After being named Kraft's first-ever Hockeyville USA, the Cambria Country War Memorial Arena will see the return of a decidedly different hockey legend.
While Dave Hanson enjoyed a 10-year career as a professional hockey player, he is perhaps most well known for playing one of the Hanson brothers from the classic 1977 sports comedy Slap Shot.
Filmed in Johnstown, Slap Shot was based on the Johnstown Jets in an era where violence was a major selling point for many minor hockey leagues. Hanson fit nicely into the league.
“I found it a lot easier to drop the gloves and punch somebody in the nose than it was to put the puck in the net so I always took the easy way out,” Hanson said in an interview with Essential Pittsburgh’s Paul Guggenheimer.
The movie had its genesis in a phone call from Jets players Ned Dowd to his sister, Nancy, who was working in the movie industry at the time. He told her about the antics of a Guy they called David “Killer” Hanson and three crazy brothers, Steve Carlson, Jeff Carlson and Jack Carlson. Hanson said Nancy Dowd didn’t believe the stories and came out to see the team for a few weeks.
She returned home a true believer. Dowd began to write, changing a few names and adding ideas of her own.
Universal Studios tried to find professional actors for the movie initially, but few in consideration could skate well enough to be considered for minor roles, he said. Dowd suggested the real players get a shot and that was how Hanson and two of the Carlsons began their movie career.
David Hanson said his only prior acting experience was in a high school production of Fiddler on the Roof, but said it was easy to act as himself. Dowd had written lines but many of the best takes were ad-libs, he said.
While the film did not receive positive reviews initially, it became a cult classic with the advent of VHS. Hanson said famed movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert regretted giving Slap Shot a negative review when it was first released.
According to Hanson, Universal offered him, Steve and Jeff a seven-year movie deal… a deal that he turned down.
“Come on, we’re hockey players, we’re not actors,” Hanson said. According to him, Universal executives would not commit to only filming in the off-season. “Our goal is to either get to the world hockey association or the national hockey league.”
Now, despite the violent and crude persona he played in the film, Hanson uses his fame from the movie to give back to the community. He holds fundraisers for youth hockey leagues and helped build a playground.
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