"Shoresy" Is Not The Hockey Story We Need

Comedic, Canadian, Accurate, Harmful

Shorsey and the rest of the Sudbury (Blueberry) Bulldogs, are what we know of hockey - vulgar, violent, and misogynistic. In the show, Shoresy, named for the lead character, now out on Hulu, each episode presents discussions of sexual conquests, substance use, fights both on and off the ice, and beneath it all, an endearing underdog hockey story.

The plot sees the Bulldogs bring in a group of ringers, which they call “sluts,” to turn around their season, save the team, and fulfil Shorsey’s promise to ownership that the team will never lose again. Because you end up cheering for the Bulldogs, and because the Slapshot-esque story has been applauded by lead performances from women and Indigenous actors, the celebrated toxic culture celebrated can easily be overlooked.

That, however, does not remove the harm.

Even in a comedic manner, the behaviour displayed highlights the worst of the hockey world. Instead of the skilled, physical, and creative game appeals to fans, it’s hockey’s culture of violence, sexual conquests, substance abuse, homophobia, and hypermasculinity that shine through in Shoresy.

The lead character himself, played by Jared Kesso, who created the show, is described as “a notoriously dirty player. He likes to have sex with rival players’ mothers, or at least to insinuate that he has. He cries during ‘O Canada.’ He has a very elaborate pre-game and in-game toilet ritual….Shoresy has a parrot who only knows how to say “tit fuck” and his glee about various sex acts and open-water pooping is unrivaled.”

In the words of The Athletic, Shoresy “emerges as a statement on toxic masculinity.”

Throughout the show, the characters exhibit moments of humanity, and within those moments, is the true harm of the show’s normalization and celebration of hockey culture. It’s an attempt at humour, but within that, fails to critically address issues that lead to racism, homophobia, and sexual violence. Sadly, Shoresy is accurate in its depiction of hockey.

As director Jacob Tierney says, “It’s not a satire. I don’t think it’s meant as a thesis or a criticism, either. I think it’s observational.”

The observations within the show mirror the many issues scholars have studied within hockey for decades. For example, Shoresy’s tearful commemoration of the Canadian national anthem demonstrates “the popularity and appeal of ice hockey are rooted in Canadian nationalism… Canada can, therefore, be viewed as representing, exemplifying, and understanding its own national identity through some tenets of hegemonic masculinity, such as physical dominance, competitiveness, and heterosexism.”

The show depicts sexual acts by members of the team with the romantic partners of their teammates. The bragging and boasting of sex among teammates is the type of example and ideology followed by hockey players in real life, for example, the 2020 conviction of Montreal Canadiens prospect Logan Mailloux “for taking a photo of a woman performing a sex act without her consent and circulating it among some teammates.”

It also depicts the crime of soliciting others to gain revenge on members of the community following an off-ice brawl. Although it seems far-fetched and theatrical, it is also reminiscent of a real life hockey story, the Mike Danton “murder-for-hire plot.”

Similar to the sport itself, reviews of the show and characters acknowledge the issues but love them all the same.

“He's foul-mouthed. He's misogynistic. He's sleeping with his teammates' moms,” wrote one reviewer of Shoresy. The title of the review, however, exonerates the show by saying “Jared Keeso's "Letterkenny" Hockey Spin-Off is Perfect.”

As this article states, Shoresy is a spinoff of Kesso’s popular Letterkenny series. In Letterkenny, the world is introduced to Shoresy, although he’s a faceless entity. But as hockey scholar Dr. Cheryl MacDonald wrote in Hockey in Society, Letterkenny itself was also “rife with homophobia, misogyny, alcohol and drug use, religiosity, and poor English.”

In MacDonald’s 2016 analysis of the series and how it relates to hockey culture, she continued by addressing the harm caused by the depiction of Letterkenny’s hockey-loving characters. “Homophobic and misogynistic attitudes are becoming increasingly unacceptable in society at large and I don’t like the thought of these individuals representing what it means to be a hockey player, let alone a Canadian, because although there is some truth to the stereotype, it’s not something to celebrate.”

This celebration is a reoccurring feature of hockey’s depiction on screen; from Slapshot and Youngblood to the more recent movie, Goon.

As Dr. Curtis Fogel, an associate professor at Brock University wrote, “hockey films tend to glamorize certain social problems such as fighting, injurious violence, and dangerous masculinities, while normalizing other social issues such as hazing and sexual violence.”

Shoresy does the same. It appeals to those who authenticate, protect, and perpetuate hockey’s toxic culture. To do so, Shoresy even used real-life hockey players including ex-NHLers Terry Ryan, Jordan Nolan, and Brendan Nolan, and former AHLers Jon Mirasty and Jonathan-Ismael Diaby, who was also an NHL draft pick, to provide a sense of realism and credibility.

Even the NHL’s own website promoted the show, saying that it “depicts the game to a T” and celebrates the titular character as a “tongue-twisting, foul-mouthed, Grade-A chirper.” If Shoresy does in fact depict the game of hockey “to a T” by the NHL’s definition, it should be an admonishment, not commendation.

As another reviewer, and self-proclaimed “Beer league hockey player” wrote, “While many films and shows have attempted to authentically depict hockey and its culture, they often seem stiff, awkward and too polite. Shoresy is none of these, with its bro-lovin’ vibe, smart-assed chirps, inherent violence and contrasting grace that all resonates with me, a committed Beer league hockey player.”

Hockey is reckoning with sexual violence, abuse, racism, homophobia, and misogyny in the form of scandals involving Hockey Canada, prospect Mitchell Miller, and a class action lawsuit coordinated by former NHLer Dan Carcillo who is taking on the Canadian Hockey League. Despite this, Shoresy chose to highlight and celebrate this culture and the catalyzing issues, where it could have been a thoughtful and still watchable critique.

While many in the hockey world recognize this need for change and will immediately ignore recommendations to watch the show, other fans are bound to enjoy Shoresy. It’s a love story to old-time hockey and a harmful off-ice culture, making it the story hockey did not need while the game continues to address these systemic issues.