Hanson Brothers to Reunite for Charity Hockey Game

The Hanson Brothers might have the most recognizable faces in all of hockey.

They soared to fame in the 1977 movie "Slap Shot," and since then, they’ve become cult figures to anyone who has seen the film. Even players in the pee-wee leagues have seen or at least know about the movie, and can probably recite some of the lines from it verbatim.

The movie spawned two sequels, and there’s even been talk about a third. It also has made Dave Hanson, Jeff Carlson and his brother, Steve, among the most-demanded attractions at charity and celebrity hockey games.

Because of the demands, and the geographical distance that separates them, the Hanson Brothers only get to reunite several times a year. They’ll be getting together again on March 19, when the Hansons and the Pittsburgh Celebrity Hockey Team take on the Emergency Medicine Services All-Stars at 7 p.m. at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center on Neville Island.

“First off, it’s for a great cause, and that’s one of the things the Hanson Brothers try to do,” said Dave Hanson, who's a Peters Township resident and the executive director of the Island Sports complex. “We try to get together to play for a local charity or another good cause. It’s also fun to get on the ice again, and have fun with the guys and entertain the crowd at the same time.”

Hanson said the Hanson Brothers get more than 300 requests per year to have them appear in special games. The last time they were together was in February, when the trio played in a charity game in Leamington, Ontario for the local police children’s benefit fund.

Just getting together becomes somewhat of a logistical challenge, since Hanson spends the majority of his workday and weekends running the Island Sports facility, while one of the “brothers” lives in Minnesota and the other lives in California.

Hanson said they all look forward to their reunions during charitable games, and like old friends who get together years, they are able to pick up where they were the last time they met.

Hanson still marvels at the following the Hanson Brothers continue to get from evolving generations of fans.

“I think the original movie was a little over two hours long, and the Hanson Brothers probably had a maximum of about 15 minutes of face time,” he said. “I think a lot had to do with the characters we were on screen, but off-screen as well.”

Hanson said a lot of factors played into the camaraderie the Hanson Brothers showed on the screen, which they maintain to this day.

“For one thing, we lived together for about three months, we ate together, we rode buses and we were all from Minnesota,” he said. “It all came together, came across the screen, and made lasting memories and impressions on a whole lot of people.”

Hanson recalls an episode where the "brothers" were filming "Slap Shot 2," the sequel, 25 years after the original movie.

“We went to Vancouver to shoot the movie, we weren’t given any scripts and just kind of walked through the scenes,” he said. “It just wasn’t clicking until we put those glasses on. As soon as we put them on it was like Superman putting on his cape, and ‘Bam,' we were back, and never skipped a beat from the first movie.”

The Hanson Brothers did a third movie, with the goal to make it more “family-friendly.”

“The first two movies were rated R, and we wanted to do something that the entire family with kids could sit down with and enjoy," Hanson said. "We just wanted something that the kids didn’t have to sneak off to see at a friend’s house, and the parents didn’t have to sneak off to see without the kids."

"'Slap Shot-3,' the PG version was actually a pretty good film, and we’ve gotten a lot of good feedback about it,” he said. A “Slap Shot 4” has been in the planning stages and already has a script written. It's currently in the hands of Universal Studios.

The March 19 Pittsburgh Emergency Medicine Foundation “Pucks and Sticks Charity Hockey Game” will feature many radio and TV personalities, elected officials, the Hanson Brothers, Steelers GM Kevin Colbert, former Penguins Phil Bourque and Francioux LeRoux, playing for the celebrity team, and providers, paramedics and physicians playing for the EMS All-Stars.

Other players include, City Councilman Bill Peduto, Mike Prisuta of WDVE and The Trib, as well as KDKA Radio's Larry Richert and KDKA-TV Ross Guidotti. The EMS All-Stars will be coached by "Zeke" of the Y-108 FM Morning Show and their ace-in-the-whole will be their goalie, Stoney Richards of Y-108 FM, according to a release.

Proceeds from the game will go to the Pittsburgh Emergency Medicine Foundation for emergency medicine research and education.