Toronto – As most people know, hockey is more or less religion in Canada. You might not see it in such an ethnically diverse urban metropolis such as Toronto, but travel to any small town anywhere else in Canada and you will see that people there live and breath hockey. Most of these little towns primarily follow their junior teams as NHL teams are for the big boys. These junior teams are the heart and soul of the cities – which leads to the documentary I saw on Sunday – Junior.
Junior chronicles a year in the life of a junior hockey team – Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the QMJHL, one of the major factories in creating NHL players. The documentary chronicles most of the things you would want to know about life as a junior hockey – the pressure, the business side of things, the scouts, the wear and tear – pretty much everything of interest happens during the course of the year. The documentary focuses on a few players – the superstar on the team, the new hot shot, the bully and a homesick kid. As cliche as some of these are, you know they exist within the fabrics of most sport teams and it makes for a compelling look at the industry.
The film never shows any hockey clips, and primarily relies on events and peoples reactions to gather emotional momentum. Being a hockey fan, I found this documentary quite intriguing and it provided the public with inside access to all the factors that plague a hockey team and if you are a sports fan, its well worth the effort to go and see it.
4.5/5
Junior plays today at 4:30 at Innis Town Hall, wherever that is.
I hate to end articles on a down note, so here is a song. Call it an ode to these junior players, as they have to grow up quickly and stuff. Or something.: