Sure, we might have just finished celebrating the Super Bowl, but the only sport I want to talk about right now is hockey. I wouldn’t call myself a huge hockey fan, but sometimes a player rises above and becomes a star worthy of notoriety even to non-sports fans. So it is with NHL goaltender Terry Sawchuk whose legend only continues to rise after director Arianna Maggs new film Goalie.

If you only recognize Sawchuk’s bruised and battered Life magazine portrait used to highlight his more than 400 stitches to his face over his career, or only know about his record-breaking 103 shutouts, then Goalie will certainly be illuminating. The film dives deep into Sawchuk’s upbringing, his career ups and downs, his marriage, and his demons.

Unlike other sports bio pics, which really build to a crescendo with one or two specific career-defining game highlights, Goalie seems to lay the high-intensity action to the side to focus on one man’s struggles to be the best, no matter the cost.

A hardscrabble upbringing, the untimely death of his brother, and the resentment of his parents allow Terry Sawchuk’s desire to prove himself – especially to Detroit Red Wings coach Jack Adams – drive him to lay it all on the line for his new team. As he stops the puck and earns dozens of scars and hundreds of stitches, he’s unable to stop a downward spiral that jeopardizes his relationships and career.

First off, the casting in Goalie is perfect. I wasn’t previously familiar with Canadian actor Mark O’Brien, but he offers a solemn intensity that carries the film. Kevin Pollack (who plays Jack Adams) was a perfect pick to serve as Sawchuk’s stand-in father figure who waffles between treating Terry like a son and absolutely crushing his spirit. Lastly, Georgina Reilly deserves to be in all. the. things! Her portrayal of a wife who tries SO HARD to give her mostly undeserving husband chance after chance is top notch and effectively dispiriting.

Acting aside, I have to say the production design and cinematography were transportive. Everyone from the costume designer to set dresser earned their paychecks to give the authenticity of the time period. The small details allowed me to be immersed in the story even though I watched it on a tiny laptop screen.

I’m sure at some point in your life,  you imagined what it would be like to have a storied sports career and leave behind a legacy like Terry Sawchuk. However, Goalie does more than just humanize a larger-than-life hockey player. It shows that greatness often comes at a cost.

Is the cost worth it? Only Terry Sawchuk knows the answer.

Goalie was released in limited theaters by Dark Star Pictures on January 31, 2019, and it should be available VOD in the near future.