May 30, 2011 When Reg (Paul Newman) tries to whip The Chiefs up with a pep talk, the Hanson Brothers prove to be the ultimate Hype Men. FILM DESCRIPTION: Paul Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, the coach of a. The movie ends with the Hanson Brothers announcing the team is returning to Charlestown and going back to their roots of playing 'old-time hockey.' Reception edit Rotten Tomatoes gives Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice a score of 0% based on 5 reviews.
There aren't as many fights in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as there was in the past. Fighting has declined significantly in hockey since the days when teams often would send enforcers or tough guys onto the ice. Heck, in 1987, the Flyers and Canadiens got in a 15-minute brawl before their playoff Game 6 even started.Such frequent fighting was well displayed in the classic 1977 comedy, Slap Shot,’ perhaps the best and most memorable hockey movie ever made ( Miracle about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team is the only challenger). Slap Shot starred Paul Newman as the Charlestown Chiefs player/coach who often encouraged fighting. And the team’s three Hanson brothers—Steve, Jeff and Jack, who all wore dark-rimmed glasses and had long hair—brawled constantly.The Hanson brothers punched opposing players before the game, raked their hockey sticks across faces, slammed people into the boards, leaped into the stands to fight and even got arrested by police after one brawl.Steve Carlson, who played Steve Hanson in the movie, says it wasn’t that far removed from what actual hockey was like back then.“You talk about real life hockey, well, Slap Shot is real life hockey,’’ Carlson says. “We did get arrested by going into the stands.
We did jump a team in warm-ups in real life. We did fight often. My brothers (Jeff and Jack) and Dave Hanson, they were the ones who were the enforcers. When the puck was dropped and the gloves came off, that how’s the game was played back in the Broad Street Bully days. “We’re not promoting fighting.
But if a fight breaks out, so be it. That’s the way the game is. I think we’ve lost that a little bit.
I liked that style of play.’’Carlson played 14 seasons of hockey, in both the World Hockey Association and the NHL. While with the Edmonton Oilers (then in the WHA), he was Wayne Gretzky’s roommate. He played with Gordie Howe as well and also coached in the minors. Despite all that, he is much better known for his role in Slap Shot.’“No question.
Actually, it kind of made me bitter when I was a player,’’ he said. “I played 14 years and everyone just wanted to talk about the movie. And I was like, ‘C’mon, I’m a hockey player.
That movie was a long time ago. We’re all over with.’ I didn’t realize the impact we had and the movie had on not only the youth hockey, but the middle aged and the ankle biters all the way up to grandpas and grandmas. We have a huge fan base.’’Carlson, who grew up in hockey-passionate Minnesota, just moved to Johnstown, Pa, where Slap Shot was filmed. He says he and the two other Hanson brothers in the movie (brother Jeff and David Hanson) make 25 to 30 weekend appearances each year at hockey games and other events.
They do this all around the country and even had four visits to Germany.“It’s just as big (in Germany) as it is here. Huge!’’ Carlson says. “At that time we were playing in games and doing our skits on the ice. We’re hitting their alumni and veterans of world cups and Olympics, and we’re pushing them around and the fans are throwing stuff at us and booing us.
It’s pretty entertaining. We put on a pretty good show and those fans loved it.
It was fun.’’Slap Shot remains so popular that when the team bus for the Humboldt junior team crashed recently, a DVD of the movie was found in the mud nearby.“We have a huge fan base of what we do. It’s pretty impressive,’’ Carlson says. “One weekend we’ll be in Hinton, Alberta and the next weekend we’ll be in Lafayette, Louisiana. They all have the same favorite lines, they all have the same favorite stuff.
What I like about is it brings a smile to peoples’ faces. The way we treat them and talk to them. A lot of things we do, we like to entertain all the time.’’Interestingly, when appearing at a hockey arena, the Hanson brothers will sometimes play briefly against youth hockey players between periods—and also keep up their fighting style.“We’ll go out between the first and second period and the three bad Hanson brothers and the mascot will play the mighty, ‘vicious’ five- or six-year-olds from that town,’’ Carlson says with a laugh.
