You can’t call yourself a hockey fan if you haven’t seen the movie Youngblood. It should almost be a demand: If you’re to call yourself a true hockey fan, you must love the movie. And to be fair, many do.
Youngblood is, together with Slap Shot, considered the best hockey movie of all time. Youngblood was released in 1986 and was an instant classic for hockey fans.
The film starred Rob Lowe as Dean Youngblood, a 17-year-old boy with dreams of making it in the NHL. Dean traveled to Canada to try out for the Hamilton Mustangs, but he lacked physical toughness and was nicknamed ”Pretty Boy.” To movie wasn’t just about hockey. It was about friendship and love.
Dean Youngblood quickly met Jessie Chadwick, and the two began flirting. Chadwick was coach Murray Chadwick’s daughter and the Zamboni driver at Hamilton Arena. His father disapproved, but the two of them fell in love, just as Dean betters his physical abilities and toughness on the ice.
Jessie Chadwick was played by Cynthia Gibb, who was only 20 when the film was shot. She wasn’t an experienced actor at the time.
“It was the first time I was away from home,” said Gibb, per snakkle.com.
“It was so much fun, but I was really lonely. Rob was out at night clubbing and stuff, and Patrick was already married.”
Ultimately Gibb and Lowe became friends, and she’s got nothing but kind words to say about him.
Youngblood wasn’t Gibb’s final movie. In 1993, she received a Globen Globe nomination for her role as Gypsy Rose Lee in the film Gypsy. She’s also appeared in TV shows such as Law & Order and Criminal Minds.
Some years ago, Cynthia Gibb did an exclusive interview with Snakkle. Gibb, a mother of three, had then left L.A. and moved back to her hometown in Connecticut. She traveled to L.A. to work, and that’s what she’s been doing since.
She still appears in movies and TV shows once in a while, but we true hockey fans will always remember her as Jessie Chadwick.
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