#THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN MOVIESHARE PROFESSIONAL#

#THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN MOVIESHARE PROFESSIONAL#

So, despite the various honors he earned as one of the league’s top goalies, Sawchuk’s life is less of an inspirational rags-to-riches story and more of a cautionary tale, one that reminds us that even professional athletes who seem to have it all can be struggling with issues under the surface that threaten to destroy them entirely. In addition to the physical pain that came from playing hockey, Sawchuk also suffered from depression that he attempted to treat with alcohol, resulting in an early death at the age of 41 after he injured himself in a drunken scuffle with a teammate. Goalie chronicles Sawchuk’s life from his troubled beginnings - his parents are portrayed as largely cold and unloving, more concerned with the money he can send home from playing hockey than the multiple Stanley Cups he wins - all the way through his record-setting, multi-decade year career in the NHL. As a result, his face was famously carved with scars by the end of his lengthy career, and he turned to alcohol to numb the pain. Once Sawchuk managed to play himself into an NHL contract with the Detroit Red Wings, he wasn’t going to give it up without a fight. Desperation was in the air for many, especially Sawchuk, who growing up saw one sibling die of scarlet fever and another, a promising hockey player himself who Sawchuk idolized, pass away from a heart attack at the tender age of seventeen. This was a time before hockey players were even wearing helmets for protection, let alone earning millions a year to guarantee financial security in retirement. If your job was taken by an up-and-coming minor leaguer, your chances at another were slim. The Tragedy of Terry Sawchukĭuring Terry Sawchuk’s time in the NHL, players would play through injuries out of fear of losing their one chance at a meal ticket, for with only six teams in the league, there weren’t as many opportunities to snag a starting spot as there are today.

Directed by Canadian filmmaker Adriana Maggs from a script co-written with her sister, Jane Maggs, and inspired by a book of poetry written by their father, Randall Maggs, Goalie tells the story of Terry Sawchuk, who rose from a rough childhood in working-class Winnipeg to become the best goalie of the NHL’s “Original Six” era. Goalie might be about one of the most legendary goalies to ever play in the NHL, but the era it covers bears more of a resemblance to the rough and tumble minor league world of Slap Shot than it does to the world of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. The stakes of Slap Shot aren’t as lofty as winning a Stanley Cup or an Olympic medal, but because of that, the human drama at the center of the film is all the more relatable they just want their team to remain financially stable so they can all keep making a living the only way they know. The best of these is Slap Shot, the 1977 comedy starring Paul Newman and Michael Ontkean as members of a minor league hockey team that resorts to increasingly violent play to lure in crowds in the declining mill town they call home. Some are better than others, of course, but there are nonetheless many worth watching for the way they combine the sheer excitement of teams clashing on the ice with the personal drama taking place outside the rink. Hockey fans have been blessed over the years with a multitude of movies about our beloved sport.

The edge of seventeen movieshare