The Mighty Ducks
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The Mighty Ducks is the first film in The Mighty Ducks trilogy, produced by Avnet-Kerner Productions and Walt Disney Pictures, distributed by Buena Vista Distribution, and originally released to movie theatres on October 2, 1992.
After winning yet another case, hotshot lawyer Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) is arrested for drunk driving. Having the book thrown at him by the vengeful prosecutor and judge Bombay had belittled in the previous trial, Bombay is sentenced to community service - namely, coaching the local District 5 Pee-Wee hockey team. Bombay himself has had history with the sport, although his memories are far from pleasant; he had singlehandedly blown a penalty shot that would have won his team the state championship, but instead caused the team to lose the title for the first time ever and disappointing the hypercompetitive coach, Jack Reilly (Lane Smith).
When Bombay meets the team for the first time, he realizes that the kids have no practice facility, no equipment, and no ability to go with it. The team's first game with Bombay at the helm is against the Hawks, the team that Bombay had played for in the past. Reilly is still the team's coach, and remains bitter about Gordon's shortcoming in that fateful game - the team's second-place banner still hangs amidst the row of championships along the arena walls. District 5 gets pummeled in the game, 18-0, and after Bombay berates the team for not listening to him, the players challenge Bombay's authority. Meanwhile, Bombay discovers that his mentor and father figure Hans (Joss Ackland), who owns a nearby sporting goods store, was in attendance.
The following practice, Bombay attempts to teach the team to flop for the next game, but this plan backfires when the players become exaggerate their falls so much that the referee threatens to forfeit the game to their opponents. The children's parents also voice their displeasure to Bombay for working ovetime to pay the money to enroll their kids in the league, only to see them take dives.
Bombay approaches his boss, Mr. Gerald Ducksworth (Josef Sommer), to sponsor the team, which Ducksworth reluctantly agrees when Bombay offers him his own jersey. The result is a complete makeover for the team, both in look (as they can now buy professional equipment), and in skill (as Bombay has more time to teach the kids the fundamentals of hockey). Now playing as the Ducks, they fight to a tie in the next game, and show signs of a turnaround. Along the way, they recruit three new players: the sibling team of Tommy (Danny Tamberelli) and Tammy Duncan (Jane Plank), and slapshot specialist Fulton Reed (Elden Hensen).
Despite the team's poor record before Bombay's arrival, they learn that they still have a chance to make the playoffs since one of the teams had to withdraw for the rest of the season due to the entire team contracting Measles. Bombay also learns that Adam Banks (Vincent LaRusso), the star player of the Hawks, actually resides in the Ducks' district boundaries. Bombay approaches Coach Reilly about the situation, and threatens the Hawks with forfeiting every game for the remainder of the season if Banks does not immediately join the Ducks. Reilly and Bombay get into an argument, and as Reilly chastises him for employing such underhanded tactics when the team had no chance to win anyway, Bombay appears to concur - albeit sarcastically - within earshot of two other Duck players. The players fail to recognize the context of the argument, and are devastated to hear Bombay belittle them. In addition, Bombay is fired from his firm for refusing to drop his protest with the league.
The following game, the rest of the team hears about Bombay's argument and apparent lack of faith in his players. This demoralizes the Ducks, and Bombay is forced to forfeit the game when only a couple of his players take the ice. After considering leaving the team, he is talked out of it by team captain Charlie "Spazway" Conway (Joshua Jackson), and convinces the team to give him another chance the following day: the entire team was given detention for causing an "atom fight" during science class, throwing styrofoam balls at one another, then quacking at the teacher when ordered to settle down. The pep talk comes none too soon, as the team wins the final game of the season thanks to Reed's last-second slapshot, propelling them into the playoffs. At this time, a romantic relationship begins to emerge between Bombay and Charlie's divorced mother, Casey Conway (Heidi Kling).
The Ducks win their next two games, sending them to the championship finals between the dreaded Hawks. Although Bombay and his squad celebrate the mere fact that they reached this far, the Hawks seem prepared to exact revenge on the team, both for the absconding of Banks, and for the disappointment caused by Bombay's misplay. When the game begins, the Hawks immediately jump out to a 3-0 lead, as Banks gets continually harrassed by the Hawks' defense. Not content with simply winning, Reilly instructs one of his players to "drop [Banks] like a bad habit". The following play, Banks manages to score a goal, but not before the goon on the Hawks roughs him from behind, sending him crashing into the goal and rendering him unable to play the rest of the game. The rest of the players, who before were standoffish around Banks due to his circumstances for joining the team, now accept him as a Duck and wish him well.
The Ducks are discouraged about Banks' injury, but Bombay manages to get them to score on the ensuing power play by sending Tammy Duncan out to distract the Hawks by doing a spin (drawing from her figure skating background), then passing to her brother right next to the goal for the score. One of the Hawks knocks her down after the goal, prompting Reed to leave the bench and pick a fight with the opponent who did it, earning a game misconduct ejection. Despite the team's two best offensive players out of commission, and another goal scored by the Hawks in the interim, the team manages to tie the game at the tail end of the third period.
The Ducks' goalie, Greg Goldberg (Shaun Weiss), manages to make a big save in the final minute of regulation, and the Ducks seem content to head into overtime. But when Conway steals the puck from the Hawks and has a breakaway in the closing seconds, there appears to be a chance to win the game outright. Before the shot can be taken, though, Conway is cross-checked from behind and time expires. The Ducks earn a penalty shot, which anyone who was on the ice at the time of the penalty can take. Although Conway's shot had been suspect in the past, Bombay nominates him to take the penalty shot anyway. Conway himself seems reluctant to take the shot, but Bombay encourages him by telling him how proud he is of Conway just to reach this point (a sharp contrast to Reilly threatening Bombay before his own penalty shot that his failure would let down the entire team). Conway then makes his way to the puck and, employing the same "triple-deke" move that Bombay had attempted in the past, gets the puck past the goalie and in the net, winning the game and the championship.
The movie ends with Bombay boarding a bus headed to a minor-league tryout. Although Bombay seems daunted at the prospect of going up against much younger players, he receives the same words of encouragement and advice from the Ducks that he had once given to them.
