our list; 2011’s “.” It’s funnier than the comedy “The Mighty Ducks” purports to be, but quite unsuitable for that film’s young audience. “Goon” stars Seann William Scott as Doug Glatt, a bar bouncer who becomes a minor league team’s enforcer through an unlikely series of events. Jay Baruchel co-stars and wrote the film with Evan Goldberg and Adam Frattasio, and the cast also features Alison Pill, Liev Shreiber, and Eugene Levy. His performance in the lead role was critical for Scott’s evolution from Steve Stifler in “American Pie” to a more multi-dimensional actor. 

“Goon” won the 2013 Canadian Comedy Award for best film thanks in part to coarse lines like the welcome Doug gets from new teammate Marco Belchoir (Jonathan Cherry): “Two rules: Stay away from my f***ing Percocets, and do you have any f***ing Percocets?” “Goon” has earned 81% positive ratings from critics and 71% from audiences at Tomatoes, a reversal of fortune from what is typical of less-sophisticated romps like this. It’s a loose interpretation of the book Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey that amateur boxer turned minor league enforcer Doug Smith co-wrote with Frattasio.

Hockey culture dominates in cold climates, and “, Alaska” is a revealing peek at the hold hockey madness can have on small towns where ponds are frozen over for months out of each year. The 1999 drama was directed by Jay Roach, co-written by David E. Kelley and Sean O’Byrne, and has a cast filled with A-list film stars. Russell Crowe stars as Sheriff John Biebe, Burt Reynolds is Judge Walter Byrne, and they’re surrounded by the likes of Hank Azaria, Lolita Davidovich, Michael McKean, and Mike Myers. Azaria is no stranger to sports-themed entertainment; he starred in Hulu’s “Brockmire” as a minor league baseball broadcaster with no filter and a fondness for whiskey.

The plot of “Mystery, Alaska” centers around a televised exhibition game between the humble folks of and the NHL’s New York Rangers, with other notable scenes involving an accidental gunshot wound and a drunken Zamboni ride. The true mystery of “Mystery, Alaska” is why it’s not more appreciated:  viewers score it an average of 6.7/10, and audiences award it a 66% approval rating at  Tomatoes. Critics were far less kind, with the review aggregator noting a disapproving 36% from professional reviewers. Roger Ebert gave it two stars, calling it out for predictable moments and an overly busy plot structure.

“Mystery, Alaska” remained a mystery to major awards organizations, but the film did earn Reynolds a Stinker award nomination for worst on-screen male hairstyle. If you sit back and appreciate the many strong performances that add up to a revealing look at small-town hockey, “Mystery, Alaska” is two hours well spent for any hockey aficionado.

To drop the puck on our top five, we’ll go to another biopic titled after the subject’s famous nickname. Maurice “The Rocket” Richard was key to establishing the Canadiens as the NHL’s dominant team from the mid-’40s through the late ’70s, and the 2005 “The Rocket” shed light on how the French-speaking Quebec native found success in a league dominated by English speakers. Roy Dupuis stars in the title role, with Julie Le Breton as his wife Lucille and François Langlois-Vallières as the 16-year-old Richard. Real-life NHL center Vincent LeCavalier plays Richard’s Hall of Fame teammate Jean Beliveau, lending a degree of reality to the proceedings that no doubt helped the film earn an average viewer rating of 7.6/10 at . 

Viewers award it an even stronger 88% score at Tomatoes, although that site clocks just a 56% approval rating from critics. A.O. Scott of The New York Times compared it to standard sports biopic fare, noting that it “touches on interesting themes of class consciousness and social inequality, [but] is pretty dull in the end.” We find the film’s tension and cultural commentary anything but dull and agree with IMDb reviewer jokerr, who called it “a very good film about one of the most important Canadian athletes ever.”  

We could have populated this entire list with hockey ; there are several fine ones just on the topic of Soviet Bloc players who came to the NHL just before and after the USSR broke up in . We’re reserving one spot on this list for non-scripted fare and awarding it to the 2016 Brett Harvey masterpiece “Ice .” It has everything that makes a compelling sports documentary: revealing backstory on notable players, stories of their youth sports days set to pictures someone’s grandmother must have dug from a shoebox, and an inside look at what it takes to succeed at the highest level. If you’ve watched each film on this list up to this point, “Ice Guardians” will remind you a little of “Goon” and a smaller bit of “Mystery, Alaska.” The enforcers profiled in Harvey’s film are the real-world pro analogs to Doug the Thug in “Goon,” and most of them come from small, freezing towns in Canada or the northernmost United States.

