Aahana Swrup
The sports comedy series ‘Shoresy’ takes the viewers back to the hockey scene of Sudbury. In season 5, the NOSHO league’s Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs are looking forward to a new season under the coachship of the titular protagonist. After a strong career as “the dirtiest center player in the league,” Shoresy is finally ready to take on a new challenge, this time from behind the boards. However, his chances of doing the same begin to diminish when the organization folds out of the blue, leaving the Tripe-A teams with no league to participate in.
Meanwhile, under Toppo Makki’s guidance, a European team, the EU All-stars, begin to gain prominence in North America, swiftly and easily cutting their way toward a season full of victories. As a result, when their coach gets too outspoken about his team’s mastery over their North American contemporaries, Nat and Shoresy find a new goal to pursue, as the latter puts together an all-star team of his own, drawing from players from the Bulldogs and the National Senior Tournament. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Shoresy Season 5 Recap
In the lead-up to a new game season for NOSHO, Shoresy and his fellow Bulldogs, Dolo, Goody, and Hitch, drive down to support their Blueberry Buddy mentee, Jack, a hockey player on the collegiate level. The latter has been off his game for some time now and has grown homesick in his first foray outside of Sudbury. Nonetheless, the former 69-numbered player is able to help the young player out with some good and simple advice. This almost gives a peek into what his future as a coach for the Bulldogs might look like. Except, as Shoresy learns at his next meeting with team manager, Nat, the Bulldogs no longer have any league to throw their hat into. After scrapping along for multiple years, NOSHO has finally folded, leaving every Triple-A team in the area without a home.
This puts Shoresy and the rest of the Bulldogs in an impossible position. However, shortly thereafter, the former gets a fateful call with a supposed offer in Toronto that he can’t refuse. Akin from the BroDude web show wants him to feature in a segment, opposite none other than the legendary Wayne Gretzky. Naturally, the ex-player readily agrees to the change of getting to meet his longtime hero. Similarly, he takes it in stride when “The Great One,’ ends up cancelling on the appearance at the last second, eager to grant the latter a sea of compassion for his contribution to the sport. As a result, he ends up doing the segment on his own and speaks about the current landscape of North American hockey, particularly regarding his distaste for the crackdowns on the sport’s more physical aspects.
In the aftermath of the segment, Shoresy gets to talk with Gretzky on the phone, who, surprisingly enough, expresses his fondness for the Bulldogs team and their gameplay. Afterward, the team continues to mope around in the wake of the death of their hockey league. The constant news coverage on the EU All-stars and their apparently superior skills manages to somewhat get on the players’ nerves. A particular chord is struck when the team’s coach, Toppo, directly responds to Shoresy’s comments about the Europeans’ aversion to Hockey’s more violent tendencies. Consequently, the former player and aspiring coach decides that he’s going to pursue a match against the EU All-stars in an attempt to prove the superiority of the North American game culture. With Nat as the manager, he sets out to form a new team, the NOSHO North Stars.
Shoresy recruits some players off the old Bulldogs roster, like Dolo, Goody, Hitch, Goaltender Michaels, and the trio of Jim enforcers. However, he also mixes things up by bringing in some of the guys from the National Senior Tournament, like Palmer, Schnurr, Delaney, Gord, and more. Initially, the team has its own set of problems to overcome, like their interpersonal friction or the fact that they don’t technically have a dressing room for the games. Nonetheless, under the coachship of Shoresey and his adopted brother, Mo, the team manages to whip up into shape in time. The last problem that remains to be tackled centers around the North Stars’ lack of access to a rink at respectable hours of the day. Fortunately, Nat is able to take care of this by securing the team an outdoor rink, owned by a Presbyterian church. Thus, on game day, the North Stars face off against their EU opponents in a glorious game of gritty and dirty hockey.
Shoresy Season 5 Ending: Why Does Shoresy Thank Toppo?
The match between the EU All-stars and the NOSHO North-stars is an electric one. However, the real twist comes in the aftermath, where, during The Handshake between the players and the coaches, Shoresy takes a moment to thank Toppo. So far, the two have been staunch enemies who are eager to prove the superiority of their own stances on the game. Throughout the season, and even before, Shoresy makes his opinion on the spirit of Hockey clear. He lives for the aggressive parts of the sport, the hitting, the sticking, the checking. Therefore, he’s frustrated at the increasing crackdowns that the leagues are enforcing upon such violent techniques.
