JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- Hockey players have unique DNA.
It doesn't matter how old they are, their skill level or even their gender, hockey players are special athletes who share a certain work ethic and level of sacrifice. It begins at a young age. Players learn to respect the game through the early-morning practices, carrying and taking care of their own equipment, long commutes to games and carpooling with other parents and teammates.
Hockey is also an expensive sport, and kids are taught to respect the sacrifices their parents make during the long winter season.
The one thing most younger hockey players don't get to do is watch the movie "Slap Shot." A third generation of hockey players and fans will soon, if it hasn't happened already, be introduced to the 1977 cult classic about the fictitious Charlestown Chiefs and the legendary Hanson brothers. The film has had a huge impact on the hockey community for four decades.
Boston Bruins president and Hockey Hall of Famer Cam Neely remembers the influence the movie had earlier in his career.
"If you were a young player traveling anywhere for any length of time, that movie was played over and over and over again on the bus," Neely said. "It was consistently being played and it probably brought some teams together with that type of movie and humor when you're killing time, traveling long distances and probably [through] crappy weather in the wintertime. It's a little over the top but funny, especially to have a guy like Paul Newman in a hockey movie; I don't think a lot of people would have thought that. It was certainly entertaining and a lot of humor in it. It's one of those classic sports movies, that's for sure."
The movie celebrated its 40th anniversary over the weekend, and fans from all over North America and as far away as England came to this Rust Belt town looking to capture the spirit of the thing. Men and women of nearly every skill level participated in the celebration. By the end of the weekend, the entire group had become friends and teammates. Email addresses, cell numbers, pictures and videos were exchanged.
It was a typical hockey celebration.
Steve Carlson, aka Steve Hanson, and his wife, Vicki, organized the event called "The Boys are Back in Town."
"It's surreal," Steve Carlson said. "This is where my career started. To do the hockey film and to be one of the top five of all sports movies, arguably the best hockey movie ever made, and to come back to Johnstown where we actually filmed it, it's great."
Carlson, his older brother Jeff Carlson and Dave Hanson -- better known as the Hanson brothers -- along with original cast members Yvon Barrette ("Denis Lemieux"), Allan F. Nicholls ("Johnny Upton"), Jerry Houser ("Dave 'Killer' Carlson") and Guido Tenesi ("Billy Charlebois") brought old-time hockey back to the War Memorial.
"Without sounding corny, it's just downright cool," Dave Hanson said. "There are other 40-year anniversaries and 40-year celebrations that other people have done, but this is my first one and it's just kind of neat to do it."
Houser best described the collision of acting and hockey during filming.
"The actors from Hollywood, combined with all the hockey players, it was two very different worlds, but it was just great," he said.
Fans paid to play in the anniversary game alongside the Hansons and the cast members. The fans all had their own stories and reasons why they wanted to be part of this historic celebration.
Erik and Jen Hudak came from Salem, Mass. Jen was recently in the hospital, and the couple didn't know if they would be able to make the trip. Like a true hockey fan, she was well enough to be discharged, and since doctors did not want her to fly because of a blood clot in her leg, the couple drove nine hours for the event.
"This is unbelievable," Erik Hudak said. "I've been crapping myself [since we've arrived]. It was the first movie I saw with a swear word in it. I've played hockey my whole life and it goes way back with my family. Hockey is everything. To be here with these guys, when you have a bucket-list thing when you don't even know it's a bucket-list thing, it's unbelievable. Goose bumps."
The majority of the fans in attendance were in their 40s and 50s, but there were a few youngsters in the group.
R.J. Carvis, 27, from Chicago, just got married two weeks ago. As a wedding gift, a few of his friends chipped in to send Carvis to this event. When he and his wife returned from their honeymoon in Iceland, it was a quick turnaround to Johnstown.
"I grew up watching this movie. The first time I watched it I was 6 or 7 and probably shouldn't have," Carvis said with a laugh. "I'm a '90s kid, so right around when 'Mystery, Alaska' came out in '99, my parents figured since I loved [hockey] and I've skated since I was 2, it was time to let me watch the movie, and I watched it on VHS. I don't know if I understood all of it, but I can't count the amount of times I've watched this movie. I've never owned a Chiefs jersey, so to wear a Chiefs jersey for the first time with my number on the back feels pretty good. It's exciting."
There was only one local, Scott Wertz, who was one of two goalies in the game. By the end of the weekend, his teammates were calling him "Hometown."
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing," Wertz said. "A lot of people in the area, they grew up with 'Slap Shot.' When the [Johnstown] Chiefs came into town, Steve was the head coach, and it almost looked like you were watching the movie when you went to a game. That inspired high school players and inspired players that wanted to play. You had that 'Slap Shot' mentality to a point where you would drop the gloves and not be afraid to go at it. The way hockey progressed and the level progressed, you had the Chiefs, and now we have the Tomahawks in the area, it's a great atmosphere for hockey again. This was a blast."
The impact of the movie is undeniable and its influence in the hockey world will no doubt live on.
"Everybody loves 'Slap Shot,' and not only in Canada and the States, but everywhere in the world," Barrette said. "The script was great and it's still funny, still amazing. I hope to survive a few more years to be here for the 50th anniversary."
Spoken like a true hockey fan.