IF YOU WERE BORN BEFORE 1980, CHANCES ARE YOUNGBLOOD IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOCKEY MOVIES AFTER SLAP SHOT.

Heck, it might even be your favorite. whole city was shut down. No one called me MARKLE: Whereas the 1977 comedy lampooned hock- to cancel the meeting. I couldn’t drive there, ey’s violence, 1986’s Youngblood portrayed it because they hadn’t plowed the streets. So I was a fantastic We had player, a couple totally doubles ambidextrous. for Rob: as a necessary part of the game, while also walked in the snowdrifts, which were up to Scott MacPherson and Randy Walker. Scott highlighting hockey’s grace and skill. The my waist. I got to the meeting and nobody he was a perfect-looking double. Scotty could shootRandy both didn’t ways, shoot and the that same helped. way as Rob, but who leaves his family farm in upstate New (associate producer) Mark Allan and myself. film stars Rob Lowe as Dean Youngblood, Iwas got inthe the gig wholebecause building of that exceptmeeting for but Peter, also DON BIGGS Mustangs. Although he can skate and score, PATRICK SWAYZE’S HOCKEY DOUBLE: York to play junior hockey for the Hamilton- the snow. mates, woos his coach’s daughter and in the because Peter was impressed that I braved pads and stick blades the same so that they endhe can’t has fight.to stand He tries up to to thefit in league’s with his biggest team MARKLE: A really good friend of mine skied all Patrick and I had to tape our skates, shin bully. Thirty years later, Youngblood stands the time in Vail, Colo. He became pretty close to him. tall as one of hockey’s cult classics. to Eric Nesterenko, who taught ski lessons. didn’t miss a beat when they flipped from me Adding to its realism were the people in- JAMES RICHMOND BOMBERS CAPTAIN “STORDAHL”: Markle was a former minor-pro and inter- friendI was suggested working on Nesterenko the project, as the looking dad and for - nationalvolved in player the film. for Writerthe U.S. and (see director pg. 48). Peter Cin- assomeone my hockey to play consultant. Youngblood’s dad, and my ematographer Mark Irwin donned skates It was the best summer job I ever had. Pat and a helmet and devised a special rig to drinks.rick Swayze He’d andcome I got over pretty to visit close my during mom andthe shoot the movie on ice. Eric Nesterenko, who dad,filming. and We’d we hung go for out dinner a few or times to get when a couple we ROB LOWE HAD THE weren’t shooting. played 20 seasons in the NHL, was the film’s WARDROBE PEOPLE STEVE THOMAS hockey consultant and also played Dean MUSTANGS PLAYER “JORDE”: Youngblood’s dad, Blane. George Finn, who GETTING HIM DRESSED Keanu was a heck of a goalie. He knew what portrayed nemesis Carl Racki, was a former he was doing out there. He hung out with the OHL enforcer. Most of the players in the film, AND TYING HIS SKATES. players. We played cards together. He was a such as Steve Thomas, Don Biggs, Peter Zezel lot of fun. and James Richmond, were OHL or NCAA WE JUST LOOKED AT players at the time. Thomas and Zezel went Every good movie needs a great villain, on to lengthy NHL careers. EACH OTHER, THINKING, and Finn fit the bill. Like Racki, Finn was an mightTHN have reached been outthe topretty Lowe, face but in he front declined of the enforcer who could also score. He played in camera,the opportunity but so many to talk.people No worked matter. hard Lowe to “OH MY GOD, HE CAN’T the OHL against Thomas, Biggs and many of make him look good. This is their story. the other players cast in , but he EVEN TIE HIS SKATES. almost didn’t become one of hockey’s most ••• popular bad guys. Youngblood

