Top 5: Fictional Hockey Players

     I was trying to come up with a good top 5 topic in honor of my Bruins first trip to the finals since I was in middle school, but was finding it a little difficult.  I've already done Top 5 Hockey Brawls and nothing else to do with the actual sport was ringing very interesting to me.  So, I decided to really play to my interests and mix a little sport and pop culture.  Today's list is Top 5 Fictional Hockey Players...

5. Happy Gilmore (Happy Gilmore)
     Not the world's best player talent wise, thus he becomes a golfer, but he did hold two records, most time spent in the penalty box and the only player to stab another player with his skate, which is more records then most, so he gets the nod at number 5.  If I was basing this just on the movie or TV show the player was in/on, Gilmore would probably be higher, but this list is best player, not best character.

4.  Stevie Weeks (Mystery, Alaska)
     Russell Crow's John Biebe was the movie's main character, Stevie Weeks was the Mystery's real talent.  As important as Biebe's veteran presence was to the team and it's cohesiveness, there was no way the boys from Alaska would have been able to even challenge the Rangers without Weeks youth, speed and skill.  Both Weeks and Conner Banks get invited to NHL camps, but my money is on Weeks becoming the first Mystery pro.

3. Jean "Rosie" LaRose (Strange Brew)
      We will never really know how good Rosie would have been had he not had that nervous breakdown and fallen under the spell of the evil Brewmeister Smith.  If his mind controlled play against the other inmates of the Royal Canadian Institute for the Mentally Insane is any sign, he would have been an all time great.  If he's the McKenzie's favorite player, he probably belongs on this list

2.  Derek Sutton (Youngblood)
     Just because the movie is named Youngblood, doesn't mean Dean Youngblood was the best player the movie had to offer.  Patrick Swayze's Derek Sutton was the full package.  He was a Cam Neely, Milan Lucic, type before either had become stars.  He could mix it up in the corners, drop the gloves and play with finesse.  Yeah, the whole point of the movie was the Youngblood learned to fight and defend himself on the ice, but I don't buy that it stuck.  I think he was too much of a wimp on the ice to ever make anything of himself in the NHL.  Much like Neely, a horrible injury cut Sutton's playing career short, but when he was at the top of his game there wasn't many better.

1.  The Hanson Brothers (Slap Shot)
     I'm cheating a little by making the brothers count as one player, but really, they are a package deal.  If you're talking just pure hockey skill and talent, there is no doubt that Ned Braden was the Chiefs best player, and really the only one with any shot of making the pros, but the Hansons turned the fortunes of whole franchise around.  Before the Hansons were on the scene, the Chiefs were a team that couldn't win a game if they wanted to.  Once they popped on the scene, busted a few heads, broke a few knuckles, the Chiefs were playing for the championship.  They weren't good enough to save the team from being sold, but they were as big a difference as you could get.

Honorable Mentions: Adam Banks (Mighty Ducks), Eddie LeBec (Cheers)