Review of The Mighty Ducks (1992) by Stephanie A — 11 Mar 2008

After being charged with drunk driving, a lawyer named Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) is sentenced to community service, coaching hockey, a sport he claimed to hate. There, he meets the District 5 peewee hockey team, a team of perennial losers who finish at the bottom of the league standings year after year.

They are shut out every game and lose by at least five goals. The players learn that Bombay was once a player for the Hawks, an elite team in the same league, but left hockey because of the embarrassment that followed after a failed attempt at a penalty shot at the end of regulation, causing the Hawks to eventually lose in overtime, costing them a peewee championship.

With the help of Coach Bombay, and a desperately needed infusion of cash and equipment, the players learn the fundamentals of the game. Soon enough, the District 5 team (now christened the Ducks, after Bombay's employer, Mr.

Ducksworth) start winning games and manage to make the playoffs, eventually reaching the finals and adding a new player, Adam Banks, an ex-Hawk who is a talented player and an asset for the Ducks. Bombay faces the Hawks, the team he grew up playing for, still led by Jack Reilly (Lane Smith), the same coach Bombay played for.

Fittingly, the Ducks win the title game on a penalty shot by Bombay's own protége, Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson). The movie was released in Australia as Champions. Emilio Estevez !