Themes: Hockey Players, Coaches and Players, Fighting the System
Main Cast: Stephen Baldwin, Jessica Steen, Gary Busey
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 104 minutes
Plot
It's been 25 years and the minor league hockey team Charlestown Chiefs are still languishing in West Virginia. Player/coach Sean Linden (Stephen Baldwin) has taken the reins from Reggie Dunlop, but he's given up trying to control the "old school hockey" trio of the Hanson brothers (Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson, and David Hanson), and their violence is the hallmark of the Chiefs -- they even attack the opposing team's costumed mascots. But a new (female) coach (Jessica Steen) is brought in once the team is bought by an exceedingly wholesome corporation run by corrupt executive Dean Claremont (Gary Busey) who intends to use the Chiefs as the hapless foils for the shiny new IceBreakers, hockey's version of the comic Harlem Globetrotters, with choreographed antics, guaranteed losses, and inept, non-violent play against a team of arrogant Ivy Leaguers. Can the Chiefs swallow their pride and actually go along with the scheme, or will their hockey instincts take over on the ice before a vast TV audience? ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
25 years after the events of the first film, the minor-league hockey team Charlestown Chiefs are still languishing in West Virginia. A new player/coach, Sean Linden (Baldwin), has taken over from Reggie Dunlop, and the team's violence has become the Chiefs' hallmark as Sean Linden does not try to control the "fighting hockey" trio of the Hanson Brothers. After only 10 wins in two years the team is bought by a family entertainment corporation called Better America, run by an executive named Richmond Claremont (Gary Busey). The team is moved to Nebraska and given a new (female) coach. The team soon finds out that Richmond Claremont intends to use the Chiefs as the team which plays and loses in scripted games against a Harlem Globetrotters type team named the Omaha IceBreakers in an attempt by Dean Claremont to make the game suitable for a family audience.
The "Super Chiefs" lose the Hanson brothers when a fight breaks out between the two teams. After the fight Claremont bribes Linden to change the team's attitude and then leave. Linden succeeds into talking the Chiefs into supporting the "fake" game for higher pay and better exposure. He then leaves. He comes back after remembering his love for the game and talks the "Super Chiefs" into their old ways. The Chiefs with the Hanson brothers back begin crushing the Icebreakers. The Chiefs win and Claremont is furious and threatens to sue, but can't because he no longer owns the Chiefs... the recent lottery winning Hanson Brothers do. The movie ends with the Hansons saying the team is going to play the great old-time hockey like Eddie Shore, Dit Clapper, Toe Blake, and Gordie Howe.
Miscellany
Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice received a 0% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes (i.e unanimous negative reviews) whereas the original Slap Shot received an 87% "Fresh" rating.
