As a citizen of Canada, it's safe to say Paul Newman's Slap Shot is the single greatest hockey movie of all time.
This is a film so mired in obscurity it's not even possible to illegally torrent like its thematic cousin The Mighty Ducks, so allow me lay the scene for you instead. Slap Shot is perhaps Newman's finest work: a comedy from the '70s about a crappy mill-town hockey team who, after years of crumby results, decides to let their latest acquisitions, three brothers - depicted with glorious thug-moron precision - finally play. The brothers' savage style of hockey reinvigorates their fanbase and the team is retooled using violence to draw in big crowds.
It's a wonderful lesson for everyone: Embrace your talents, however impractical, illegal or violent they may be. This is the kind of meat-and-potatoes advice that helped turn Slap Shot into an honourary Canadian sports film and a favourite among the demographic of retirees who like anything vaguely nationalistic, all despite being filmed in Pennsylvania and havinng no Canadian actors.
But it's a lesson you should follow to a T when playing Sports Interactive's recently revived Eastside Hockey Manager.
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