| Director | Jay Baruchel |
|---|---|
| Genre | comedy drama, sport film |
| Runtime | 101 min |
| Country | United States |
| Box office | C$1.2 million |
During an NHL lockout, Doug "The Thug" Glatt's minor-league team, the Halifax Highlanders, receive increased media coverage. Their owner, Hyrum Cain, seeks to capitalize on the attention. For the opening game, Doug is promoted to captain, but loses a fight with the rival team's enforcer, Anders Cain, the son of the Highlanders' owner.
Badly injured, Doug retires to a more stable job as an insurance salesman, while he and his pregnant wife Eva make preparations for their child. Without Doug, the Highlanders embark on a long losing streak which prompts the owner to push for changes. He signs several overseas players and his son. Doug finds no joy in his new job, and tries to find a way back into hockey. His old rival, Ross "The Boss" Rhea, agrees to train him in fighting with his left hand, to offset his weakened right. Ross has been competing in a hockey fighting league, and when that league has a match scheduled in Halifax, where it will likely be viewed by Hyrum, he convinces Doug to compete as a demonstration that he is fit to play. Doug wins a ten-man battle royale, observed by Hyrum.
Anders has not been performing well for the Highlanders, and gets suspended for violence. Hyrum adds Doug back to the roster as competition for his son. Before Doug's first game back, Eva makes him promise not to fight, for the sake of their future child. Doug reluctantly agrees, and the team goes on a winning streak, but when Anders returns from suspension, he goads Doug into being more aggressive.
Doug and Anders interrupt a game during a dispute, and they are both suspended for the next one. During the game's afterparty, Anders provokes Doug into a fight and, when his back is turned, breaks a beer bottle over his skull. When Eva sees that Doug has been fighting again, she kicks him out of the house.
The Highlanders must win the last two games of the season to get into the playoffs. Hyrum signs Ross, at the expense of firing Anders. While Ross helps the Highlanders to win the first of their last two games, Eva goes into labor, and Doug reconciles with her as they head to the hospital. After having her baby, Eva realizes that the same drive that led Doug to be with her during the birth, is what pushes him to want to defend his teammates on the ice, and she gives Doug her blessing to continue fighting.
Anders rejoins his old team, who will play the Highlanders in the last game of the season with a playoff spot on the line. Anders gravely injures Ross, so Doug enters the rink in retaliation.
Doug beats Anders, but when showing mercy at the end of the fight, Anders vengefully threatens him, declaring he will never stop coming for him until they end up like Ross, being carried out on stretchers. Realizing that his new family is more important to him than hockey, Doug uses his weakened right arm to level Anders in the face just as he was about to strike again, throwing his arm out and being helped off the ice.
Hyrum rushes to his son's aid, Anders tells him that he hates hockey, and they seem to make amends. Knowing that further injury to his right arm would be career-ending, Doug realizes that his hockey days are behind him. He watches as the Highlanders win the game in the final seconds, and during the celebration, he sets his stick down and goes home.
In a post-credits scene, a female reporter talks about the Hockey Story. Doug doesn't know if he's a Gretzky and steals her microphone.