Was Charlie Conway Ever Actually Any Good At Hockey? An Investigative Report:

Whenever The Mighty Ducks gets brought up in conversation, everyone is usually pretty concrete on their thoughts about all the characters. Banks was the real deal, Guy Germaine would have gone off to play a high level of juniors but suffer a head injury and never come back as the same player, the Bash Brothers were a bunch of goons, and then there was Charlie Conway. Probably one of the most complex characters in cinematic history for many reasons, but most specifically because I could never tell if he was any good or not. And here’s why:

Charlie was a natural-born leader. You could tell from his early years with the Ducks (D1 era) that he would invest his heart and soul into the team. Sure, he was completely brutal on the ice and had no skillset to work with, but he took charge of the locker room and made that team his own. Remember when Banks first showed up to practice? Who was there to welcome him with open arms? That’s right, Charlie Conway was. And remember when 90% of the team walked out on Bombay and they had to forfeit that one game? Who was one of the very few players who actually went out onto the ice for warmups? That’s right, Charlie Conway was. Charlie is the type of guy that every hockey coach in the world dreams about having in his locker room. Someone who, as cliche as it sounds, plays for what’s on the front of the jersey rather than what’s on the back. The only issue is that he was a total bender and spaz with the puck. Of course, he did score that game winning goal against the Hawks in the championship game, but that’s just because the triple deke is almost impossible to screw up.

Then you make your way on over to D2 Charlie Conway and he starts to develop some stick skills and his skating improves drastically. Charlie is the captain of a team divided, where old meets new and heads begin to clash. But Charlie’s leadership brings the team together and again, he’s the perfect locker room guy. I compare a lot of players to Mike Richards because I think Mike Richards is a very relatable player to those who have more heart than talent. Charlie is a Mike Richards, and that is evidenced when he becomes a healthy scratch in the gold medal game against team Iceland. Richards is the kind of guy who may not be the greatest at any one thing on the ice, but you put him in any position and he’ll excel or at least do pretty well. But the thing he’ll do the best is do whatever it takes for his team to win. And I guess that’s what Charlie did here by scratching himself from the game. He did it for the team and that’s very admirable, but it also proves that he just doesn’t have what it takes to be a game changer on the ice. You shouldn’t want your team to be perfectly fine without you out there, but team USA was more than fine. Conway is a great guy to have on your team, but like he said in his own words, he makes a better coach than a player. And that brings us to D3.

This is where the wheels fall off the track a bit for Conway. He’s no longer with Gordon Bombay, he obviously has some hormonal issues going on and he turns into a punk. For the first time ever, he walked out on the Ducks and there goes the only thing that Charlie ever really had going for him. Sure, he again got more talented and developed, but it’s not like he was anything remotely close to varsity material. He played a selfish game and got exposed. All of a sudden, Charlie Conway looks like a major mistake. And sure, he came back to the team, played hockey the right way and eventually set up that GWG to Goldberg in the Varstiy-JV game, but you still saw parts of his game that were lacking. Did he put the team on his back when they needed him the most? Absolutely. And that’s what great captains do. But that’s just the point. Charlie Conway is a leader, not a hockey player. He would probably get an offer to play some high level college hockey but then realize that everyone out there is miles and miles more talented than he is and he’d get minimal playing time and quit. It’s a sad but true story. So no, Charlie Conway was not actually good at hockey, but I wouldn’t mind having him on my beer league team.

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