Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Shoresy’ Season 3 on Hulu, the return of Jared Keeso’s mouthy single camera hockey comedy (2024)

Shoresy, which streams on Hulu in the US via Crave in Canada, returns for its third six-episode season battered and bruised from too many shifts of being too undefeated. For the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs, a sorta-kinda pro hockey club based in Ontario – Shoresy is filmed there, on location in the real-life town of Sudbury – hosting the Northern Ontario Senior Hockey tournament is a big deal. But after a rough go in the NOSHO playoffs, is the host club worthy, or just whale sh*t? Either way, the Bulldogs will leave it all on the ice. Shoresy stars creator/writer/exec producer Jared Keeso, and began a spinoff of Keeso and Jacob Tierney’s small town laffer Letterkenny, which closed out its 12th and final season in 2024.

SHORESY – SEASON 3: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs take a knee as they watch the Sault Ste. Marie team hoist the league trophy. Soon after, there’s sadness and silence in the dressing room. Well, until Shoresy has an outburst. “It’s hockey! You go til you can’t go no more! f*ck!”

The Gist: Bulldogs team owner Nat (Tasya Teles) consults her directors of player personnel, Ziigwan (Blair Lamora) and Miigwan (Keilani Elizabeth Rose). What are they to do about a roughed-up and complaining bunch of hockey players, especially with some powerful clubs from other provinces making their way to Sudbury for the tournament? Management will have to find a way to motivate Shoresy (Keeso) and their other players, a group that includes the mildly over-the-hill Ted Hitchco*ck (Terry Ryan), exclusively French-speaking defenseman “Dolo” (Jonathan-Ismaël Diaby, playing a version of himself), and Brant “Goody” Goodleaf (Andrew Antsanen). Goody’s arm is NOT in a sling. That’s a holster.

While the players gather at Shoresy’s for a tentative walking contest (the ability to judge an injury’s length from four to six weeks is a skill issue), we also learn about some of their tournament competitors. The Bulldogs will be up against other semi-pros from across Canada, which means guys who split their playing time with rodeo riding, commercial fishing operations, and the Canadian national rugby squad. Guys with nicknames like “The Freezer Twins,” “Gorgeous Gord,” and “Sly Sylvestri,” the latter of which is well-known as the dirtiest player in the league. On Questionable Call, brought to you by Bro Dude Energy, host Anik Archambault (Kim Cloutier) also tells her panel of sarcastic hockey experts that the Quebecois hockey club owner – played by real-life Canadian pop singer Marie-Mai – was once engaged to Bulldogs player Jean-Jacques François Jacques-Jean (Max Bouffard), aka “JJ Franky JJ.”

In the view of Sanguinet (Harlen Blayne Kytwayhat), former Bulldogs player turned head coach, his guys just need a sit-down. So he calls a meeting of the captains. “You’ve lost your identity as hockey players,” he tells them as Nat, Ziigwan, and Miigwan observe over their bottles of Puppers beer. A challenge to his commitment, to his very identity as the ultimate gamer, is not something Shoresy’s likely to take lying down. “No excuses!” Sanguinet continues. “Now give yer balls a tug! You’re hockey players!”

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Even though Letterkenny’s over, Shoresy still takes place in the universe that show established, so characters have the ability to crossover. And it’s never a bad time to revisit , the Max sports comedy created by Danny McBride, Jody Hill, and Ben Best.

Our Take: One of the funny things about Shoresy is how it’s not blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, even though the episodes run less than thirty minutes. Packed with charged silences, series-specific throwbacks of slang and reference, and remarks that hang awkwardly in the air like the flying puck that’s about to clock you in your skull, the banter between characters on Shoresy is full of dimension and direction, even if it often feels tossed-off and superficial. It’s a nifty skill Jared Keeso also showed off with his writing for Letterkenny, where a show about locals’ mundane problems supported larger arguments and commentary on society even as the town’s factions bickered constantly.

But Shoresy also works as a genuine love letter to hockey, the sport’s traditions, and all of its eccentricities, particularly through a Canadian lens. You can get lost in a rabbit hole, looking up all of the terminology, the curses, and the slang. But nor would you be alone in that. After the loss that opens Season 3, Shoresy’s got a gripe. “I don’t wanna lift my head right now because you’re probably giving each other ski poles.” It requires a veteran making the motion before a younger player understands Shoresy’s meaning.

Sex and Skin: Well, with Shoresy, like Letterkenny before it, the sex and the skin are contained mostly to the spoken insults and not so humble brags that fly furiously between the characters.

Parting Shot: The Charlottetown Reds, from the province of Prince Edward Island, are set to open the Senior Tournament against the Bulldogs. And they’ve just walked into the beginnings of a bar fight. “Is that the Sudbury guys? Uh-oh.”

Sleeper Star: “f*ck you, Shoresy!” Somebody’s always tossing this friendly phrase Shoresy’s way, from the high school hockey club games he refs, to his own teammates, to his team’s general manager. This is an incomplete list, and is sure to grow in Shoresy season 3.

Most Pilot-y Line: As Miigwan tells Ziigwan and Nat, by hosting the National Senior Tournament, the Bulldogs have the opportunity for even more greatness. “Yo. Last year, we wanted to win one game. This year, we won them all. Now, we have a chance to win the whole country. Cash in.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Letterkenny might be gone but is Shoresy forever? The third season of Jared Keeso’s funny, foul-mouthed hockey comedy keeps the eccentric laughs coming as the Sudbury Bulldogs take on all comers.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.