After two successful films, Markle decided COME ON, SERIOUSLY?” GEORGE FINN he wanted to make a hockey movie. MGM – Steve Thomas “CARL RACKI”: green-lit . First, though, Markle My agent told me that they were looking for had to assemble a cast and crew. featured a lot of up-and-com- Youngblood ing actors. Lowe was cast in the lead role, - PETER MARKLE whileYoungblood Patrick Swayze played Derek Sutton, ditioning.a villain for Once a hockey I got there, film. II saidfelt reallyno at goodfirst. WRITER & DIRECTOR: the Mustangs’ captain and star center. Even But then I thought about it and ended up au I wrote Youngblood, and my agent gave it to appears in the movie (his sec- ond film role), as Heaver, one of the Mustangs’ about it. I read some lines, and Peter Markle club hockey. He liked the script, and we had a goalies. While Reeves actually played hockey MARKLE:and (producer) Pat Wells actually liked me. lotproducer of actors Peter interested Guber in at it. MGM, We had who it cast played up growing up, Swayze and Lowe needed doubles Casting brought him in. I loved his look, and pretty quickly. to do a lot of their on-ice work. he handled George the partwas awell. decent He playernever actedin junior. be- fore in his life, and I thought he did a really MARK IRWIN ERIC NESTERENKO CINEMATOGRAPHER: HOCKEY CO-ORDINATOR & “BLANE YOUNGBLOOD”: When producers would come to , in THOMAS:great job. those days, you actually had to apply to work when he was with Windsor and I was with SheSwayze got himwasn’t to standa bad onskater, his skates but Lowe and couldn’tgo from the Marlies. George We hadFinn a andreally I foughtgood scrap. in junior, And skate, so we set him up with a figure skater. then the movie came around, and I’m look-

morning,on a film. there The was night four before feet of mysnow, interview, and the They basically shot him from the waist up. MCEWEN ROB there was this giant blizzard. On Thursday Point A to Point B without looking too bad. ing at him as we’re filming. He’s got this huge

46 | THE HOCKEY NEWS AUGUST 15, 2016 THE MAKING OF YOUNGBLOOD: AN ORAL HISTORY

THOROUGHBREDS IN THEIR MIDST The fictional Mustangs had real life talent in future NHLers Biggs (kneeling, left with ‘C’), Thomas (back row, ninth from right) and Peter Zezel (front row, third from right).

TAKING THEIR BEST SHOTS Markle and Irwin devised a special rig to shoot much of the hockey footage, including the fight between Youngblood and Racki, with Stordhal watching.

beard and looks like an animal. I’m thinking IRWIN: - IRWIN: We shot the hockey action in slow mo- to myself, “My god, where did I get the cour- ally the case. The worst guys are portrayed tion, at 32 frames per second, because 24 by the Georgenicest people.was a really The nicevillain guy, is asalways is usu a frames per second looked over-cranked, like great guy. FINN:age to Actually, fight this I guy?” was supposed to be called The hockey scenes for were NESTERENKO:an old silent BusterThe action Keaton scenes film. on the ice shot at three Toronto rinks over the summer of had to be choreographed. It really helps to Brophy in the film, after (former minor pro 1984. Filming hockey is difficult.Youngblood You need to have somebody who understands what the D-man and NHL coach) John Brophy, but co-ordinate players, navigate expensive cam- John didn’t want to release his name. So Peter eras around the ice and have enough people Markle named me after (stuntman) Branko in the stands to make it look like a real game. plays should look like. Real plays. Markle Racki. I said, “You’re the director, so you can was pretty busy running the whole film, so call me whatever you want to call me.” he wanted somebody to organize the play on

AUGUST 15, 2016 THE HOCKEY NEWS | 47 the ice. It was fun being the smart guy on the set, as far as hockey’s concerned, and it was a good experience.

IRWIN: We tried shooting from a wheelchair.

and manufacturing dollies with vibration iso- lators.It worked We fine,made but actual we skate ended blades up designing for the dollies so that we could put the dolly on the ice and drive it around. It worked real well.

