Filmmaker and unabashed hockey fan Kevin Smith features the sport in his films, whether it's the three street hockey "punks" in "Dogma" or the rooftop game in "Clerks" or a scene during a Penguins game in this year's "Zach and Miri Make a Porno."

The New Jersey Devils fan told Yahoo.com in October, "I hadn't seen hockey depicted in a film since like, what, 'The Cutting Edge'? Prior to that, it was 'Slap Shot.' And you don't want to even count 'The Mighty Ducks.' So I wanted to give a shout out."

He's not the only fan who pays homage to the sport in movie scenes.

Hockey plays a role in comedies like "The Love Guru," by Canadian Mike Myers, and "Van Wilder," with Tara Reid showing up the title character, a party-throwing slacker, in an on-ice match. "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz often showed his love of the game with hockey-related panels and animation. And in "Love Story," Ryan O'Neal was a Harvard law student who plays a mean game of Ivy League hockey.

Some films, though, aren't content to skate by on a scene or a mention. "Slap Shot," as the prime example, is a bawdy 1977 comedy that uses minor-league hockey to tell a story about small towns, fringe athletes, relationships and sports business -- and it's got Paul Newman having a ball as a foul-mouthed player-coach leading the charge.

Pittsburgh Filmmakers is showing a new print of "Slap Shot" at its Regent Square Theater through Sunday (pghfilmmakers.org). Dave Hanson, the only actual "Hanson" among the three Hanson brothers in the film (Jeff and Steve Carlson were the others), settled in Western Pennsylvania and is general manager of the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center. On Sunday, he'll introduce the film at the 5 p.m. showing and sign copies of his book, "Slap Shot Original."

The movie's enduring success surprised Hanson. "It was successful as far as the box office goes, although the critics reviewed it poorly, comparing it to other great performances that Paul Newman had done in the past," he said Tuesday.

The real impact hit him years down the road during an appearance at a hockey arena with his fellow Hanson brothers characters. The trio signed autographs for four hours. They continue to do public appearances, drawing new generations of "Slap Shot" fans. "We run into hordes of fans who know more lines from the movie than I can recall."

Hanson stayed in touch with Newman. "We became very good friends during the filming of 'Slap Shot.' He was the kind of guy you'd like to have as a neighbor. He'd be over there helping you rake the leaves, shovel the snow, pop a cold one and share some laughs. That's the way he was on the set. There's no question that he was the megastar, yet he wouldn't let on like he was. That was one of the reason that movie came across so well, so natural."

The Hanson trio were naturals, too, making the transition from minor-league hockey to the big screen. Director George Roy Hill encouraged them to be themselves on camera. "As soon as we got done with the scene, everybody's jaw kind of dropped," Dave Hanson recalls. "He said 'That's it -- that's what we want you to do from now on.' He gave us the liberty to improvise as much as we wanted to."

Here are 10 films that use hockey as the mostly main event -- and unlike Mr. Smith, we do want to count "The Mighty Ducks."

"Slap Shot" (1977): It's got Hollywood's quintessential hockey goons, a pretty boy star, greedy owners and a charming cad of a coach played to the hilt by Newman. It was written by Nancy Dowd, whose work includes the Oscar-winning "Coming Home" and "Saturday Night Live" in the early '80s. And it was filmed in Johnstown and Western Pennsylvania.

And yes, there was a "Slap Shot 2" in 2002, notable mostly for the return to film of the Hanson brothers.

It's also R-rated, explicitly raunchy stuff, so leave the little ones at home.

"Miracle" (2004): Not the documentary "Miracle on Ice," but the single-word feature film about the late U.S. hockey coach Herb Brooks and his miracle team that beat the Soviets and went on to win the 1980 Olympic gold medal. Kurt Russell, whose son with Goldie Hawn, Wyatt, was a minor-league hockey goalie, plays Brooks in the role that helps all of us believe in miracles of the sports variety.

In a 3 1/2-star review, PG film critic Ron Weiskind wrote that the production had to be fresh enough to overcome everyone's memories of the real event, "and they have succeeded brilliantly."

