SPORTS THIS WEEK, Yorkton This Week - There might not be a purer form of hockey in the world than those games played in so-called ‘beer leagues’.
Think about it, the players are past playing for the dream on a pro career, past rep’ing their country at some international event, past even being very good at the game—yet there they are showing up in arenas across Canada, The U.S., and beyond to play.
It almost reads like something from a movie – oh wait it is actually a movie now with the recent release of ‘The Late Game’.
Haven’t heard of the movie – well it isn’t one that is likely going to be on a big screen near you – well ever.
But, if you are a hockey fan, and you want a hockey movie some night The Late Game is out there – check out www.thelategame.com
Filmmaker Jeff Tyner was good enough to send a link in preparation for this article, and I was kind of surprised by the film.
Tyner did a nice job of avoiding the pitfall of making another ‘Slapshot’ or ‘Goon’ – two hockey movies that have achieved sort of ‘cult classic’ status – and instead kept 'The Late Game' purer. Yes there are laughs here – my better half can attest to that as I burst out a few times as I watched the film with the headphones on.
A Blue Jays game was on the telly as I watched The Late Game, and with TO in first place it’s easy to be distracted by baseball this close to the playoffs, but my attention was solidly on the film.
No there will not be any Oscars coming for any aspect of the film – it has more of a ‘Men With Brooms’ vibe in terms of production with a dash of ‘Strange Brew’ as reference points for my Canadian readers – and that combo works here.
Tyner chose to have the film focused on a single game so the action is confined primarily to the Carolina Ice Palace located in North Charleston, SC, which was in-part a way to keep production costs low I would learn in an interview with the filmmaker.
By the way Tyner is an interesting guy in the sense this hockey movie had its roots in a rather unusual locale. Tyner grew up playing hockey at the Carolina Ice Palace (where The Late Game was shot) since its opening in 1997. Before making his directorial debut with The Late Game, Tyner worked primarily in sports. In addition to stints with the Charleston-based South Carolina Stingrays and Charleston Riverdogs.
Tyner said when the Stingrays came to town he became a fan, recalling it was the 1990s and hockey was finding its footing in warmer climates thanks in part to Wayne Gretzy playing in LA.
Tyner said his parents bought season tickets and he was hooked.
“I just loved it,” he recalled in a telephone conversation.
At about age six Tyner tried roller hockey, then the ice game. His dad said no to him pursuing the sport initially then came home with “a bag full of gear” because he couldn’t say no to hockey.
“I was the only kid at school who played hockey,” said Tyner, an indication the game was not exactly massively popular even with the Stingrays in town.
The hockey player would go off to film school, but the love of the game remained.
Tyner said he always knew “hockey was going to be the first story I’d tell” in a film.
So, when COVID hit and he no longer had the excuse of being too busy to write, he penned a short film script on hockey – drawing somewhat on his own experience of finding community in beer league hockey.
Tyner said in his own life he came to recognize he needed hockey for the simple reason he loved the game.
That is the core kernel in The Last Game for the main character Riley, played by Alec Reusch, a Los Angeles based actor and beer league hockey player. He grew up in Falls Church, Virginia where he played high school and house league hockey, before attending The Ohio State University where he received his BA in theatre. An experienced stage actor, Reusch makes his film debut in The Late Game.
The short film script was shared with Jeffrey Zucker – who is in the film too, and he wanted more.
“He asked ‘what does the feature length version of this look like?’” said Tyner.
Through some three years of writing the longer version came to be, and the film went into production – most of the players being local ‘beer leaguers’ who Tyner admitted were paid very little but showed up every day as friends to get the film done.
“I can’t say enough about them. Almost every player on the teams was just friends stepping up to the plate,” he said. And, Tyner liked the end result too.
“I’m so incredibly proud of the film result,” he said, adding it is a very much a collaborative effort.
Now having the film focused on a single game you sort of clued into what was happening early on, and the ending was pretty well obvious unless you focused on a ball game for about five full innings –so no edge of your seat suspense with this one.
And yet, when it was over I was satisfied, and that’s more than I can say about most of the comedies being made today where swear words sub in for humour. The Last Game falls nicely into a light-hearted sports film and since hockey films are somewhat rare it it was just what it was meant to be – fun.a
