The NHL All-Star Game is scheduled for this Sunday afternoon in Ottawa, Canada. In areas of northern US and Canada, the popularity of the sport is unmatched, as kids grow up in a culture that sometimes revolves around the Canadian Junior Hockey League.

The main character of our Sports Movie of the Week, ‘Youngblood,’ can relate to a life built around hockey. In the 1986 film, Rob Lowe stars as Dean Youngblood, an upstate New York hockey prodigy who heads to the proving ground of the junior leagues in Canada. He meets teammates Derek Sutton (Patrick Swayze) and hardscrabble coach Murray Chadwick (Ed Lauter), as well as Chadwick’s attractive daughter, Jessie (Cynthia Gibb). Youngblood also meets a nemesis, Carl Racki (George J. Finn), who forces the budding young star to prove that he’s mature enough to make it past this challenging level of hockey.

Five Reasons to Watch ‘Youngblood’

1. The on-ice play and hockey fight tutorial scenes are fairly well done, in part because director Peter Markle played ice hockey as a child.

2. If Hollywood wanted to make a movie with a premise of ‘The Karate Kid on Ice,’ this is it. Its tagline: “The ice… The fire… The fight… To be the best.”

3. The film is almost a time capsule of 1980s movie cliches, from a blaring soundtrack to the ensemble cast, which includes Keanu Reeves in a small role.

4. From his jutting chin to his intense glare, Ed Lauter was born to play a hockey coach.

5. Then- NHL players Peter Zezel and Steve Thomas serve as Youngblood’s teammates. Former NHL player Eric Nesterenko plays Blaine Youngblood, Dean’s father.

Click the play button to watch the original trailer of the film below:

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