BIGGS: We were working on one play for may- Peter Markle with be three hours, over and over again. I had to the Flint Generals put the puck through my skates, back onto in 1969-70. my stick and then come in on the goalie and throw it top shelf. Then we changed the area the fans were sitting, and did it again. Then I went through a stage where I missed a bunch of times, so it took quite a while. Then we WAYNE GRETZKY & ROB LOWE

net,were put ready his hands for Patrick, in the air who and was was out done there for HOCKEY TO thefor fourday. or five minutes. He skated behind the HOLLYWOOD IRWIN: We had around 100 extras every day. Youngblood’s director went from from shooting pucks to shooting films toWe’d the jam skating, them we’d together see this for tightwhole stuff side around of the arena,the benches which on was both empty. teams. A Buthundred when peoplewe got NOT MANY FILM directors can boast that they played for the U.S. national team. Peter Markle is likely the only one. And it was at a New York Islanders training camp, of all prop guys, wardrobe and myself built these places, that he decided to quit hockey and make movies. scarecrowswouldn’t fill outit. You’d of wooden need 400 T-shaped or more. frames So the Born in Danville, Pa., Markle moved to Minneapolis when he was in first grade, learning to skate on frozen ponds and outdoor rinks. He played three years of andwith the a Styrofoam sleeves would head, be painted safety-pinned flesh color. to college hockey at Yale. “We didn’t have a good team my We’d put a shirt or jacket or whatever on it, the sleeves of the extras. So when one person ERIC NESTERENKO senior year,” he recalled. “Cornell, with Ken Dryden in waved or shook his arms, the scarecrow peo- & ED LAUTER net, beat us 19-1.” ple would do the same thing. It worked great. After his collegiate career wrapped up, Markle played a with the Rochester Mustangs of the United States League, back when it was a semi-pro circuit. The THOMAS: We were putting our gear on for a high level, so those games would get pretty Boston Bruins invited him to training camp in 1969, after - serious sometimes. The makeup people which they assigned him to the Flint Generals of the ple getting him dressed and tying his skates. would get ticked off because guys would be International League. The U.S. national team scouted scene, and Rob Lowe had the wardrobe peo drenched in sweat after these games. And if Markle in Flint, and he ended up playing three seasons my god, he can’t even tie his skates. Come on, you were doing the same scene as you did alongside Herb Brooks. We just looked at each other, thinking, “Oh before lunch, you looked different. But it was at a tryout with the Islanders in 1973 when putting on his own equipment. He didn’t have Markle had an epiphany. “I gave it one last shot,” he theseriously?” wardrobe Then people the followingaround him day, all Lowe the time, was The Mustangs square off against the Thun- said. “I went to camp and realized that it wasn’t going doing the little things and tying his skates af- der Bay Bombers, the toughest team in ju- to happen.” The Islanders wanted to assign Markle to the Mus- ter we started to heckle him a little bit. niors, for the championship series. In the first kegon Mohawks of the IHL and sent him to speak with period, a bench-clearing brawl ensues after the Mohawks’ coach/GM Morris ‘Moose’ Lallo. “I made MARKLE: Racki decks the Mustangs’ goalie. my decision to direct films right then,” Markle said. “Lallo who played Huey Hewitt. He was a decent couldn’t believe that somebody would give up hockey.” We had a local actor Peter Faussett, RICHMOND: One of Markle’s earliest directing jobs was making squad. We weren’t supposed to smile. We a 20-minute promotional film for the Minnesota Fight- heplayer, took but a slap he wasn’tshot from a junior. center Eric ice got and pissed came were told to Thelook angry Bombers or mean were on thethe ice. goon ing Saints of the WHA. He wrote, shot, produced and because Peter didn’t do a drill properly, so directed an indie film called The Personals. His next film, head. Oh my god! I’m glad it didn’t hit him, THOMAS: That was so much fun. It was mock a Hollywood comedy called Hot Dog...The Movie, grossed two inches from hitting Peter right in the $20 million at the box office. Youngblood, which Markle but it got a laugh from the crew and players. wrote and directed, was his third film. Now, he has more were pushing and shoving each other. I loved than 50 directing credits to his name, including films RICHMOND: Instead of having a lunch break, fighting, but it looked like a real brawl. Guys Bat*21 and Flight 93, as well as episodes of C.S.I., Rescue because we could eat anytime, we’d have each other. Some guys would get into it a

