D2: The Mighty Ducks facts for kids

Quick facts for kids D2: The Mighty Ducks
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sam Weisman
Produced by	Jon Avnet Jordan Kerner
Written by	Steven Brill
Starring	Emilio Estevez Michael Tucker Jan Rubeš Kathryn Erbe
Music by	J. A. C. Redford
Cinematography	Mark Irwin
Editing by	John F. Link Eric Sears
Studio	Walt Disney Pictures Avnet-Kerner Productions
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date(s)	March 25, 1994 (1994-03-25)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Money made	$45.6 million

D2: The Mighty Ducks (also known as The Mighty Ducks 2) is an exciting American sports comedy-drama film released in 1994. It was directed by Sam Weisman. This movie is the second part of The Mighty Ducks series. It continues the story from the first film, The Mighty Ducks, which came out in 1992. Many of the original actors, like Emilio Estevez and Joshua Jackson, returned for this sequel. New actors, including Michael Tucker, also joined the cast. The film was made by Walt Disney Pictures. It was followed by the third movie in the series, D3: The Mighty Ducks, in 1996.

Story of the Ducks

The movie begins with Gordon Bombay, a former Pee-Wee hockey coach. He is now a talented player in the minor leagues. Everyone expects him to join the National Hockey League. But a serious knee injury stops his career. He returns to his hometown of Minneapolis.

Coach Bombay gets a new chance to coach a team. This team will represent the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games in Los Angeles. He brings back most of his old Ducks players. These include Charlie Conway, Jesse Hall, and Adam Banks. The rival Hawks team tries to get revenge on the Ducks. But Fulton Reed stops them and joins the Ducks.

New Players Join the Team

Team USA is made up of many original Ducks. They also have five new players from different parts of the country. These new players have special skills.

• Luis Mendoza from Miami, Florida, is super fast.
• Dwayne Robertson from Austin, Texas, is a great puck handler.
• Julie "The Cat" Gaffney from Bangor, Maine, is a championship goalie.
• Ken Wu from San Francisco, California, is a junior Olympic figure skater.
• Dean Portman from Chicago, Illinois, is a tough player who protects his teammates.

Under Coach Bombay's guidance, the team quickly becomes a strong unit. They then head to Los Angeles for the games.

Challenges in Los Angeles

In Los Angeles, Coach Bombay gets distracted by being famous. He starts to ignore the team. He enjoys a fancy lifestyle instead. The team easily wins their first games against Trinidad and Tobago and Italy. Fulton Reed and Dean Portman become known as the "Bash Brothers." They are famous for their strong playing style. Julie Gaffney, the backup goalie, asks to play. But Coach Bombay keeps Greg Goldberg in goal because he is playing well.

However, the team faces a tough challenge. They lose badly, 12–1, to Iceland. Iceland's coach is Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson, a former NHL player. Team USA plays poorly. Dean and Julie are even sent off the ice for bad behavior. Adam Banks, a star player, gets hurt. He scores Team USA's only goal but hurts his wrist.

Coach Bombay gets very frustrated. He knows another loss means they are out of the tournament. He pushes his players too hard. The kids become very tired. Michelle McKay, the team's tutor, steps in. She cancels practice and talks to Bombay about his actions. After resting, the players meet a street hockey team. This team is led by Russ Tyler. Russ teaches them to play like "the real Team USA." He shows them his special shot, the "knucklepuck." This shot makes the puck wobble instead of spin.

Finding Their Way Back

Coach Bombay is still feeling the pressure. Then, Jan, the brother of Bombay's old mentor Hans, visits him. Jan reminds Bombay why he loves hockey. In their game against Germany, Bombay is late. Charlie tells the referee that Michelle is the assistant coach. The team struggles. They are tied at the start of the third period. Then Bombay arrives and says sorry to the team. Inspired, the players win the game using their famous "Flying V" move. They move on to the next round.

Bombay realizes Adam Banks' wrist is still hurt. He benches Banks, even though Banks wants to play. To fill the spot, Charlie brings in Russ Tyler and his knucklepuck. This helps USA win against Russia. They now get to play Iceland again in the championship game. On game day, Banks returns, his wrist healed. But Team USA already has a full roster. Charlie knows the team needs both Russ's knucklepuck and Banks' skill. So, Charlie gives up his own spot. This shows his true leadership as team captain. Bombay then asks Charlie to help him coach.