There’s another “Goon” link in the form of Jay Baruchel, who stars along with NHL veterans Chris Chelios, Bobby and Brett Hull, Jarome Iginla, and Dave Semenko. The film came out just as the NHL was enacting rule that led to reductions in on-ice fighting, and the film shows how enforcers were adapting to the league’s evolution. It has a perfect 100% approval score from critics and 88% from audiences at Tomatoes, and the average rating from almost 2,000  viewers is 7.4/10. Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the nuanced deep dive into hockey culture would be appreciated by serious fans, adding that the film employed ” analysts, researchers and physicians to discuss topics such as concussions, fear, drug and alcohol abuse, depression and suicide.” 

“Happy Gilmore” isn’t quite a “great” film and spends more time on the golf course than the hockey rink, but the title character’s hockey background is front and center throughout. Happy (Adam Sandler) is a talented but unstable young player who discovers that his powerful slap shot translates to superhuman drives off the golf tee and proceeds to violate all the game’s staid traditions. Sandler co-wrote the film with his NYU roommate Tim ; the pair also teamed up on “Billy Madison.” Fans of that film or Sandler’s other work will get exactly what they crave: unsophisticated humor, surprising cameos, and jaw-dropping moments. The latter two combine in the most memorable scene in “Happy Gilmore” — a fistfight between Happy and a then-71-year-old Bob Barker. The scene won the MTV film award for best fight that year and has become legend since. 

Barker told CBS This Morning that his first question on being approached with the opportunity to fight Sandler on film was “Who wins the fight?” The Navy veteran refused director Dennis Dugan’s offer of a stunt performer and threw and took each punch and kick himself. Barker wasn’t the only big name on the cast list, though: Carl Weathers, Robert Smigel, Kevin Nealon, and PGA Hall of Famer Lee Trevino each appeared as well, although only Trevino and Barker played themselves.

“Happy Gilmore” was a box office success and cultural sensation despite reviews that are mostly right around par. Box Office Mojo reports revenue of $39 million on a $12 million budget, with most of that probably going to cast salaries and golf course rental. Barker said “The Price is Right” audience members peppered him with questions about the film for years, and it spawned a 2025 Netflix sequel.

The 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team’s gold medal win gave us Sports Illustrated’s most iconic of all time (thanks to photographer Heinz Kluetmeier) and the unforgettable call from broadcaster Al of “Do You Believe in Miracles?” The shocking semifinal upset victory over the Soviet Union took on outsized importance given the Cold War rivalry between the nations and made that year’s Olympics in Lake Placid, NY, one of the era’s most memorable. There have been several documentaries produced about the “Miracle on Ice,” including one by from the Soviet point of view. Despite those excellent retrospectives, our favorite way to re-experience the Miracle on Ice is via the 2004 Disney-scripted film “” starring Kurt Russell as coach Herb Brooks and Patricia Clarkson as his wife, Patti. “Miracle” has elements of some other films on this list: it’s a bit of a redemption story for Brooks, a college star who was the last player cut from the 1960 gold medal U.S. Olympic team. 

In 1980, Brooks led a group of college players to medal round wins over more seasoned Finnish and Russian squads long before NHL players were allowed to compete in the Olympics. Brooks’ players have long been effusive in their praise of him as a strategist, motivator, and lovable human being. In a statement on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum website, 1980 team goalie Jim Craig said that Brooks “didn’t just make us better hockey players. He made us better men, better husbands, better fathers. He just cared.” Russell brings those aspects of Brooks to life with ease, and this film is an inspiring look at what Bleacher Report calls the “greatest moment in sports history.” 

The quintessential hockey movie is undeniably “Slap Shot,” the 1977 comedy that stars Paul Newman as Reggie Dunlop, the aging player-coach of the minor league Charlestown Chiefs. The film helps establish the trope of a team trying to win despite a disinterested owner, later adopted by “Major League,” “Ted Lasso,” and other sports classics. Jennifer Warren plays Reggie’s ex-wife, Francine, and the dopey antics of the Hanson brothers (Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson, and David Hanson) help offset the impact of some long-outdated slurs and dialogue regarding gender roles. The hairstyles and gritty scenes of minor league bus rides and hotel and locker rooms make this a period classic, and the hockey action is impressive thanks to the inclusion of several pro players. The screenplay is by Nancy , who wrote it in four months based on stories told to her by her minor-leaguer brother Ned. She shot back at critics who were incredulous that the bawdy story was written by a woman, telling The New York Times in 1977, “I used the exact same language that the players do, so I really don’t understand all the fuss.”

“Slap Shot” was big in Japan, winning the 1977 Hochi as best foreign film and earning a nomination in the same category the following year from the Japanese Academy. It’s relentless with its violence and crude manner, embracing its time in the mud so that “Happy Gilmore” could swim in the shallows 19 years later. “Slap Shot” is often mentioned among the movies of all time, with Bleacher Report‘s Matthew Hogan declaring it the all-time champion and writing that it “was old-time hockey at its best, or worst, depending on how you look at it.”