If you’re in your early 30’s or late 20’s, think back to your childhood for a moment. So many things come to mind but as far as television shows go, there’s one that sticks out above the rest (if your parents allowed you to watch it).

Yes, we’re talking about the Simpsons.

Matt Groening’s world has covered pretty much everything over the past 31 years but if you’re a die-hard fan… then you should know which episode is our favourite. If you take a very, very deep dive back through the show’s history, then you might recall a certain episode that aired on November 13, 1994 called ‘Lisa on Ice’.

The episode follows Lisa’s journey to the hockey crease and her newly developed rivalry with Bart. It alllll started in a game between the ‘The Mighry Pigs’ (yes, the logo is based off the Mighty Ducks’) and the Kwiki-Mart Gougers. Bart, the star of the former, fires garbage with a hockey stick at his sister after she criticizes him for hurting the Gougers goalie (who was obviously Milhouse) with a shot.. Apu, the coach of the Gougers, takes notice of Lisa’s reflex reactions to Bart’s shots and begins to think Lisa might be his new goalie of the future. His final test was firing a puck as hard as he could at Lisa to see if you could stop the puck and of course, she snags it in extremely unrealistic fashion. Don’t know how Apu thought this was a good idea but you’ve gotta love cartoons!

 

The timing of Apu’s discovery could not have been more perfect either. She was failing gym class at the time and with aspirations of becoming the president of the United States, Lisa sees this as her ticket to the A she desperately ‘needs’. So, she ultimately agrees to join Apu’s squad, quickly turns the Gougers into a contender, and most importantly proves Homer’s ridiculous statement wrong about women not being able to dominate sports. Slowly but surely, the momentum of Bart being the best player in the family changes to Lisa.

 

The Mighty Pigs and Gougers inevitably meet again in a huge game with a battle for supremacy on the line. The two siblings were clearly the best players on the ice and after some hard fought battling between both teams, the game came down to a penalty shot for Bart. As Bart prepares for his shot, both he and Lisa flashback to all of the good times they’ve had together over their young lives and ultimately realize that winning, and more importantly making the other feel like a loser, simply isn’t worth it. They drop their equipment and the game ends up in a tie.

And the crowd consequently went wild afterward!

 

“They’re both losers! Losers!!!!”

It turns out that there were supposed to be a few NHL cameos. Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky were both supposed to make an appearance but writer Mike Scully fell in love with the story about the family and eventually ruled out the idea. Gretzky does appear in season 28, however, in the episode ‘The Nightmare after Krustmas’’.

 

It’s not every season that we see hockey crack The Simpsons but this is undoubtedly its most famous episode revolving around the sport. An all-time great!