Some folks are filling the hockey void by combing through stats, doing players/prospect analysis, giving past-game breakdowns, etc. It’s all great stuff (and something I will do when more time allots) but lately I’ve found myself catching up on hockey documentaries when I can during this quarantine.
I’ve mentioned the Probert and Fuhr ones, and thanks to my friend Only_A_Ladd on here, I watched the Bobby Ryan short on YouTube last week - pretty shocking.
Tonight I tuned into Only the Dead Know the Brooklyn Americans.
Runtime - 1HR, 12MN
Platform - Amazon Prime Video
The name instantly drew me in, though, I must admit, I was nervous because it seemed like it might be one of those low-budget pieces that’s rough to watch.
I was way wrong.
Is the production value stellar? No. But that’s part of its charm. They have some great old photos and do a nice job bringing them to life via the Ken Burns effect. The footage they have (though not a ton) is really nice in the fact that it’s very clear despite how old it is.
This flick tells an incredible hockey story and unlike the new trend of Netflix-style documentaries that take a more bias approach to try and sway viewers one way or the other about a subject, This one has more of a “true documentary” feel to me in a sense that they layout an engaging story and simply educate you. There’s a great passion project feel to it.
With Larry King as the narrator and hockey historian Stan Fischer flexing his knowledge biceps (as one of the main experts), the movie moves really well.
What I loved about it is that it doesn’t solely focus on the NY/Brooklyn Americans. It actually starts out by covering hockey’s roots in the US in the 19th Century and early 1900’s. It touches on WWI, the Roaring Twenties/Prohibition, the Great Depression, WWII, and how these events affected and shaped the league, and subsequently, the Americans.
As the game grew from the collegiate/amateur ranks, there’s an incredible cast of characters that come into play in the hockey hotbeds of the East in order to form the NHL.
One of those characters was “Big” Bill Dwyer. This guy was essentially the East coast version of Al Capone. He made a fortune as a bootlegger and had a lot of money to play with and became the owner of the New York Americans (who were once the Hamilton Tigers) as a side project of sorts. Must be nice, huh?
This is when things get really interesting...
Without saying too much, it’s wild how New York had the effect it did on these players. Here was a bunch of guys coming down from pretty quiet areas of Canada and getting swept up the city lights and faced-paced lifestyle of the city.
With Dweyer paying them well above league average and having a constant supply of alcohol as a bootlegger, a lot these guys were living in a posh hotel with celebrities, entertainers, gangsters and everything in between. They were basically the Four Horsemen or NWO of the time - just partying and running wild. But it had an effect on them and their play...
I really liked the dynamic and rivalry between the Rangers and Americans. On one side you had these undisciplined guys hanging by a thread in the Americans, and a buttoned down, disciplined, professional operation in the Rangers on the other side. The battle for MSG must have been awesome back then. Would love to hope in a time machine and go to one of those games!
Things get more and more interesting as they move through the decades and there’s a change of guard for the Americans and they pack up operations for Brooklyn and delve into the psychology/culture of Brooklyn and the changes it and the team went through.
I found the whole story fascinating and it’s a must watch as a hockey fan. If you have seen it, what did you think? There’s a lot I wanted to write about, but I don’t want to spoil it for people that might want to check it out. So if you end up watching it, chime in. There’s a lot to unpack and I would love to discuss!
I always like watching these types of things because if it wasn’t for these pioneers and guys that had dreams and visions, we wouldn’t have the NHL or the Panthers.
Florida Panthers Blogger • 
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