What makes ‘Goon’ a great hockey movie for the hardcore hockey fan

With live sports on pause and most people stuck at home due to the coronavirus, hockey fans have to find other ways to pass the time. Watching a good hockey movie can certainly help, but the fact is some of us haven't seen the "classic" hockey movies since we were kids.

So how good are they really? Do they actually hold up? With nothing but time on our hands, let's find out.

Every Friday during the pause, I'll have a hockey movie review in which I will watch a movie the night before, take notes and provide those notes and a grade for each movie just to see how good they really are.

You can check out the past reviews here:

Happy GilmoreThe Mighty DucksD2: The Mighty DucksD3: The Mighty Ducks

This week's movie: "Goon"

"Goon" is the story of Doug Glatt, played by Seann William Scott, who is a bouncer at a bar and the black sheep of his intellectual family. After beating up a minor league player in the stands at a local hockey game, Glatt catches the eye of the coach. He is brought on as an enforcer and does well enough to work his way up to a higher league. He is eventually signed to the Halifax Highlanders primarily to protect star prospect Xavier Laflamme who suffered a concussion early in his career and has struggled to get back to the NHL for fear of getting hit.

The movie is loosely based on the book "Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey" which is the true story of Doug "The Hammer" Smith. Not surprisingly, Smith was an amateur boxer before he got into hockey which is partly why he was so adept at fighting.

One thing to note, if you're easily offended or don't care for bad language or inappropriate humor, this movie is not for you. This isn't an R because they say the F-word twice, it's a hard R. Personally, I love the humor, but it is certainly not for everyone.

Hockey fans who watch this movie can absolutely appreciate that this movie was put into the hand of people who know the game. There are plenty of sports movies out there that are laughably unrealistic, but this movie has a lot of subtle references that die-hard hockey fans can pick up and appreciate. It certainly depicts a different era of hockey than we have today, but for those who watched in the 90s and before, there is a lot of this movie that rings true. There are also a lot of big-time actors for what was a low-budget movie. In addition to Scott, Liev Schreiber, Jay Baruchel, Alison Pill and Eugene Levy are all part of the cast.

It is a hockey movie definitely aimed at a hardcore hockey audience and great care was taken to make sure they got it right.

Here are my notes from watching:

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE CAPITALS TALK PODCAST

In terms of hockey, this movie knows what it's talking about. There is realistic play, realistic relationships and, for the most part, a realistic depiction of minor league hockey on and off the ice. Yes, there are some over the top moments and characters added for humor, but boil it down to the actual hockey and this movie really gets it right. That's impressive considering the main subject matter is fighting and it can be tough to grasp that there is a lot of respect involved in hockey fights. The major flaw of this movie, however, is the fact that it makes Glatt so darn dim-witted. It's over the top and clouds the overall point. Are hockey fights about respect or are the enforcers just dumb? It's a poor choice that drags the movie down a bit, but still this is a really solid hockey movie that hardcore hockey fans can enjoy.

Stay connected to the Capitals and Wizards with the MyTeams app. Click here to download for comprehensive coverage of your teams.

MORE CAPITALS NEWS: