Philadelphia Flyers Star in New Hit Hockey Movie

"In the Crease" now available at Gear Zone!

The list of great hockey movies is a short one. "Slapshot," "Miracle," and the "Mighty Ducks" spring to mind. But now there’s a new title, "In the Crease," to add to the collection, and it has the hockey world buzzing about how it’s the best in years. It also boasts Flyers Mike Knuble, R.J. Umberger, and Derian Hatcher among its stars.

The action packed and inspiring real life story of a teenage hockey team’s quest to win a national championship, this 90 minute film also features 15 NHL stars including Knuble, Umberger and Hatcher sharing their own youth hockey triumphs. Released on DVD in late November, it shot to #1 Sports DVD in the country just four weeks later and has been the #1 Hockey DVD for the last three months running.

"We really wanted to do for hockey what Friday Night Lights did for football and Hoosiers did for basketball," said co-director Matt Gannon, who co-produced the Oscar nominated "Girl with a Pearl Earring" starring Scarlett Johansson and grew up playing hockey himself. "And that’s tell a great sports story about a team overcoming adversity and riding the high of big wins and the heartbreak of tough losses. But what makes this story even more special is that it’s not actors. It captures real players, coaches and parents experiencing real emotions."

Fans and young players also get to hear a lot from some of their favorite NHL stars, and it’s a more personal side we don’t normally hear about. "I’ve never been in a movie before, " said Umberger. "But there really wasn’t any acting involved. They just wanted to hear about my own experiences as a kid and what I went through." Umberger talks in the film about growing up and the pressure of playing under the scrutiny of scouts at a young age. He also comments on his decision to play college hockey rather than going the Canadian major junior route.

For "In the Crease," Gannon and co-director Michael Sarner filmed the elite, California Wave Bantam AAA travel team as it trained for the USA Hockey National Championship and culled the movie from over 180 hours of footage spent with the team on the ice, in locker rooms and at players’ homes, as well as from interviews with parents and scouts. They also spent weeks crisscrossing the country to speak with NHL players like Knuble, Umberger and Hatcher to get the pros perspective and add a fantastic extra dimension to the story.

"This is a film that gives a true inside look at the hockey experience. Players, coaches and families around the world can relate to it, and hockey fans get to see some of the best young talent in the game and what really goes on behind the scenes, " said Sarner. The Wave team, based out of Long Beach, draws some of the top players from across Southern California and is beginning to send several to the prep school, NCAA Division I and WHL ranks, as well as to the US National Team. Having players with Caucasian, Asian, Indian and Latino backgrounds, and a coach who is African American, they were also chosen to show how hockey is diversifying.

Despite the team’s recent success, it’s still an underdog story. "These are beach kids who walk into an ice rink in flip flops, strap on their equipment and play against some of the best young teams in the country with much more impressive histories like the Jr Flyers, " said Gannon. The Jr Flyers make a brief appearance in the film at Nationals. "But, in the end, it’s not just the Wave’s story we’re telling, it’s every team’s story of what it takes to become champions."

One of the Wave’s fiercest opponents at Nationals turns out to be a team from Michigan called Honeybaked. It’s a club Derian Hatcher knows well from his own days growing up playing hockey in Michigan, and also because his son once played for the organization.

The filmmakers said that one of their goals was to show the type of impact hockey was having on these young players’ lives – the winning, the losing, and everything else they experience. The tremendous passion for the sport is clearly evident in those portrayed in the movie, as is their commitment. For Knuble, the film shows that "hockey families can face a lot of tough issues like teenagers deciding whether to leave home at a young age to go off and play prep school or junior hockey."

The film also captures the Wave players going through the universal experience of just being a teenager – dealing with a parents’ messy divorce, trying to balance a social life and girls with being an athlete.

However, what really shines through in the end is how hockey ultimately has a very positive effect – keeping the players out of trouble, teaching them life lessons and dedicating them to pursue a dream that they share with their teammates. Gannon believes the film also shows how "NHL players like Knuble, Umberger and Hatcher are just the coolest, most down to earth professional athletes in the world." "All three guys were unbelievably generous with their time, " said Gannon.

In addition to the three Flyers, the film also features special appearances by NHL players Jeremy Roenick, Brendan Shanahan, Joe Thornton, Scott Gomez, Glen Murray, Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rolston, Mike Comrie, Martin Havlat, Craig Conroy, Mathieu Schneider, and retired great Al MacInnis.

You can view the trailer and buy the DVD buy clicking here.  The DVD is also available at Gear Zone locations in Voorhees, Northeast Philadelphia, and Warminster.

For more information, call 877-23-SKATE!