Blades and Brass

This short film takes you behind the scenes of the Quebec Nordiques. Coached by the legendary Maurice Richard, the team is playing its opening World Hockey Association game at the Quebec Coliseum. Experience the pre-game tension, the on-ice action and the dream-contract signing.

Featuring Jean Beliveau, this short film focuses on hockey from the inside out. Known as Canada's national pastime, this film demonstrates why hockey is such an exciting spectator sport. From east to west, the connection between fans and players is evident in the excited cries of "we've won!" From Pee-Wee to Bantam, from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to the big league pros, Here's Hockey! shows what it takes to make a great hockey player.

Meet Maurice Richard on and off the ice, and follow his spectacular career with the Montreal Canadiens--from the early '40s, when only a few thousand people turned out for pro hockey games, to the 1950s, when the Montreal Forum was bursting with delirious fans. Clarence Campbell, former president of the NHL, describes him as "the most exciting player I have ever seen in my life." The Rocket features footage from games and revealing interviews with Richard himself, the first star of the golden age of hockey.

This full-length documentary offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at our national sport, hockey. Taking in an entire season of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, this film reveals the daily lives of players and managers on this Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team.

Admired and treated like professionals, junior hockey players are teenagers absorbed by their future. Trainers, shareholders, agents, scouts and parents: all eyes are fixed on these elite young players, even though only a tiny number of them will succeed in playing at the highest level.

This short documentary offers a close-up view of a hectic hockey game in which the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers fight to break a tied score. From the flash of blades, the spurting ice, and the echoing roar of avid fans, the film occasionally turns back to neighbourhood games where youngsters learn skating and stickhandling, the fundamentals of professional skill. Stars, such as Smyths, Davidson, Apps and others, are seen in action.

This documentary tells the moving story of Northern Irish teenage hockey players Andrew and Paul, best friends in a city divided by religion. In Belfast, hockey is bringing Northern Irish youth together in a shared love of the game, providing a respite from the Protestant-Catholic turf warfare that pervades their lives. Set against the backdrop of a post-conflict society, the film provides an intimate glimpse into the realities of life in Belfast—the 12-metre-high walls that divide Catholic and Protestant, the precautions Andrew and Paul must take to be friends, and the safety they find on the rink at Dundonald.

In this documentary, the members of the University of British Columbia's Thunderbirds hockey team travel to China to demonstrate their skills to the new teams in the East. While hockey there still has a long way to go, this film leaves no doubt that the Chinese players are up to the challenge. A film propelled by discoveries, it goes a long way to providing insight into the differences between East and West.

For more background information about this film, please visit the NFB.ca blog.

This short 1964 documentary depicts the national sport of French Canadians: hockey. Seen "from the inside" this seemingly simple game turns out to be not so simple. Hockey is dream of mythic proportions that mirrors the aspirations of an entire people. Its heroes are national figures. At the Montreal Forum, there is total symbiosis between the crowd and the Habs. In 1955, idol Maurice Richard is suspended for striking a referee. The people take to the streets in unison and the riots begin...

Chicago Black Hawks hockey star Stan Mikita visits his native Czechoslovakia for a family reunion in this 1968 documentary. The cameras follow him over the course of a day and evening as he and his wife and daughter travel to Prague and the small village of Sokolce, where he was born. We get a good glimpse of Czech life, and the enthusiasm that exists for the sport of hockey.

In this animated short, Roch Carrier recounts the most mortifying moment of his childhood. At a time when all his friends worshipped Maurice "Rocket" Richard and wore his number 9 Canadiens hockey jersey, the boy was mistakenly sent a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey from Eaton's. Unable to convince his mother to send it back, he must face his friends wearing the colours of the opposing team. This short film, based on the book The Hockey Sweater, is an NFB classic that appeals to hockey lovers of all ages.

This short, silent film captures a Sunday afternoon at a community skating rink. Iconic Quebec director Gilles Carle has the camera follow toddlers learning to skate, young girls flashing their skates and boys decked out in the colours of their favourite hockey teams. A picture perfect moment on a bright winter's day.