“They have these little mini-mites following the puck all over the place. Well, after the opening faceoff, the little boy pushes the puck through my legs and I trip him up. And the crowd starts booing and we pick him up off the ice and put him high against the glass.“And with about 30 seconds left in the four-minute game, all the little mini-mites drop their gloves and chase the Hanson brothers off the ice.’’Unfortunately, the trips are often during the winter and can be tiring, especially when flights are delayed or cancelled due to snowstorms.
The Hanson brothers also are getting older - Carlson is 62 and brother Jeff was recently cured of throat cancer while Dave Hanson had a hip replacement – so they may not be doing this too much in the future.“We’re slowing down a little bit,’’ Carlson says. “We’re getting tired. Our bodies are breaking down a little bit and we’re at an age where we have to be real careful at we do. It’s been a great run.“We’re really looking to winding down. I don’t know how much longer we do it but I don’t think it will be much longer.’’Thus, the Hanson brothers may not be making as many appearances in years to come. Or fight nearly as much in the movie.Or as much as NHL players used to. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our (updated 1/1/2020) and (updated 1/1/20).
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Somehow Carlson has navigated what at times has been a frustrating, demanding road - not all that different from the long minor-league bus rides romanticized in the iconic 1977 hockey movie - through four decades, slipping regularly between his real-life persona and that of the goofy, violent, yet lovable Steve Hanson, one of the three brother characters who are central to the film.' We just talked about this, me and my wife,' Steve Carlson said of Vicki, his wife of five years.
'I said to her, 'You know, I was really upset after we made 'Slap Shot' that I would be going, playing, making it to the NHL, making it to the World Hockey Association, playing pretty well and everyone recognized me as an actor.' 'I would never talk about 'Slap Shot,' I would never want to mention 'Slap Shot' because I was a hockey player, not an actor.'
She said, 'Why don't you mention that stuff? Why don't you tell people that stuff, that it bothered you?' I said, 'Oh well, that's not the way I am. It did bother me at the beginning, but it's my livelihood.' Indeed, Carlson, 61, talks about and mentions the movie almost every day now as he tours the world as one of the Hansons, making solo appearances or showing up with his movie brothers: real-life sibling Jeff and lifelong friend Dave Hanson, who played Jack Hanson in the film when Jack Carlson couldn't make the shooting schedule because he had been called up to the WHA.Released Feb. 25, 1977, 'Slap Shot' is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and the franchise is as strong as ever.
This weekend, other cast members and fans from all over the world were scheduled to join the Hansons for festivities in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Steve and Vicki were the main organizers of the event, which was to include a game at Cambria County War Memorial Arena, the movie home of the Charlestown Chiefs.The Hanson Brothers receive more than 300 requests a year to make appearances.' They've always been doing things for that movie, so it just shows how great the movie was and how popular it was,' said retired NHL defenseman Ken Daneyko, a television analyst for the New Jersey Devils.
'They're still, to this day, going to arenas, rinks and making appearances.' It was a classic. They did a heck of a job for not being actors. It was outstanding.'
Steve Carlson never thought the Steve Hanson role would become his lot in life. He was going to be a hockey lifer, as a player and then as a coach, not a nostalgia act.But after 14 years as a professional player and another six as a minor league coach, living his own version of the Hank Snow country classic 'I've Been Everywhere' - Marquette, Johnstown, St. Paul, Hartford, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Nashville, Birmingham, Baltimore, Memphis; I've been everywhere, man! - Steve Carlson knew it was time to end his pro hockey journey.At the time, he was coaching the Memphis Riverkings, a middling team in the Central Hockey League. The Riverkings weren't drawing well enough, and the then-38-year-old coach, after two decades of grinding, called it a career.But for a Hanson Brother, when one penalty-box door closes, another opens.
