Ice Guardians

Ice hockey has a position called the enforcer. The job is not to score but to protect teammates and, when it comes to it, to fight. The documentary talks to the men who did that job. What they say is that the role was not a show put on for the crowd, that it did real work on the ice, and that removing it has not reduced violence in the game. The other side says fighting has no place in hockey and that the cost to these players has been heavy; the damage repeated blows do to the brain is now documented. Brett Harvey directs; a hundred and eight minutes, narrated by Jay Baruchel, with Dave Schultz, Kelly Chase, Brett Hull, Jarome Iginla and Chris Chelios among those speaking. The film is openly on the enforcers' side; it takes the opposing view too, but it does not hide its own case.