The Championship Game

In the final game, the strong Iceland team starts very well. The Ducks get many penalties. Ken fights an opponent after scoring. The Bash Brothers fight the whole Iceland bench. Dwayne even uses his lasso on an opposing player. Coach Bombay says, "this isn't a hockey game, it's a circus." Iceland is ahead 4-1 at the end of the second period.

After a powerful speech from Bombay and new jerseys from Jan, the team feels refreshed. The Ducks tie the game with goals from Connie, Banks, Luis, and Russ. Russ tricks Iceland by pretending to be Goldberg. He then scores with his knucklepuck. The game goes to a five-shot shootout. Jesse, Guy, Fulton (with his powerful slapshot), and Banks all score. The Ducks are ahead 4–3. Gunnar Stahl, Iceland's best scorer, is their final shooter. Bombay replaces Goldberg with Julie, who has a faster glove. Gunnar takes a hard slapshot. Julie falls to the ice. Everyone waits quietly. She opens her glove and drops the puck. She made the game-winning save! The Ducks win the tournament! Even though he lost, Coach Stansson congratulates Bombay. Gunnar tells Charlie, "Good work, Captain Duck."

The team goes back to Minnesota. They sing Queen's "We Are the Champions" around a campfire.

Meet the Cast

Here are some of the main actors and the characters they play:

• Emilio Estevez as Coach Gordon Bombay
  • Brock Pierce as Young Gordon
• Michael Tucker as Don Tibbles
• Jan Rubeš as Jan
• Kathryn Erbe as Michelle McKay
• Joshua Jackson as Charlie Conway, #96
• Elden Ryan Ratliff as Fulton Reed, #44
• Shaun Weiss as Greg Goldberg, #33
• Matt Doherty as Lester Averman, #4
• Brandon Adams as Jesse Hall, #9
• Vincent A. Larusso as Adam Banks, #99
• Marguerite Moreau as Connie Moreau, #18
• Garette Ratliff Henson as Guy Germaine, #00
• 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
• Colombe Jacobsen as Julie "The Cat" Gaffney, #6
• Justin Wong as Ken Wu, #16
• Carsten Norgaard as Coach Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson
• Maria Ellingsen as Maria
• Scott Whyte as Gunnar Stahl, #9 of Team Iceland
• Vicellous Reon Shannon as James Tyler, Russ' Older Brother
• Robert Pall as Gordon's Father
• Bob Miller as Announcer
• Nancy Stephens as Coliseum Reporter

Special Appearances

Many famous people made short appearances in D2: The Mighty Ducks. These included athletes like Kristi Yamaguchi, Greg Louganis, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Hockey stars Cam Neely, Chris Chelios, and Luc Robitaille also appeared. Even the film's writer, Steven Brill, was in a scene. Hockey commentators Wayne Gretzky, Darren Pang, and Mike Emrick also had small roles.

Players Not in This Film

Some Mighty Duck players from the first movie did not return for this one:

• Tammy Duncan (her figure skating skills were replaced by Ken Wu)
• Tommy Duncan
• Terry Hall (Jesse's brother)
• Dave Karp
• Peter Mark (his tough image was replaced by Dean Portman)
• Phillip Banks
• Hans (Bombay's mentor, replaced by his brother Jan)

Making the Movie

The idea for a sequel to The Mighty Ducks came about. Iceland was chosen as the rival team instead of Russia.

The final game in the movie was the very first event held at the new Arrowhead Pond arena. About 15,000 people came to watch the filming. Since filming took several days, the crowd might not stay the same size. To make it look like a full stadium, the filmmakers used cardboard cutouts of people. They moved these cutouts around to fill empty seats in different shots.

Movie Success

Box Office Earnings

On its first weekend, the film made over $10 million in the United States. Overall, it earned a total of $45.6 million in the U.S. and Canada.

Watching at Home

The movie was released on VHS on August 17, 1994. It came out on DVD on September 3, 2002. Later, it was released on Blu-ray Disc on May 23, 2017, as a special Disney Movie Club item.

Soundtrack Songs

Here are some of the songs featured in the movie:

• Queen – "We Will Rock You"
• Poorboys – "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" (a cover of a Bachman-Turner Overdrive song)
• Gary Glitter – "Rock and Roll"
• Martha Wash – "Mr. Big Stuff"
• David Newman – "Mighty Ducks Suite"
• Tag Team – "Whoomp! (There It Is)"
• The Troggs – "Wild Thing"
• Gear Daddies – "Zamboni"
• Queen – "We Are the Champions"
• John Bisaha – "Rock the Pond"

See also

In Spanish: D2: The Mighty Ducks para niños