AP Photo/Elise Amendola
On Mar. 27, the Yale men’s ice hockey team ended the season with a loss to Boston University in an NCAA regional semifinal. But, on Wednesday, film director Gabe Polsky gave the players a pick-me-up.
After seeing the loss, Polsky, who played hockey at Yale from 1998-2001, invited the team to a showing of his new documentary, Red Army, about the Soviet Union’s “Miracle on Ice”-era hockey dynasty. Polsky flew from Chicago to New Haven to join the players at the screening and participate in a Q&A. (The screening was private, but due to NCAA regulations, the players had to pay for their tickets.)
“This was such a great group of guys,” Polsky said. “They have a lot of respect. They’re intelligent. They’re down [about their loss to BU] because they’re competitive, but they’re happy people with positive attitudes. My advice for them going forward was — I don’t want to be cliche — find something you’re equally passionate about and go for it. Apply the same principles you used with hockey. That’s all it is.”
The film explores how the rise and fall of the Red Army team corresponds with the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, and additionally, how sports reflect cultural movements. The director said it was fitting for the team to be at the screening because his experience at Yale had a strong influence on his work, more than a decade after he last suited up for the Bulldogs.
“Many of the ideas that shaped the film — and who I am today — happened when I was in college,” he said. “[Yale hockey] was one of the best times of my life, and one of the worst times as well. It really challenging but fun. Being back [at Yale] is really bittersweet — it’s where my career ended. But at the same time, I have unfinished business with the sport, and I was able to finally express the ideas I had about the sport in this film. I was able to share it with a team that’s done incredibly well, a program that’s really found itself.”
For the players, who were still a bit sore over the loss, a trip to the movie helped take their minds off it a little bit.
“We thought the film was amazing,” said Tommy Fallen, a senior on the Yale team. “It really captured the Russian side of hockey. Everyone knows about Miracle [on Ice] from the U.S. perspective, but, like Gabe said, you don’t learn about the Soviet side. How intense training was, how much the players sacrificed. They had to leave their families at such a young age. At one point in the film, a [Soviet] player wasn’t allowed to go to his father’s funeral. It puts hockey in perspective for all of us.”
And even when reflecting on the end of his team’s season, Fallen was optimistic.
“Our morale is still pretty high,” he said. “I’m confident that this is the closest team anyone in our locker room has ever played on. To only lose 10 games and make it to the NCAA tournament as an Ivy League school that doesn’t allow athletic scholarships — that’s something to be proud of.”
The Yale Men’s Hockey Team at a private showing of Gabe Polsky’s Red Army at the Criterion New Haven Movie theater. (Steven Musco)