We get an earlier glimpse at this side of Shoresy when he and his teammates go out to support Jack during his game of college-level hockey. During the game, one of the players attempts a dive, a move in which one exaggerates an infraction by his opponent to levy a penalty on the latter. When this happens, Shoresy and his group loudly call out the dishonorable move from the stands as a part of normal audience heckling. However, it ends up attracting the attention of one of the other spectators, who happens to be the player in question’s father. Although their argument doesn’t escalate into a physical fight, and Shoresey makes amends with the other man later, it does spark an important conversation. Would Shoresy rather win dishonorably or lose with honor?
In the moment, Shoresy has no answer to this dilemma. On one hand, a win is a win, but on the other, things like diving undermine the gritty culture of hockey that the player loves and values. In the match against Toppo’s players, the North-stars’ coach finally gets the answer to this question. During a turning point in the game, the EU All-stars resort to diving to get a penalty on their opponents. However, the North Stars refuse to stoop to their level and continue to play by the brutal rules and conventions of North American hockey. In doing so, Shoresy finally realizes that no matter what, he would always rather have his and his team’s honor as tough hockey players, regardless of the fact that plays like the EU’s might get them a few easy wins in the bag.
Do the NOSHO North-stars Win Against the EU All-Stars?
The competition between the NOSHO North-stars and the EU All-stars remains at the center of the narrative for season 5. The season consistently builds toward establishing the latter as a prominent threat in the narrative, introducing a steady flow of news about their victory tour in North America. The European team, under coach Toppo’s rules, plays by the trademark North American aggression, not shying away from the more violent aspects of play in the game. Furthermore, they continue to dominate every team that they take on in the league competition to the point where local sports commentators and reporters are embarrassed by the nationwide failure of their athletes. Furthermore, Toppo more or less directly challenges Shoresy by calling out his demeaning analysis of the game’s growing aversion toward violence.
As a result, the match between the All-stars and the North-stars proves to be personal on many levels. In some ways, it’s a competition between the sport’s trademark rough history and its modern cushioning. The game starts off on tough footing for the Canadians, who find themselves unable to get any goals in. Alternatively, their opponents take the lead by 3-0. However, things begin to change in the third period as the North-stars’ star scorer, Delaney, gets the puck past Cederstrom. This marks a pivotal moment in the game as Shoresy’s team finds its groove and puts up a commendable fight against the European players. Unfortunately, for the North-stars they end up losing the match in the end. Nonetheless, despite the loss, the spirited game of hockey was defined by inhibited joy, and sportsmanship made the game a memorable one.
Why Do the North Stars Fight the EU Before the Game?
One of the most jarring instances in the show arrives at the end of the penultimate episode for the season. Right before the game begins, when the players from he two teams line up in the rink against each other, the North-stars players all shake off their gloves in sync, signalling their intent to start a fight. While fighting between players is a frequent part of the game, it comes with its own set of rules. Needless to say, seeking out a team-wide brawl before the puck is even dropped on the ice is decidedly against those rules. Nonetheless, for Shoresy’s team, the fight isn’t necessarily a play towards winning the game. Instead, it’s a statement. In the lead-up to the EU’s match against the Canadian team and throughout their matches against the North American teams, Toppo continuously insults his opponent’s prowess in the game.
From feeding into misogynistic stereotypes by comparing North American players to little girls due to their alleged inability to keep up with their players’ aggression, to making other demeaning remarks. Toppo is relentless in his mission to establish the European players’ superiority in the game by putting down their opponents. He claims that despite constantly undermining the physicality of the European hockey culture, North American players can’t actually stand up against his team. As such, when Shoresy’s team decides to collectively drop their gloves on the ice, it’s a retaliation against all those shots the team and their coach have taken against them and their fellow hockey players throughout the season.
Shoresy and his team know that they can’t afford to start a fight, mostly due to the strict rules of the church that allow them to use the rink for the game. The church previously kicked out a league for one particularly brutal brawl. Therefore, a fight between numerous players is bound to invite their ire and possibly cancel the entire match. Even so, they decide to take the risk to deliver a message to Toppo and his team about the grit and competence of their identity as hockey players. However, the team notably doesn’t carry the same aggression against their opponents once the match is over. Even though they lose, they go out of their way to celebrate the EU’s win with them by bringing cans of beer for them, once again showcasing their sense of sportsmanship and genuine love for the game.
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