D2: The Mighty Ducks

D2: The Mighty Ducks (also known as The Mighty Ducks 2 or The Mighty Ducks: Part 2) is a 1994 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Sam Weisman. It is the second and penultimate installment in The Mighty Ducks trilogy and it is a sequel to the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, The Kerner Entertainment Company and Avnet–Kerner Productions. In the United Kingdom and Australia, the film was titled The Mighty Ducks (the first having been titled Champions and subsequently, on home releases, as The Mighty Ducks Are the Champions).

Plot
Former peewee ice hockey coach Gordon Bombay is a star in the minor leagues and is expected to make it to the National Hockey League soon. However, after a career-ending knee injury, he returns to Minneapolis. Bombay is then offered a chance to coach a team representing the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games. He manages to get many of the old Ducks back together, while the Hawks tried to enact revenge against them for the humiliating loss two years earlier. Their plans are foiled when Fulton prevents it and punishes them by tying the three up and leaving them in their underpants. Team USA consists of many of the old Ducks, in addition to five new players with special talents.

The lure of celebrity becomes a distraction to Bombay, who begins to neglect the team in exchange for a luxurious lifestyle. Fortunately, easy victories come over Trinidad and Tobago and Italy in the double-elimination tournament. During this time, Fulton Reed and Dean Portman gain recognition for their enforcer skills, becoming known as the "Bash Brothers". Backup goaltender Julie asks Bombay for a chance to play, but he tells her to wait, as current goalie Greg Goldberg is on a hot streak.

Reality sets in when the team suffers an embarrassing 12–1 defeat at the hands of Team Iceland, coached by ex-NHL player Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson, who is known for his tough reputation. Team USA plays badly, with Julie and Portman ejected from the game. Star center Adam Banks manages to score a goal but gets slashed in the wrist moments later. Frustrated, Bombay drives his players even harder, but they begin to suffer, completely exhausted. His practice sessions become brutal and long. Realizing the children are too tired to complete their school work or even stay awake in class, the team's tutor, Michelle McKay, intervenes. She cancels the practice and confronts Bombay. Now better rested, the players come across a street hockey team who teaches them how to play like "the real Team USA".

However, Bombay continues to suffer until Jan, the brother of Bombay's mentor Hans, personally visits him, and reminds him of how he used to love the game. During a match against Team Germany, Bombay fails to arrive on time, forcing Charlie to tell the referee that Michelle is actually the team's assistant coach. The team is struggling, entering the third period tied, until Bombay shows up and apologizes for his behavior. Inspired by their coach's "return", the players come back to win the game with the "Flying V" move, and advance to the next round. The renewed Bombay finally realizes Adam's wrist injury, benching him despite his complaints. To fill the open roster spot, Charlie recruits local street hockey player, Russ Tyler, whose unique "knucklepuck" (which rotates end over end toward its target as opposed to spinning about its centerline) secures USA's victory over Russia (who defeated Iceland earlier in the tournament, putting USA and Iceland both one loss away from elimination), advancing USA to the championship game for a rematch against Iceland. Before the game, Adam's injury is healed and returns to Team USA's locker room, only to find they already have a full roster. Charlie gives up his spot on the roster so Adam can play, cementing his position as the true team captain.

At first, Iceland appears to be out to dominate Team USA again, but they manage to score one goal. Unfortunately, the Ducks take penalties: Ken picks a fight with an Iceland player after scoring the team's first goal, the Bash Brothers celebrate this by fighting with the entire Iceland bench and Dwayne lassos an opposing player, about to check Connie. Bombay is annoyed because "this isn't a hockey game, it's a circus."

After a motivational locker room speech from Bombay and new Duck jerseys from Jan, the team emerges rejuvenated. The Ducks manage to tie the game with a score from Connie, Banks, Luis, and finally when Russ outsmarts Team Iceland by disguising himself as Goldberg, so as to prevent himself from being covered and pulling off a successful "knucklepuck". The game is forced to go to a five-shot shootout. With a 4–3 score in favor of the Ducks, Gunnar Stahl (the tournament's leading scorer) is Team Iceland's final shooter. Bombay knows Gunnar favors shooting the glove side after a triple deke, and replaces Goldberg with Julie, who has a faster glove. Gunnar advances on Julie and fires a hard slapshot. Although Julie falls to the ice, she slowly turns to look at her glove while the entire stadium waits in breathless anticipation. She then opens her glove and drops the puck, signifying the game-winning save. With this, the Ducks triumph over Iceland to win the tournament. Despite Wolf's disappointment, he congratulates Bombay and Gunnar, being the gentleman he is congratulates Charlie stating "Good work, Captain Duck".