A simple suggestion from the Riverkings GM had paved the way for a second act.In attempt to get more bodies into the Mid-South Coliseum, the home of the Riverkings, a reunion of the Hanson Brothers was pitched during Steve's final season coaching in Memphis. At the time, Dave Hanson was the general manager of the Capital District Islanders, an AHL team based in Albany, New York. Jeff Carlson had been retired from hockey for a decade and had gone home to Minnesota.The three decided to get back together and were greeted by a full house at the Mid-South Coliseum. A few weeks later, they did a second reunion at the Houston Field House, home of the Capital District Islanders - another sellout.' We were like holy crap, there's a little more security here,' Steve Carlson said.
'There's more security in doing the Hanson Brothers than coaching in the hockey world.' The demand for the Hanson Brothers grew exponentially from that modest start. Opportunities as paid pitchmen increased. Suddenly the Hansons were traveling across North America, raising funds for charities and making good money.They were a brand, much the same as a rock band or a movie star. It's certainly helped that the Hanson Brothers were naturals, enjoying a chemistry and an easy comfort level around people.' We are fun-loving guys, we don't care; this who we are, on the ice, off the ice,' Steve Carlson said.
'We play off each other, we laugh at each other.' Watch the three at a standard meet-and-greet; they have a routine that is perfectly choreographed and rarely goes awry.They line up, right to left, in the numerical order of their Charlestown Chiefs sweaters: Dave (No. 16), Steve (No. 17) and Jeff (No. Dave signs the item when the fan approaches, while Steve engages that fan in conversation, enthusiastically shaking hands. Then Steve signs, passing the person down to Jeff, where the process repeats itself.
Over and over, sign, shake hands, small talk, smile for each person at the appearance. Laughs are commonplace throughout the interactions.For more telling moments, watch their interactions with their peers still involved in the game they all love. In late December, the Hanson Brothers were at Prudential Center during a morning skate to film promotional spots for NHL Network's 40th anniversary documentary on 'Slap Shot.'
Seconds after walking through the Zamboni entrance, the three men had their noses pressed against the glass, their aluminum-foil encased hands banging against the surface to get the attention of the Devils players. Each time they were noticed, they laughed and slapped one another on the back.Almost immediately, Devils television analyst John MacLean came bounding out of the seats to talk shop and take a picture with the trio. MacLean, a former Devils coach and one of their most famous goal-scorers, was thrilled to appropriate Steve Carlson's trademark glasses and grab a handful of Dave Hanson's jersey for a photo.'
I like the movie so much because of those Hanson Brothers, of course. That stereotypical French goalie, doing the interview in his own way, so funny,' MacLean said, mentioning Charlestown Chiefs goalie Denis Lemieux (played by Yvon Barrette), whose heavy accent is a running gag throughout the film.
'They hit every little tidbit of our game. Was it overdone? Yes, in certain ways it was as far as that goes, but the little subtleties of it. They all happen to be half-truths; but they did it in such a funny way with how they handled it all and brought it to the screen.'
Later, in the Devils dressing room, several players approached the trio, asking for pictures and expressing how much they enjoy the movie. Even general manager Ray Shero wandered into the room, all smiles as he pressed between Dave and Steve for a keepsake photo. NHL.com is the official web site of the National Hockey League. NHL, the NHL Shield, the word mark and image of the Stanley Cup, the Stanley Cup Playoffs logo, the Stanley Cup Final logo, Center Ice name and logo, NHL Conference logos, NHL Winter Classic name, and The Biggest Assist Happens Off The Ice are registered trademarks and NHL.TV, Vintage Hockey word mark and logo, The Game Lives Where You Do, NHL Winter Classic logo, NHL Heritage Classic name and logo, NHL Stadium Series name and logo, NHL All-Star logo, NHL Face-Off name and logo, NHL.