August 28, 2023
In 1980s Flint, Mich., 11-year-old Evan, part of a youth hockey team called the Strikers, yearns to win at least one game. When their captain—both the coach’s son and the team’s strongest player, who’s known for picking fights on the ice—suffers a season-ending injury, Evan assumes the role of captain. Evan does his best to encourage his ragtag team through a revolving door of new coaches, disappointing losses, and frequent bullying from other players, even as he manages his own personal issues: navigating his parents’ divorce, enduring awkward encounters with his mother’s unreliable boyfriends, and missing his absent father, who frequently travels for work. As the team bonds on and off the ice, however, they find support and stability in their relationships with one another while striving to get that elusive W. Phegley (Sonic the Hedgehog 2) parallels significant events in Flint’s history with the boys’ plight, as when the Strikers feel inspired by a news story about the 1936–1937 United Automobile Workers union’s sit-down strike, all of which is heightened by cartoon illustrations rendered in muted, industrial-feeling color by Khouri (Mega-Dogs of New Kansas). Most characters present as white; twin brothers on the team are Black. Ages 9–14. Agent: Jennifer Unter, Unter Agency.