The hit TV show Shoresy has taken both the hockey and film worlds by storm with its perfect blend of comedy and heartwarming camaraderie. Initially born in 2022 as a spinoff of Letterkenny, it boasts tons of accolades, including #1 TV show on Canada’s Crave and an impressive 8.6/10 IMDB Rating.
Related: Buffalo Sabres Host Incredible Charity Event With Alumni in Shoresy Fall Classic
The storyline revolves around the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs – a lovable, gritty and downright hilarious group of guys competing together in the fictional Northern Ontario Senior Hockey Organization (NOSHO). Now, for the second straight year, that fiction will become reality as the Bulldogs will return to the “Shoresy Classic” in various NHL arenas.
According to the press release, in this “one-of-a-kind live hockey experience”, Shoresy cast members Jared Keeso (Shoresy), Terry Ryan (Hitch), Jonathan Diaby (JoDolo), Andrew Antsanen (Goody), Ryan McDonnell (Michaels), Jon Mirasty (Jim #1), Brandon Nolan (Jim #2), Jordan Nolan (Jim #3), Max Bouffard (JJ Frankie JJ), Jacob Smith (Fish), Keegan Long (Liam), Bourke Cazabon (Cory) and Frederick Roy (Delaney) will lace up their skates to compete against a lineup of NHL alumni teams in a series of dynamic hockey games, with a portion of proceeds benefiting local charities.
Some alumni already confirmed include former Red Wings players Darren McCarty, Joey Kocur, Mickey Redmond, Larry Murphy, Dino Ciccarelli and Justin Abdelkader, former NY Islanders players Josh Bailey, Eric Cairns, Cal Clutterbuck and Benoit Hogue, and Maple Leafs alum Darcy Tucker.
Shoresy Classic
The spectacle kicks off on Nov. 24 in Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, before heading to Toronto (Nov. 28, Scotiabank Arena), Boston (Dec. 7, TD Garden), Belmont Park, NY (Dec. 10, UBS Arena), and then Los Angeles (Dec. 14, Crypto.com Arena). There will also be an after party in L.A. on the 14th, featuring a live performance by JoDolo and appearances from the Shoresy cast.
Tickets are available here: letterkenny.tv/pages/shoresyclassic
When the Shoresy Classic came to fruition in 2024, the cast had no idea what to expect. “We put it in Jared [Keeso]’s head in late August or early September, and we were skating around in October,” former Montreal Canadiens first-round pick Terry Ryan, who plays Ted Hitchcock, told The Hockey Writers. “It was less than a two-month turnaround. Honestly, if you told me we sold 1,000 tickets, I’d be like, ‘That’s too bad,’ but it would have been realistic. I just had no idea what to expect, then we come out in Detroit, and there’s 10,000 people there for warmups! I got goosebumps.”
The 2024 Classic packed venues in Detroit, Buffalo, Boston, Toronto, and Rosemont, IL, drawing over 25,000 fans total. “We were all proud, man,” Ryan said. “We looked at each other and we’re like, ‘Can you [expletive] believe where we are!? Is this crazy!?’ We were up in Capreol in a fake dressing room two years before, hoping the show hits to some level and that I’d still have a job. Now we’re skating around with the Detroit alumni in a packed NHL arena. It was wild.”
Since then, Shoresy has seemed to grow almost exponentially, meaning the atmospheres will only become more raucous. “Now that we know what to expect, we’re going to bring it even more,” Ryan McDonell, who plays Michaels, told THW.
T. Ryan, who is no stranger to the U.S. from his days playing junior hockey with the Tri-City Americans, plus parts of eight pro seasons, is particularly excited for the 2025 tour’s stops in New York and L.A. – both first-time stops for the Shoresy Classic. “They’ve got a culture, a beat, a vibe,” he said. “They’re worldwide cities. They’ve put their stamp. In New York, you’ve got that gritty, bar/restaurant kind of vibe. I love going to comedy clubs at three in the morning. In LA, you got the nice weather a little more, and if it ain’t there, it doesn’t exist.”
