The Mighty Ducks (franchise)

***The Mighty Ducks*** is an American media franchise. It features a trilogy of live-action films released in the 1990s by Walt Disney Television Animation, an animated television series, a live-action sequel television series, and a real-world hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). The movies revolve around a Twin Cities ice hockey team, composed of young players that stick together throughout various challenges. Despite negative reviews from film critics, the trilogy's commercial success paved the way for the franchise's expansion.

The franchise has various releases in other media, including theme park and hotel attractions.

## Films

### *The Mighty Ducks* (1992)

After being pulled over for drunk driving, Minneapolis-based attorney Gordon Bombay is sentenced to 500 hours of community service, coaching youth hockey. There he meets the District 5 peewee hockey team perennial losers who finish at the bottom of the league standings year after year. They are shut out every game and lose by at least five goals. The players learn Bombay was once a player for the Hawks and the team in the same league but left hockey because of the embarrassment that followed after a failed attempt at a penalty shot at the end of regulation causing them to lose in overtime costing them a peewee championship. With the help of Coach Bombay and a desperately needed infusion of cash and equipment from Bombay's law firm, the players learn the fundamentals of the sport. Soon enough the District 5 team now christened the Ducks after Bombay's employer Gerald Ducksworth start winning games and manage to make the playoffs, reaching the finals and adding new player Adam Banks, an ex-Hawk who is a talented player and an asset for the Ducks. Bombay faces the Hawks, the team he grew up playing for still led by Jack Reilly, the same coach Bombay played for. Fittingly, the Ducks win the title game on a penalty shot by Bombay's protege Charlie.

### *D2: The Mighty Ducks* (1994)

Inspired by his own players, Bombay decides to try out in the hockey minor leagues and becomes the star player for the fictional Minnehaha Waves, with an easy pathway to the NHL. After a career-ending knee injury, he is offered a chance to coach a team representing the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games. For this, he reunites most of his Ducks(while 5 of them have moved away) and introduces them to five new players from across the country to form Team USA. While they win several early games, the lure of celebrity eventually becomes a distraction to both Bombay and the players, and reality kicks in when they lose against Team Iceland in an embarrassing defeat. Frustrated, Bombay drives his players even harder, yet Team USA continues to suffer, until they come across a street hockey team who teaches them how to play like "the real Team USA". New player Russ Tyler (Kenan Thompson), who earlier heckled Team USA during its matches, is recruited into the roster. Bombay realizes the most important thing is to have fun and after a change in attitude, the Ducks redeem themselves by working up the playoff ladder to meet Team Iceland in the finals. Team USA proves to be a match for Iceland, but the game ends in a tie, resulting in a shootout which - due to the fast glove of new goalie Julie Gaffney - Team USA ends up winning the championship.

### *D3: The Mighty Ducks* (1996)

The movie shifts focus from Bombay to protégé Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson). After their victory at the Junior Goodwill Games, Charlie and his teammates are awarded scholarships to Eden Hall Academy (a fictitious name from crossing Southwestern suburb Eden Prairie, Cretin-Derham Hall, and Saint Thomas Academy), a prestigious Minnesota high school Bombay attended. Their arrival is met with hostility from the varsity team (mainly consisting of players who are members of rich families, whose younger siblings were cut from the junior varsity team to make room for the Ducks), as well as Bombay's hand-picked successor, Ted Orion (Jeffrey Nordling), whose emphasis on defensive two-way hockey irks Charlie. Not wanting to be on a team led by Orion, who he believes to be a washed-up former professional player, Charlie leaves the team, but rejoins as he learns the truth about Orion from Bombay. Charlie and Orion quickly bond in time for the JV-Varsity Showdown, and thanks in large part to the work of Charlie, the Ducks win on a shorthanded goal in the dying seconds of the game from unlikely goal scorer Greg Goldberg (who is converted from goalie to defenseman).

## Characters

Below is the list of primary characters, seen in the films and tv series

* Gordon Bombay
* Charlie Conway
* Adam Banks
* Fulton Reed
* Guy Germaine
* Connie Moreau
* Lester Averman
* Jesse Hall

### Cameos

*Main article: List of hockey players who appear in The Mighty Ducks series*