Poignant 'Tootoo' reminds you of the innate toughness of hockey players
The Ranken Inlet native is the first Inuk native to play in the NHL.
“Everyone’s fighting a battle that no one knows about.”
Whenever Jordin Tootoo took the ice and got into a fight as a member of the Nashville Predators, he brought every bit of rage from his childhood with him. Each punch was designed to prove to his dysfunctional home that he was tough enough to be an Indigenous son from what a friend and fellow Scottie Upshall refers to as Tootoo’s homeland, “the literal North Pole!” If method acting was a thing in sports, Tootoo used it as fuel to build a 14-year career in the National Hockey League.
In another example of documentaries pulling away the cobwebs and unknown layers from a casual “non-Blues” hockey fan’s brain, the viewer receives an intimate portrait of a former NHL hard-nosed, high-energy, gritty forward who could rally his team with massive hits who fought his trauma for decades with hockey. Since only one of those is going to keep you alive in the long run, Tootoo had to take on the biggest fight of his life: Sobriety. It’s not something you can punch or drop to the ice with a punishing hit, but a beast that takes time to overcome. If there’s one thing that Tootoo: The Jordin Tootoo Story does for the viewer, it’s tell a compelling tale as if no one knew a thing about the subject.
With the stellar producing team led by Adam Scorgie, Tootoo’s vengeance against a torrential yet influential upbringing is laid out in full scope within a tight 90-minute timeframe. Like all of Score G Productions’ products, there isn’t a minute wasted here.
As Upshall puts it, the Nashville sports scene was a Tootoo universe for his eight years as a Predator. He helped the team and hockey community form the phrase, “Smashville.” No other player in town generated a similar level of hype. Shea Weber, owner of one of the hardest slap shots in the league, may have carried the big contract with the Preds, but it was the excitement of “Toots” on the ice that led to packed houses and the authentic entertainment. While the hits he dished out led to red on the ice, he painted the town yellow with his style of play. Picture a short, stout battering ram on skates, and that was Jordin. Everything he put on the ice was bone-crunching, genuine, and acted as a med kit to his longstanding dysfunctional upbringing.
Michael Hamilton’s documentary dives headfirst into the icy and detached Nunavut location of Tootoo’s youth. What many people don’t know is that Jordin was the second-best hockey player in his family, with his older brother, Terence, being the true Tootoo prodigy.
A year before he was drafted into the NHL, Jordin’s brother suddenly went missing. The generational trauma didn’t take long before it was passed onto Jordin and Terence. In a small town cut off from the rest of the world, Terence and Jordin couldn’t fight off the rigors of alcoholism with their promising talent or even the love and care of a hockey club foster family like the Brandon Billets. So, they leaned into it and used it as fuel for a future. The tragedy in the Tootoo Story stems from the fact that only one of them reached their destination, a familiar tale among Nunavut natives. Terence, after a night out with his brother, took his own life in the woods of their neighborhood.
Jordin found a way out of the addictive nature of his past and alcohol abuse, becoming a one in a million story to break the cycle and get sober. He was also the first Inuk to make it to the NHL and to represent team Canada internationally, an achievement that earned him a large poster at the heart of Jordin’s town, which still stands today. In a striking moment of reflection, Tootoo admits that he didn’t return the adoration and promise that led to that status to the people. It’s something that he hopes a new family (a loving epilogue to the sad part of the tale) and a clean outlook can renew that connection.
For hockey fans, Tootoo answers a provocative question in the documentary. When asked if the hard-nosed, gritty forwards genuinely enjoy their challenging guy roles or do them to stay in the game, he admits that the latter reason is often the case. Few humans actually like the anxiety that comes with a regular fight schedule on ice and bendy skates. Retired enforcer Brian McGrattan, who fought his own lengthy battle with addiction and depression due to his job title, admits to sharing a lifelong bond with Tootoo due to the fuel that they bring to the ice. No matter where it comes from, either a constant battle on the ice or a lifelong run that stems from your homeland or generational trauma, you either escape it or it consumes you.
The optimism shared at the end of Tootoo: The Jordin Tootoo Story proves that it takes a particular kind of soul to withstand the constant pain of time lost and habits unbroken. The indomitable spirit comes from a lot of areas, but a particular sport can provide as much sunshine in a life as it does darkness. As Jordin admits in the film, hockey saved his life as much as anything. The promise that Terence showed in him, even in the final note before his death, powered him to get past the adversity that life continued to present.
At their best and most polished, sports documentaries pave a new runway to understand people, things, events, and a way of life that would seem foreign to us without a thorough explanation. From the North Pole of the universe to the heart of the United States, Jordin Tootoo created a legend that will never waver. Thankfully, that legend helped him keep his future from wavering into dread.
My oh my, the innate toughness of hockey players. Don’t miss this one when it releases this Fall season. Move over DiCaprio and Pitt, because Tootoo could kick both your asses and not even break a sweat.
Tootoo: The Jordin Tootoo Story will air on Super Channel in Canada via Amazon Prime on Oct. 24. United States release is pending.