He’s already scheming to soak it all in: “I talked to McD already, I said if we can, let’s go in a day or two early and stay a day or two late.” McDonell, who’s lived in LA, laughed and added, “You might still find me after New Year’s there.”
Jared Keeso is the Glue
There’s no doubt that Shoresy never becomes a global sensation without Keeso’s vision. “It’s all a testament to Mr. Keeso, truthfully,” McDonell said. “Man, that guy executes. We’ve taken this Blueberry Bulldogs team and we’re taking it on the road. What TV show could say that!?”
McDonell recalled an inspiring line from Keeso: “Jared called me when I got the role and said, ‘Do you want to go make the best hockey show we can possibly make!?’ I think about that moment a lot.”
T. Ryan felt the same kind of pull: “There was a little birdie in my head that said, ‘Jared Keeso is writing it, it’s probably not going to suck,'” he chuckled. Still, there was no certainty that the show would hit, especially to this level. But ironically, it was the biggest American sporting event that made the cast members of the Canadian show realize that they had something special:
“We were sitting on this season for a while that we had already shot, and then we finally got a taste of our teaser, and it played on the Super Bowl,” McDonell said. “And that was pretty cool; that was a bit of a shake up for me,” he said. T. Ryan added, “That was the first thing that made me say, ‘Oh my god. They’re putting some money behind this. I could be in a winner.’”
While Keeso is the glue, the camaraderie evident between the whole cast on-camera equally applies off-camera, which is a true recipe for success. “I’m not just buttering him up because he’s here, but [McDonell] is one of my best friends in the world,” said T. Ryan.
That spills over into making the Shoresy Classic a can’t-miss event. “The last time we were on tour, it was really eye opening, I think, for the whole team,” McDonell said. “You hear about the success but until you’re in an arena where you’re under the eyes of everyone there, and you’re not hidden, it’s just a different experience than the show being delivered to people in their own homes, or on their phones. Now we’re in an arena giving it to you live. You’re seeing our personalities as well, and you’re seeing how well we actually, genuinely like each other too. So, it’s been a win-win everywhere. Like we’re a circus rock band traveling around. It’s pretty cool.”
The Grind & What Makes Shoresy Special
Of course, making a successful show takes so much sacrifice and hard work. T. Ryan’s journey is a true testament to that grind.
After being selected eighth overall by Montreal in the 1995 NHL Draft, he went on to play just eight NHL games, failing to register a single point. He detailed his journey, which included various injuries, in a 2014 book titled “Tales of a First Round Nothing“.
The Newfoundland native’s love for hockey never wavered, though. He still skates almost daily with locals, junior hockey kids and occasionally past and present NHL pros, like Michael Ryder, Alex Newhook and Dawson Mercer. “It’s a very tight-knit group here. It’s a family,” he said. “We all support and send each other messages. All the Newfoundlanders playing pro, I know most of them personally and we all keep in touch, say goodluck, ask what do you need, and all that.”
When he got into the acting business, he never could have imagined that he’d not only make it big, but get another opportunity to live out a hockey dream.
“I was a set dresser, a production assistant for six or seven years before I went on camera,” he said. “Around here in Newfoundland, I would get the odd role. I got called to do one scene on Letterkenny. And I thought that was a stretch, outrageous actually, that I could be an actor.”
When Shoresy came calling, he didn’t even have an agent. “I told my buddies that I landed a spot in the show, but I didn’t know that the character would be so important in the show. I didn’t really know who I’d be acting with, although it’s odd, because as soon as we all met, like I mean it, I don’t know if Jared had that as part of the plan but the day that we met, you could tell that we were going to be buddies.”