"The Rocket" (2005): The engrossing biopic of Montreal star Maurice Richard reveals the National Hockey League's growing pains. Richard is called "the Babe Ruth of hockey," but the well-cast Roy Dupuis portrays a man more in the mold of Jackie Robinson: Targeted by English-speaking players and officials who had little use for "Frenchies," he endures years of indignities heaped on deliberate injuries before an explosive incident that spills from the rink into riots. Radio broadcasts of The Rocket's pleas for peace saved the day.

"The Sweater" (1980): Roch Carrier's deceptively eloquent short story, "The Hockey Sweater," was made into a colorful book with illustrations by Sheldon Cohen, who then created an animated feature for the National Film Board of Canada in 1980. Carrier narrates "The Sweater," a story with special resonance in Canada, where English-speaking vs. French-speaking is a matter of regional pride:

A boy living in Montreal, a die-hard fan of the Canadiens and their star, Maurice "The Rocket" Richard, is given a -- gasp! -- Toronto Maple Leafs jersey by his oblivious mother and forced to wear it.

"The Sweater" is among the treasures on the DVD "Leonard Maltin's Animation Favorites From the National Film Board of Canada" (1994), available through online retailers. It's also on line at www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJlilwLlBhg

"Mystery, Alaska" (1999): Producer Howard Baldwin is the former Penguins co-owner who also produced "Sudden Death" (see below). Writer David E. Kelley (most recently TV's "Boston Legal") is the son of a college hockey coach and played while at Princeton.

The collaboration produced a film starring Russell Crowe as a small-town sheriff and member of a hockey team that plays for local glory on frozen ponds -- until a former resident (Hank Azaria) brings in the New York Rangers for a nationally televised game.

A memorable scene has Little Richard, wrapped in fur, singing a drawn-out national anthem while the Rangers players freeze on the outdoor rink, giving a bit of an edge to the acclimated players of Mystery.

"Mighty Ducks" (1992): It's not just that Disney named the NHL Anaheim franchise after this movie franchise.

This "Bad News Bears" on ice stars Emilio Estevez as a lawyer haunted by a childhood moment when he was the goat in his hockey team losing the big game. After a DUI, the court orders him to coach a pitiful peewee hockey team, After a shaky start, he brings the kids together and they begin to win, gaining a sponsor (thus, the Ducks) and the finals, where they face not only their coach's former team, but his old coach as well.

Formulaic stuff, but the Disney machine and suitable popularity produced two sequels and a TV series.

"Sudden Death" (1995): Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals -- between the Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks at the Civic Arena! -- is the setting for this "Die Hard"-in-a-rink film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.

At one point, Van Damme's Darren McCord must pretend to be the Pittsburgh goalie to escape hostiles. The Penguins, meanwhile, tie the game and send it into sudden-death OT, with the play being called by Mike Lange and Paul Steigerwald.

The most recent DVD cover has a cool bird's-eye view of the Igloo, too.

"Happy Gilmore" (1996): It's been pointed out that this quickly turns into a golf movie, but ...

Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore is a meant-to-be-lovable lout who has a killer slap shot but is ostracized from pro hockey because, as critic Roger Ebert put it, "he's a violent sociopath" on ice. However, his Grandma is losing her house, so, stretching credulity, Happy reinvents his slap shot as a huge tee shot and decides to make money by playing pro golf.

"Youngblood" (1986): After they were "The Outsiders' for Francis Ford Coppola, Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze teamed again in this film about a passive but talented prospect (Lowe) who's pressured to fight. Notable as among Keanu Reeves' first films -- he plays the goalie.

"Touch and Go" (1986): Here mostly because it stars hockey fan Michael Keaton, a Coraopolis native. He portrays a pro hockey player who falls for the single mother of a boy who set him up for a mugging. As much about youth gangs and relationships as it is about hockey.

A portion of sales from autographed copies of Dave Hanson's book, sold at www.slapshotoriginal.com, go to Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Camps for children with serious medical conditions.