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Hockey on the Hallmark Channel? Cable dramas and cable networks often adhere so strictly to formula that any deviation is welcome. But Im still scratching my head over Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story (8 p.m. Saturday).
In stark contrast to Hallmarks regular slate of romances, Mr. Hockey focuses on a brutal sport, one that is not necessarily the favorite of female viewers. And its set, faithfully, in the shaggy end of the early 1970s. In fact, The Brady Bunch meets Mad Men set design, costuming, hair and makeup featured in the production may be one of the movies chief pleasures.
Mr. Hockey begins with Howe (Michael Shanks) retiring in 1971 after a quarter-century with the NHLs Detroit Red Wings. His jersey enshrined, hes kicked upstairs to a do-nothing job with team management. When his two young hockey-playing sons attract the interest of the new Houston Aeros franchise of the upstart World Hockey Association (WHA), the Red Wings owner lambastes Howe and orders him to keep his kids in line. Bored, insulted and incensed, Howe quits the team and joins his son on the Aeros at the age of 45, forming the only father-son act in pro sports.
Is this a hockey movie? A film about a family held together by a strong wife and mother, Colleen Howe (Kathleen Robertson)? Or a story about folks from the frozen North settling in semitropical Houston? Unfortunately, Howe...