The secret sauce, if you will, is the ideal mix of hockey pros and seasoned actors that gives Shoresy its authenticity. Jon Mirasty, who plays Jim #1, was a real-life enforcer with a whopping 1,370 penalty minutes in 288 games between the ECHL, American Hockey League (AHL) and Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Former NHLer Brandon Nolan (Jim #2) and his brother Jordan Nolan (Jim #3), who was a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Los Angeles Kings, help to add some serious pedigree as well. “With all going on right now and how difficult it is to even make the NHL, let alone to win three Cups, to be in our squad and cast, is pretty cool,” said McDonell. “It’s great things to draw from the room. You could ask anyone anything.”
Frederick Roy, who plays Delaney, is the son of Hockey Hall of Famer and New York Islanders‘ head coach Patrick Roy. That will be a specifically cool storyline when they play at UBS Arena on Dec. 10.
McDonell is a self-described “regular, hockey-playing 42-year-old guy”, who never chased NHL dreams but found his calling in acting. Shoresy found a way to combine his passions in a way he never expected. “For those two worlds to collide, yeah, I’m having the [expletive] time of my life,” he said. “TR has done this before, playing in front of thousands of people, I haven’t, so we’ve got a wildly different experience across the dressing room, that’s for sure,” he continued. “We all went as a squad to the Red Wings game the night before [the Detroit outing], too. We kind of got mobbed and that was the first time that was really like, ‘Oh [expletive], we’re in the states, who was even to think we’d get this kind of response!?’”
As Michaels, he embraces being Shoresy’s metaphorical punching bag, constantly getting chirped despite their very close relationship off-camera: “It’s a super fun character to play. I’m honored that Jared gives me those wacky ass words to say. I’m honored to get told to shut the [expletive] up all the time. You know, it’s a fun dynamic because it kind of just works with the team. We’ve all gotten to kind of grow as a team together. And you get to see the character’s lives a little bit more, especially in Season 4, and I think people have kind of grown to care about them because of that.”
Inspiring a Future Generation
Underneath all the wacky humor that Shoresy fans have come to love are some lessons that they hope will resonate with their audience forever. The show teaches resilience, teamwork and the power of perseverance through its portrayal of the Bulldogs’ “never-lose-again” attitude. Even when their backs are against the wall, they group together and push through.
“You go through so many things together,” McDonell said. “You lose, you win, you battle, you get hurt. There’s all kinds of things. You hear about people’s lives in the room. [Sports] are much more of a learning tool than people give it credit for…You know when you’re younger and you have sports teams that you’ll remember for the rest of your life? That’s how this feels. I went to Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals – it was incredible. I met a guy who I hadn’t seen in years, who I played hockey against years and years ago in Nova Scotia, and we talked like it was yesterday. So it kind of just echoes to what that sport and what that foundation can bring later on in life. It’s special.”
The show isn’t just making a difference on an individual basis, but on a community scale as well. “The overwhelming thing that I get from people is that they like watching Shoresy together with friends, too,” McDonell added. “I didn’t really think of it as a big deal at first, but over time that’s kind of dawned on me how special that is, and what kind of joy that brings.”
Looking Forward to the Shoresy Classic
The Shoresy Classic is sure to be unlike anything else: from fights, to slick goals, to high-flying action and relentless chirps. “Skating out there [for the first time], I had an overwhelming feeling of joy,” said T. Ryan. “I was flooded with emotion when we saw all the blueberry jerseys and the sayings and the signs, and we were like, ‘Man, we’re touching a lot of people here.’”
McDonell couldn’t contain his excitement when thinking about what the 2025 edition will bring. “The first event we put together fairly fast, so now across the board we were like, ‘What if we really plan this out?,’” he said. “So here we are, and I think it’s gonna be amazing. I can’t wait.”
Once again, tickets are available at letterkenny.tv/pages/shoresyclassic, which are now officially on sale. There are also VIP packages available, including Team Q&A sessions, an autographed photo, seating behind team benches, a Meet & Greet and more.
