McRae has fond memories of appearance in 'Mighty Ducks'

"Hey Gordo! Gordon Bombay, right?"
If you're a hockey fan of a certain age, you probably know the line. At the very least, you know the name Gordon Bombay, the youth hockey coach played by Emilio Estevez who is one of the central characters in the Mighty Ducks franchise.

You may or may not know that the NHL player who delivers that line in the original Mighty Ducks movie was then-Minnesota North Stars wing Basil McRae, who has hung up the acting shoes and is now the assistant general manager of the Blue Jackets.
And unless you're truly a fan of movie trivia, you might not know The Mighty Ducks was released on this date in 1992 -- starting the franchise's 30-year legacy that includes three feature films, a current Disney+ series and, well, the creation of an NHL team in Anaheim, Calif.
From the Flying V to the triple deke to the famous green sweaters that are ubiquitous in hockey arenas, it's hard to imagine the sport of hockey without the Mighty Ducks. And three decades later, McRae is always happy to tell stories about how he ended up playing a role in one of the most iconic hockey movies of all time.
"My line for a long time was I was more recognized for 30 seconds in a movie than I was for 15 years of professional hockey, so either it was a hell of a movie or I had a pretty crappy career," he said with a laugh.
"I'm forever grateful I had the chance to do that. I think it was a real feel-good movie, and I think it was good for hockey."
It all came about in April 1992, as the film was shot on location in Minnesota from the fall of 1991 through the spring to give it an authentic hockey feel. Looking for a couple of NHL players to lend some bona fides to the film, the script included a visit by Bombay and the Ducks team to the Met Center in Bloomington, Minn., the home rink of the North Stars.
North Star 1 and North Star 2 were written into the script, with North Star 1 recognizing Bombay and remembering him from their pee-wee days. Patty Connolly, a community relations staffer with the team, volunteered two players for the parts -- McRae, at that point in his fifth season with the North Stars, and Mike Modano, a rising star who was then just 21 years old but would go on to become a Hockey Hall of Famer.
"Mike was North Star 1, and I was North Star 2, but five minutes into the taping, they flipped the roles," McRae says of the decision that gave him the lead speaking part. "I know I wasn't very good, but Mike struggled at that point, so they gave me more lines."
Modano has slightly disputed that account over the years, suggesting he simply stepped aside to give the veteran McRae more of a featured role, but McRae is sticking to his guns.
"They made the call," McRae says of the film's producers. "You can figure it out from there, right?"
However it all worked out, the reality of the situation was neither was likely going to win an Oscar for their 30-second cameo, which ends with McRae offering to get Bombay -- a one-time wunderkind youth player turned lawyer and coach -- a shot at a minor league tryout.
"It was a lot of fun," McRae said of the filming. "It was a day I'll always remember. I have to say, Emilio Estevez was such a nice, cool guy. He really made Mike and I feel relaxed, because we were terrible. It was one scene, and it took a long time -- at least it seemed like a long time. You really get to appreciate how professional these guys are because he nailed it every time, and we would screw it up. His patience was unbelievable."
After the filming, McRae wasn't long for Minnesota, as he was chosen by Tampa Bay in the expansion draft that summer. He was living in Florida, then, by the time the film debuted Oct. 2, 1992.
Shortly after the Disney film was released in theaters, McRae, his wife Jill and their daughter Alexandra saw the movie for the first time.
"This is probably one of the coolest things," he said. "We were in Tampa at the time and it had just come out. We took Alexandra, who was 4 years old at the time, to the movie. She had no idea what was going on. I had no idea if the scene made it or didn't make it. So it's right at the end of the movie, and I remember Jill saying, 'I'm sorry, honey. I don't think you made it.' I said, 'Yeah, that's all right. No problem.'
"And then all of sudden, there I was, and our daughter screamed, 'There's Daddy!' It was pretty cool. I was hoping I made the final cut, but no one told me."
Despite the presence of a notable actor in Estevez and the backing of Disney, the film was shot with a relatively low budget, and McRae said he wasn't sure how a hockey-themed kids movie would do at the box office. Of course, the answer was quite well, with the success of the film not only leading to multiple sequels but also helping fuel a hockey boom among kids in the late 1990s.
McRae said he was invited back to make a similar cameo in D2: The Mighty Ducks, the 1994 sequel to the original, but it was filmed in Los Angeles and didn't match up with his schedule.
No matter, though. While McRae loves his current job -- the 16-year NHL veteran has been with the Blue Jackets' front office since 2016 and also is part-owner of the OHL's London Knights -- he's appreciative of the fact he had a chance to take part in such an iconic piece of pop culture.
"It's great," he said. "I still use the lines. Kids don't know who I am or that I played, so I tell them their homework is 'Gordo! Gordon Bombay, remember me?' They'll go, 'What's that?' You can find out anything on the internet. Once they figure it out, they go, 'Oh yeah, I remember that movie! I didn't know that was you.'"