Smudge the Blades

A spiritual relative to The Bad News Bears and The Mighty Ducks, Smudge the Blades sets the story this time in Northern Alberta, with the unlikely coach begrudgingly helping a rag-tag Indigenous hockey team.

This second feature film from director, and actor, writer Cody Lightning is grittier and more dramatic than his debut, Hey, Viktor, but with more heart — and a cast from Rez Ball, Reservation Dogs, The Office, and Rutherford Falls.

The Treaty 6 Blades are a struggling U-18 team of teen boys — and one girl, Jaycee Pipestem (Paulina Alexis) — led by their coach (Ed Helms), in their last year of eligibility. When their team is kicked out of the league, the local arena’s Zamboni driver (Lightning) offers to coach. Technically, his intentions aren’t pure, as he has his sights set on wooing hockey mom Chanelle Okimâw (Jana Schmieding), but despite his shortcomings, the underdog team begins to finally come together.

The sports-team movie blueprint covers new territory here. These Indigenous kids have distinct personalities — like the traditional one, who smudges his hockey equipment — and their challenges and triumphs feel unique to reserve life. At the same time, this dramedy has high-energy hockey play — many of the actors are hockey players first — raw storylines, and laughs that should earn it a spot alongside its forebearers.

KELLY BOUTSALIS

Content Advisory: racist language, coarse language, mature themes, sexual content, violence