Las Vegas Hockey: NHL Movie Night Loads of Fun
It is the first week of September and for Las Vegas Hockey fans it still is a dark tunnel, but the NHL Movie Night made it a little better. It is like walking through a dark tunnel. The first flush of celebration of landing a new team is so last month. You can only take so many press releases of General Manager George McPhee hiring new scouts. It is still weeks away from the rest of the league to kick off training camps, not to mention the World Cup of Hockey. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it is looking really tiny right now.
Which is why this year’s NHL Movie Night was cool. From what I can see, Las Vegas Hockey fans needed something. With the local version including commentary by US Olympic Team Captain Mike Eruzione during the showing of Miracle, was just, well, cool.
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For those who missed it, NHL Movie Night is becoming an annual off-season event held in the Twitterverse. Last year everybody was supposed to watch a copy of D2: The Mighty Ducks. This year it was Miracle, the 2004 movie about the legendary Miracle on Ice of the Lake Placid Olympic Games. At 4 p.m. PST on 31 August, you hit play on your copy (I watched using Amazon Video) and share comments on Twitter.
Even if you are not a hockey fan there is no way you don’t get choked up at the “Do you believe in miracles!” at the end of the USA-Soviet semi-finals game. It was really fun with the tidbits Eruzione dribbled out during the movie play. For example, he mentioned about the Mickey Mouse shirt the movie’s version of Eruzione wore under his jersey during games:
"“I used to wear it [Mickey Mouse shirt] all the time. Wore it under my uniform. All 4 years of college. Accurate.”–Eruzione#NHLMovieNight"
And about star Kurt Russel’s portrayal of the famously gruff head coach Herb Brooks:
"“I was sitting in the theater [at the premiere] with Herb’s wife, daughter and son…He was brilliant. It’s eerie watching him. Herb was a lot friendlier in the movie. The real Herb was a little more intense.”"
More intense? Geesh, Russell’s eyes looked like burning coals the whole movie. Brooks was more intense? I think I would have shriveled into a crispy pile of black bacon.
Yeah, I teared up during the Brooks/Russell pre-game speech. And again after Eruzione scores the winning goal. So sue me.
The NHL Movie Night was a fun night, fun tweets, cool movie and fantastic camaraderie for hockey lovers around the league. For a little while I forgot the frustration of expansion franchises, the lack of hockey, the dearth of real news.
Now it is time to get back to work.