Written by C.Diva

As the Winter Olympics loom closer in the horizon, my thoughts, of course, turn to hockey. We won’t get any NHL players in the men’s hockey category of the Olympic games this year (Sorry, Sidney), and, while the decision upset me at first, I have come around to the idea of unknown college and non-professional hockey players getting a shot at the gold medal. In all honesty, this levels the playing field between the USA, Canada, Russia and all the other countries where NHL representation just isn’t happening. If I’m being really honest, I’m looking forward to women’s hockey much more, anyway. Still, to celebrate the upcoming games in Pyeongchang and pump myself up to watch the best hockey the world has to offer, what can be better than a Disney-made film about the 1980 USA/Russia Olympic hockey rivalry?

Called “The Miracle on Ice”, the real-life drama of a bunch of rag-tag college hockey players upsetting the Russian Red Machine surprised the world back in 1980. Enter Disney, who created the film Miracle using mostly unknown actors, with KURT RUSSELL playing their inspiring, single-minded coach, who pushes his team to an unlikely victory against the more disciplined, bad-ass Russians.

I admit, I didn’t watch this movie until 2016, but when I finally did, I was lucky enough to live tweet it with a bunch of NHL teams and hockey fans, per the summer tradition of NHL Movie Night. Since then, when I’m feeling especially down and out about the state of the Union, I throw on Miracle, which is available to rent/own on Google Play and YouTube. The go-get-em attitude of Kurt Russell, the silky flow of 1980s hockey players and the unabashed patriotism of the Olympics gets me going every time.

This year, the Violent Gentleman’s Hockey Club is hosting a movie night to kick off the Olympics, and guess what movie they’re screening down in Santa Ana on Feburary 8th? That’s right, Miracle. I can’t think of anything better than getting hype about Olympic caliber hockey with other hockey fans on the eve of the 2018 Olympic games. If you’re interested, you can buy tickets to this very special geektivity here.

Don’t forget to follow The Collective’s coverage of the 2018 Olympic Games. We will be squeeing over ice skating, snowboarding and, of course, hockey.