Hockey

Hockey from the inside out, showing why it is an exciting spectator sport and Canada's most popular national game. From the Pee-Wee division to the Bantam league, from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to the big-league professional stars, the film climbs the ladder, showing what it takes to make a hockey player--stick-handling ability, skating speed, science, strategy, expert coaches, and expensive equipment. And from east to west, the close identification of fans with players is evident in the excited cries, not of "They've won," but of "We've won!".

Film spectaculaire, description dramatique du hockey, sport national des Canadiens français. Vu «de l'intérieur», ce jeu si simple n'est pas qu'un simple jeu : c'est ni plus ni moins le rêve mythique dans lequel se réalisent les aspirations de tout un peuple! Et dont les héros sont des figures nationales! Au Forum de Montréal, entre la foule et le club des Canadiens, c'est la symbiose totale. 1955 : l'idole Maurice Richard vient d'être puni pour avoir frappé un arbitre. Comme un seul homme, le peuple descend dans la rue, et c'est l'émeute ...

This is professional hockey from the inside, an experience of the game that only the aspiring player can know. The film is about Les Nordiques de Québec, the first truly French-Canadian professional hockey club. Coached at the start by superstar Maurice Richard, it is seen here playing its opening World Hockey Association game at the Québec Coliseum. Vividly real is the pre-game tension, the on-ice action, where hopes rest on a flying puck, and, for one player at least, a dream realized in the inner office where big contracts are signed.