How Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau ended up in one of the most iconic sports movies of all time
Global News
Boudreau scored some on-screen ice time as a member of the 1976 Johnstown Jets, the local club in the Pennsylvania town where the comedy classic 'Slap Shot' was filmed.
While Vancouver fans have quickly grown to love new Vancouver Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau for his role in jumpstarting the team, many likely don’t know about his part in one of the most iconic sports films of all time.
The movie: The 1977 hockey comedy classic Slap Shot, starring Paul Newman as the player-coach of a struggling hockey team in a dying factory town.
The film was shot in Johnstown, Penn., in 1976, where Boudreau was playing for the now-defunct North American Hockey League’s Johnstown Jets at the time.
The timing gave Boudreau, along with several other Jets, a shot at some Hollywood screen time.
“It wasn’t a cameo, it was a starring role,” Boudreau quipped at a recent media availability.
“It was a great experience. Who would have thought in 1976 when we were doing the movie that it would become the iconic classic that it is today. I was just lucky enough to play on the Johnstown Jets.”
While Boudreau didn’t have any lines in the film, some of his teammates on the Jets did. The legendary (and legendarily violent) ‘Hanson Brothers’ that appear in the film were played by real-life Jets Dave Hanson and Steve and Jeff Carlson.
Boudreau’s involvement in the movie didn’t stop at his on-ice appearances.
