''Ice Kings'' is a documentary film by Craig E. Shapiro. The film chronicles Mount Saint Charles Academy

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team's historic streak of 26 consecutive state titles.

Synopsis

''Ice Kings'' is a 2006 documentary film that was produced, written and directed by Craig E. Shapiro. The film captures the story of Rhode Island's

Mount Saint Charles Academy Mount Saint Charles Academy is a private Roman Catholic coeducational junior/senior high school located in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence. History In the late 1800s, a significant number of French C ...

high school hockey team and their historic streak of 26 consecutive state titles. The film tells the incredible stories of the young men who kept the streak alive and recaps the tale of the unlikely public school that knocked the perennial kings from their throne. Ice Kings begins by highlighting the rich hockey history of the state of Rhode Island. Colorful stories of the

Providence Reds The Providence Reds were a hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League (CAHL) between 1926 and 1936 and the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Reds. The t ...

are told by local residents and legends alike. While Rhode Island may be known by tourists for its beaches and resort towns, the film focuses on the heart of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, which is found in the working class cities like Woonsocket. As stated by Mark Patinkin of the Providence Journal, "You sometimes need a window to see into this state, and Ice Kings captures Rhode Island through hockey, as important here as football is in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

."Patinkin Review
/ref> The film then turns its attention to the man behind the legacy, former Mount Saint Charles Academy rink manager turned coach, Bill Belisle. At that time Mount, a perennial contender for the state title had lost its luster, but with Belisle's tough grit and hard nosed approach their legacy began. "It was said he knew how to fix the Zamboni, the soda machines, and the team." Tales from former players and parents put a face on the historic streak and help explain how one man could will generation after generation to win. Narrated by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Sports'

Bill Macatee Bill Macatee (born November 17, 1955) is an American sports broadcaster for CBS Sports and Tennis Channel. Early life and career Macatee was born in Rome, New York, and grew up in El Paso, Texas. He graduated from Burges High School in El Pas ...

, Ice Kings is an inspiring look at dedication, sacrifice, and one school's remarkable willingness to win. Mark Patinkin of the

Providence Journal ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...

states, “High school hockey is a metaphor for the state, and the film gets you thinking about our mill-town heritage, and how the quest for pride and identity plays out here each season on the ice.”

Critical reception

In 2006, Ice Kings was screened at a number of film festivals and received critical acclaim. The film premiered at the 2006 Rhode Island International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award. “Every so often, you come across a creation that captures part of Rhode Island¹s soul. I just watched a movie that did that” -Mark Patinkin,

“Shapiro's Ice Kings is a great sports story told well, and one that deserves space in any hockey fan's DVD collection” - Eric McErlain,

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

“A nifty story, even for non fans” - Jay Seaver, efilmcritic

NHL Players in Ice Kings

Shapiro's film highlights many of the great

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

athletes that once skated the ice for and against Mount St. Charles Academy. Players include Brian Lawton,

Bryan Berard Bryan Wallace Berard (born March 5, 1977) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. Berard was the first overall pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators. He is most noted for a debilitating eye injury he received e ...

Garth Snow Garth E. Snow (born July 28, 1969) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender and former general manager, president and alternate governor of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Drafted by the Quebec Nordiqu ...

, Keith Carney,

Brian Boucher Brian Boucher ( ; born January 2, 1977) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender who is a game and studio analyst on national ESPN and ABC games and also Philadelphia Flyers games on NBC Sports Philadelphia. He played 13 season ...

, Jeff Jillson,

Mathieu Schneider Mathieu David Schneider (born June 12, 1969) is an American former professional ice hockey player. Considered an offensive defenseman, Schneider played 1,289 games in the National Hockey League with ten different teams, scoring 233 goals and tot ...

Ed Lee Edwin Mah Lee (Chinese: 李孟賢; May 5, 1952 – December 12, 2017) was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco from 2011 until his death. He was the first Asian American to hold the office. Born in ...

and many others.

The filmmaker

Craig E. Shapiro most recently produced and directed a retrospective of

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors. Agassi is the second of five men to ac ...

's career for The Tennis Channel, entitled AGASSI, Between the Lines. The 90 minute special was chosen by Tennis Week Magazine as one of the 10 best TV moments from 2007. In 2004, he started Magic Garden Productions, a full service production company specializing in Sports and Entertainment non-fiction programming. From 2004 through 2006, Magic Garden was instrumental in creating the Countdown Series for HBO Sports, a series of 30 minute documentary specials that preview HBO's biggest live boxing matches. Craig has produced and directed features on Kate Winslet and

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

for the

Glamour Magazine ''Glamour'' is today an online women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. For many years a traditional hard-copy magazine, it was founded in 1939 and first published in April 1939 in the United States. It was originally called '' ...

Woman of the Year Award Show, which aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. In addition, Shapiro produced and directed The

Maxim Magazine ''Maxim'' is an international men's magazine, devised and launched in the UK in 1995, but based in New York City since 1997, and prominent for its photography of actors, singers, and female models whose careers are at a current peak. ''Maxim'' ...

Hot 100 for VH1, as well as VH1's I Love the 70's, I Love the 80's and ESPN's groundbreaking documentary series, "The Life".

References

{{reflist 2006 documentary films 2006 films American sports documentary films Documentary films about ice hockey Films set in Rhode Island American ice hockey films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films