I’m not a big TV guy, but after seeing the previews for the Letterkenny spinoff “Shoresy”, I had to turn the dial. Coupled with the fact that my friends Terry Ryan (article on him here) and Cam Fergus are in the show, it was only a matter of time before I acquainted myself with the Sudbury “Blueberry” Bulldogs.
Here’s what I liked, and didn’t like about the series. Warning – this show is definitely not suited for those under the age of 18. The content is edgy and vulgar!
Like – The Relatability to Minor Pro/Semi-Pro Hockey
Anyone who’s ever played Lower level pro/Senior/Semi-pro hockey would completely agree with the parallels that this show offers. Rappers by day, hockey players by night? Check. A bunch of guys living in an apartment together? Check. Half-full lower bowl rinks? Check. Player-coaches? You got it.
Senior hockey is a hodgepodge of former pro hockey players, late-blooming young guys, older guys in their 40’s who love the game immensely, and everything in between. It’s like Shoresy cast characters for this show with the hodgepodge premise in mind. The concept of pulling players off their respective couches to play Senior Hockey in a different town is not foreign, either. My second year with the Clarenville Caribous (2007-08), we picked up a guy by the name of Rob Sneath out of Halifax. Rob attended the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) training camp in 1992-93, but military duty derailed his hockey interests. Rob dominated the military leagues, and somehow signed with us after he retired (he was in his 40’s back then). Rob came aboard a couple of weeks into the season and was instantly one of the best D in the league. We miss ya Sneather buddy (Rob passed away in 2017 – article here. Rest in peace, friend).
From local sponsors to 4-team leagues to the GM’s room being a broom closet under the bleachers (you’d see all of this at the senior hockey level), Shoresy reminds me so much of playing Senior Hockey in the West Coast Senior League back in the late 2000’s.
Dislike – Terry Ryan’s Character
If the producers had have let Terry be Terry instead of making him act like a stereotypical NL’er, it would have been way funnier. Hitchcock’s lines are cringe-worthy for the most part – I’m surprised they didn’t have T-Bone kissing a cod before every game. A martoonie? Are you kidding me? The “stupid Newfie” rhetoric is so 1988 and – quite frankly – irritates me.
Like – The Hockey Action
The hockey parts in Shoresy were on point, I gotta say. Shoresy didn’t insult its viewers by having Hitch shooting left in one scene and right in another scene (cough, Adam Banks in the Mighty Ducks movies). Actual hockey players were cast for the roles (all the main characters had at least a cup of coffee in Junior ‘A’), and it was apparent that fill-ins weren’t used for the action scenes. The camerawork made the action easy to follow; in sports movies, the camerawork can often give the viewer stimulis overload aka ‘too much going on’ (Any Given Sunday is an example) but not in Shoresy. Goal scenes were realistic – Shoresy didn’t have guys going end-to-end, with the two D colliding with one another and the goalie stacking the pads. I guarantee that Cam Fergus (he’s Macpherson on North Bay in Season 2) did that Michigan over and over, clean as a whistle, no CGI. I had the luxury of playing with Fergie in Grand Falls back in 2013-14 – a good player and an all-around good dude.
Laugh At – The Chirps
I’ve been around the game for over 30 years, and I can honestly say that Shoresy’s one-liners are original, cheeky, and crude. Shoresy ranks first in the ‘mouthpiece’ category, slightly ahead of my old team mate Josh Brunetta aka “Bruno”. Bruno and I would ride the pine with the Pembroke Lumber Kings – listening to him get on the other teams better players during neutral zone face-offs was worth the price of admission. Bruno’s claim to fame was being a model in the Ottawa Sun, and a lot of the guys in the league knew it. Bruno would fire some chirps out, and would often get the “model chirps” back. So when Shoresy is reffing and the beer leaguers are making fun of the Bulldogs team calendar, it was like a trip down memory lane.
I remember playing the Kanata Stallions one Sunday night at the PMC. Bruno and I would sit in the middle of the bench – an area of the bench mostly reserved for fourth liners/guys who didn’t play – and chirp guys. We were getting on a guy by the name of Roman Srutek on this particular night – Srutek was one of the top point-producing forwards in the league. One of Bruno’s chirps really struck a chord, because he turned around (before the linesman dropped the puck) and goes “have you two (expletive) muppets been on the ice yet tonight?” . It was a great comeback, one that comes back to me every time I’m watching Shoresy. Bruno – if you’re reading this article, I hope you’re well.
Until Next Time
AP