Me, Burn Notice and The X-Files. a pickup game. Some guys were pretty littleit. They bit paired more, usand off, then and itthen would we just escalate. jostled I MCEWEN ROB

48 | THE HOCKEY NEWS AUGUST 15, 2016 THE MAKING OF YOUNGBLOOD: AN ORAL HISTORY

don’t know how many takes they did, but it was really tiring. that looked semi-realistic. It was mayhem, was just trying to choreograph something RICHMOND: two or more people. In this case, it was two - just like any scene that involves shooting IN THE BIG FIGHT SCENE, nected with In a the punch big fightand gotscene, me I right was pairedunder due to budget constraints. theup with eye. Swayze.That was In pretty one shot, funny. he actuallyAnd then con he teams, and we had to finish it by midnight I WAS PAIRED UP ended up kissing the linesman when he’s IRWIN: We were determined to break the re- cord for most shots in a day. We did 128 shots WITH SWAYZE. IN ONE wasn’t scripted, and they put that take in the over 14 hours. movie.breaking We usgot up.a good Swayze chuckle adlibbed out of that. that. It SHOT, HE ACTUALLY hit theaters in 1986. Made on In the story’s nadir, Racki slew-foots Sutton, a $4.2 million budget, it grossed $15.4 million CONNECTED WITH A who hits his head on the ice and is hospitalized. in YoungbloodU.S. theaters. The movie became a popular rental on VHS and was aired regularly on ca- PUNCH AND GOT ME BIGGS: The stunt team had me a harness, with ble TV. Even in the late 2000s, a PG-rated edit a blood pack on the back of my head. When of was shown in the U.S. during RIGHT UNDER THE EYE. the NHL playoffs when a series ended early. – James Richmond Youngblood putGeorge it all would together, kick and out it mylooked feet, realistic. they’d yank BIGGS: Youngblood out the rope, and I’d go up on the harness. You When they first put

STARS ON ICE? ER, NOT SO MUCH MARK IRWIN Neither Lowe nor Ed Lauter (Mustangs coach) knew how to skate, though Swayze had taken figure skating lessons prior to acting in Youngblood.

THOMAS: If someone were to do that in a on VHS, on the back there was a picture of FINN: I was at a graduation party recently, game, back in the era when I played, that guy wouldn’t be alive. If that happened in a real - game, there’d be problems. itYoungblood and change and the Suttoncover. laughing. But it was where.and somebody came up to me and said, “Do actually me with Rob Lowe. They had to pull you want to go, pretty boy?” I get that every In the final game between the Mustangs THOMAS: I still get ribbed for that scene where RICHMOND: and the Bombers, Youngblood scores a hat I’m doing the leg press and get snapped with seasons. My teammates there loved Young- trick, including the winning on a - blood and used I played to watch in Denmark it all the time. for a They few shot. But his work isn’t done. For this hero’s ing in the mirror these days, I looked a lot thought it was the best thing in the world journey to be complete, Youngblood needs to bettera towel. then. I was in good shape back then. Look that I was in it. So the next year, when I came stand up to Racki. back, I gave one of my teammates my Stor- IRWIN: FINN: I was given blood capsules to put in my we evolved the dollies that we built in 1984 - for Youngblood I shot The. Mighty Ducks 2 as well, so NESTERENKO:dahl jersey. sules so it looked like I was bleeding. I even together for two or three months, a real ca- mouth. When Rob hit me I would bite the cap MARKLE: I sent the masks used in Youngblood, I didn’t realize, but when you’re the pucks with the Mustangs’ logo, the script crew, the actors and all the people who are told Rob, “Don’t be shy to hit me. I can take a and a bunch of photos to the Hockey Hall of maraderie really builds up among the film MARKLE:punch. Just That hit wasme, butthe don’tlast scenebreak wemy nose.”shot. I brought together to make the film. I really Fame. They were really excited to get it all. enjoyed that.

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