The film concludes with the team returning to Minnesota on a plane and sitting around a campfire singing Queen's "We Are the Champions" as the credits roll.

Cast
In credits order:
 * Emilio Estevez as Gordon Bombay
 * Kathryn Erbe as Michelle McKay
 * Michael Tucker as Mr. Tibbles
 * Jan Rubeš as Jan
 * Carsten Norgaard as Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson
 * Maria Ellingsen as Maria
 * Joshua Jackson as Charlie Conway, #96
 * Elden Henson as Fulton Reed, #44
 * Shaun Weiss as Greg Goldberg, #33
 * Brandon Adams as Jesse Hall, #9
 * Matt Doherty as Les Averman, #4
 * Vincent Larusso as Adam Banks, #99
 * Garette Ratliff Henson as Guy Germaine, #00
 * Marguerite Moreau as Connie Moreau, #18
 * Colombe Jacobsen as Julie "The Cat" Gaffney, #6
 * Aaron Lohr as Dean Portman, #21
 * Ty O'Neal as Dwayne Robertson, #7
 * Kenan Thompson as Russ Tyler, #56
 * Mike Vitar as Luis Mendoza, #22
 * Justin Wong as Ken Wu, #16
 * Scott Whyte as Gunnar Stahl, #9 of Team Iceland
 * Patrick Goudy as Knucklepuck watcher #1, Team Russia
 * Sean Goudy as Knucklepuck watcher #2, Team Russia

Cameo appearances
There are several cameo appearances in D2: The Mighty Ducks from famous athletes.


 * Kristi Yamaguchi – Champion Olympic figure skater
 * Greg Louganis – Champion Olympic diver
 * Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Basketball player
 * Wayne Gretzky, Chris Chelios, Luc Robitaille, Cam Neely – National Hockey League (NHL) players
 * Bob Miller - play-by-play announcer for the championship game vs. Iceland
 * Darren Pang - Color Commentator for the championship game vs Iceland
 * Mike Emrick - Play-by-Play commentator

Departures
Mighty Duck players that were in the first film but not this one:
 * Tammy Duncan (Jane Plank, her figure skating skills were replaced with those of Ken Wu)
 * Tommy Duncan (Danny Tamberelli)
 * Terry Hall (Jussie Smollett, despite the continuation of the character's brother, Jesse)
 * Dave Karp (Aaron Schwartz)
 * Peter Mark (J.D. Daniels, his street punk goon image was replaced with those of Dean Portman)

Production
Mighty Ducks spawned a sequel and Iceland was chosen instead of Russia as enemies.

The filming of the final game was the very first event to take place at the then brand new Arrowhead Pond, which attracted approximately 15,000 people. As the filming would span over several days, the production team was aware that the crowd would not be as consistent. To accommodate the dwindling crowd, cardboard stand-ups were brought in and moved around to fill-in shots.

Critical reception
The film received negative reviews. However, it was better received than the previous film, holding a 21% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 3.9/10 (actually making it the most well received entry of the series on the site).

Desson Howe of The Washington Post wrote: "D2: The Mighty Ducks reaches an extraordinary low – even for a Disney sequel. This unctuous barrage of flag-waving, message-mongering, counterfeit morality, which contains the stalest kiddie-team heroics in recent memory, makes the original, innocuous 'Ducks' look like one of the Great Works."

Box office
In its opening weekend, the film grossed $10,356,748 domestically. It was a financial success, with a final domestic box office total of $45,610,410.

Soundtrack

 * 1) Queen – "We Will Rock You"
 * 2) Poorboys – "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" (Bachman-Turner Overdrive Cover)
 * 3) Gary Glitter – "Rock and Roll"
 * 4) Martha Wash – "Mr. Big Stuff"
 * 5) David Newman – "Mighty Ducks Suite"
 * 6) Tag Team – "Whaomp! (There It Is)"
 * 7) The Troggs – "Wild Thing"
 * 8) Gear Daddies – "Zamboni"
 * 9) Queen – "We Are the Champions"
 * 10) John Bisaha – "Rock the Pond"