Sticks and Stones

The Boxers from Brockton, MA and the Canadiens from Fredericton, NB are two teams at a 2003 Montreal junior hockey tournament. The Boxers almost didn't attend because of the rising global tensions due to the US initiated Iraq War. After arriving in Montreal, the Boxers wished they hadn't attended as they face anti-US sentiments time after time, some bordering on the potentially violent. This situation is especially troubling for the family of the Boxers' star forward Michael Carver, whose twenty year old brother Chris Carter gave up his own hockey life to enlist and is scheduled to head over to Iraq soon. One half of the Canadiens star first line, coach Neil Martin's twelve year old son Jordan Martin, doesn't like the treatment shown to the American team. Although distracted by his parent's crumbling marriage whose problems are due primarily to competing careers, Jordan decides to do his small but seemingly insurmountably problematic part in fixing the wrong that has been done. Regardless of if Jordan can pull off his plan which may be at the expense of his own promising hockey career, his actions may show others that bridging gaps in other aspects of life are worth attempting.