The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (1×04) Hockey Moms Review

For our review of the first three episodes of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, click here.

As much as The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers is Evan’s story, it’s also about Alex and this episode gave Lauren Graham a chance to shine while also highlighting her chemistry with Emilio Estevez’s Gordon Bombay. Their relationship is the best part of the series thus far and it looks to be something even more than that. As much as Evan has something to prove, Alex also has something to prove her worth to herself and the other hockey parents who saw her and her methods as less than. Developing what appears to be a fondness for her or maybe he just felt bad for her or just a combination of the two, Bombay definitely noticed and offered to help. Alex’s crusade in a way mirrored his as he had already gone to the other end of that but Alex was pulling him out of that funk.

Alex’s crusade seeped into her work life as Bombay volunteered her against her boss Stephanie (Julee Cerda) in a slapshot challenge as part of a hockey mom skills competition between the Mighty Ducks moms and the Don’t Bother moms where he offered to coach the Don’t Bother moms. Of course the odds were certainly not in her favor seeing that she was quite overmatched on paper against a former olympic hockey player. However, do not underestimate Alex’s pent-up anger and frustration when it came to her relationship with Stephanie. The outcome of this confrontation had a few repercussions but before getting to that, the Don’t Bothers’ recent recruit from the Might Ducks, Sofi (Swayam Bhatia), still had to break the news of her defection to her strict, academically-obsessed parents.

Before breaking the news, Sofi attempted to split her time between the Mighty Ducks and the Don’t Bothers which proved to not be a viable strategy as both sides were noticing that something was up. Stuck, she eventually broke the news to her parents and the situation eventually became an ultimatum that depended on the outcome of that aforementioned skills competition. In the end, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone that the outcome of that competition rested on the slapshot challenge between Alex and Stephanie. Alex and Bombay work together and practiced in a fun scene between the two but it was still not enough. Suffice it to say that she found that edge when the game was on the line until an unfortunate technicality took the wind out of her and the Don’t Bother mothers’ sails. When it looked like all hope was lost, Sofi’s parents saw what the competition meant to her therefore they allowed her to join the Don’t Bothers.

Meanwhile, the B story saw Evan and Nick (Maxwell Simkins) invite Koob (Luke Islam) for a sleepover at Nick’s house. If it wasn’t already clear, Koob is not much of a people person as he spent most of his time playing video games in his basement. In fact, his family was a screen family, spending most of their time with screens and not so much with one another. That being said, Koob having to give up his phone was debilitating but he had to learn to live without it despite the three pulling of an ingenious heist to get it back only to find out that the phone ran out of battery as soon as he got it back.

Ultimately, if anything, Alex’s performance in the skills competition put her on the radar of the other parents and maybe gained her some respect from Stephanie. While this episode wasn’t as much about the Don’t Bothers themselves, now that Sofi was finally in the fold, perhaps their fortunes will change. The repercussions from this move remain to be seen though the team look to be moving in the right direction but this was inevitably going to happen anyway.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.