Jared Keeso skates out of the tunnel at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and fans wearing light blue No. 69 Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs jerseys leap to their feet. Keeso is not a professional hockey player — well, not in the traditional sense — but a packed house on this Sunday afternoon in December chants his character’s name from his hit TV show.
“Shore-sy! Shore-sy!”
The Bulldogs’ cast, filled with former NHL and AHL pros, are playing an L.A. Kings alumni squad that features two-time Stanley Cup champions Jarret Stoll, Jeff Carter and Trevor Lewis. For a while, the Bulldogs hold their own, eventually losing to the Kings’ squad 10-9 after a two-period game that features staged fights, shirtless laps and a halftime shootout.
The Bulldogs are the senior AAA hockey team from “Shoresy,” a spinoff of Keeso’s Canadian cult-favorite “Letterkenny,” and a team whose influence stretches beyond the small screen. NHL, MLB and NFL players are fans. “Shoresy-isms” have entered the hockey lexicon. In L.A., fans from as far as Sydney, Australia, line up more than an hour before doors open and come bearing gifts for the cast. Samuel Olmos Iniguez says he fell for the show while stationed with the Navy in Honolulu and brought his spare tooth, a flipper, as a gift for Keeso.
Season 5 of “Shoresy” makes its U.S. premiere Saturday on Hulu. It debuted in 2022 and two years later, Keeso and his producers had an idea to bring the show to fans. They reached out to NHL alumni, starting with Boston Bruins Alumni association, who began to assemble a team to play the cast and opened doors to other clubs around the league. What resulted was the Shoresy Classic, an eight-game series that sold, unbelievably, 69,900 tickets, raised more than $100,000 for NHL alumni charities and saw the Bulldogs take on alumni teams from Toronto to Vancouver in December 2025 and January 2026.
Keeso kept a tour diary during the Classic. He shared that with us, and we’re one-timing it to you.
–Alyssa Roenigk
THE SUDBURY BLUEBERRY BULLDOGS have just finished the Shoresy Classic tour across eight North American cities. Here is a list of highlights compiled by the boys.
Note: We largely refer to each other as our character names from the show, so here is a glossary of nicknames to help you follow along:
TR: Terry Ryan (“Hitch”)
Dolo: Jonathan Diaby
Goody: Andrew Antsanen
Fish: Jacob Smith
McD: Ryan McDonell (“Michaels”)
Nasty: Jon Mirasty (“Jim 1”)
B: Brandon Nolan (“Jim 2”)
Jord: Jordan Nolan (“Jim 3”)
Frankie: Max Bouffard
Longer: Keegan Long (“Liam”)
Berky: Bourke Cazabon (“Corey”)
Wahzy: Frederick Roy (“Delaney”)
Fergy: Cam Fergus (“MacPherson”)
Bones: Brad Bonello (“Sly Sylvestri”)
Clarky: Neil Clark (“Schnurr”)
Penner: Alex Penner (“Palmer”)
DETROIT, Nov. 24
Red Wings Alumni 10, Bulldogs 6
The boys haven’t been together for a while, so we chuck our bags and go for a group dinner at Wright & Co. in downtown Detroit. TR asks several people to join our table before we even sit down, and we raise a glass to good fortune on the road. We spend countless hours and dollars at a bar after and get suddenly cut off for reasons we don’t understand and still stew about.
We arrive at Little Caesars Arena for a skate the next day and the boys decide this is the nicest barn in the NHL. (This will change when we get to Edmonton.) We skate at the Red Wings’ practice facility where the team’s championship banners line the walls. Max Pacioretty has just finished practicing with his son’s team and says hello. Patrick Kane comes by after, calls Frankie by name, and brings the boys in for a tour of the Red Wings’ dressing room.
It’s game day now, and Darren McCarty and Joey Kocur are in our room to say hello straight away. We hit the ice and are reminded that Justin Abdelkader, who could still play in the NHL, only has one gear. The Nolan brothers’ dad, legendary NHL coach Ted Nolan, is on the bench with us, and Red Wings alumni players skate over one by one to shake his hand. Fish goes through Darien Hatcher’s legs and the boys warn him not to try that again.
Mickey Redmond pots one and gets the second biggest cheer of the night (first goes to a fight at center ice between Nasty and McCarty, who has dyed his hair and beard electric red for the event). I’m given a quick etiquette lesson from Dino Ciccarelli, who barks at me midplay to stop backchecking him. I obey (imagine I didn’t?), he scores and the crowd goes wild. I get a smile from one of the meanest men to ever play hockey and make a conscious decision to stop contributing on defense for the rest of the tour. Note: My lack of contribution on offense was not a conscious decision.
The alumni take us for postgame beers at Harry’s, we don’t get cut off, and I decide on my way out the door that Detroit is my favourite American city.
TORONTO, Nov. 28
Maple Leafs Alumni 5, Bulldogs 3
Most of the boys grew up Leafs fans in Ontario, so this one’s been circled on the calendar for a while. We get a rowdy Friday night crowd at Scotiabank Arena with tons of family in the building, and the Bulldogs are fired up.
Kris King, now the NHL’s executive vice president of hockey operations, takes some of the boys up to the “situation room” where he and his team use instant replay to make crucial, in-game decisions on a nightly basis. Dougie Gilmour brings his family into the room to say hello pregame and I shoot an impromptu commercial with Todd Gill for his wife Krista’s gourmet cookie business 23&Co. Penner has a new satanic tattoo on the back of his skull and, all of a sudden, this team’s literal reality is more entertaining than its fictional one.
Ted Nolan is on the bench with us again and we have a better showing for him this time. I stack my line with Fergy and Bones but fan on their backdoor-tap-in passes all night. Bones’ kids get to see their dad score on a breakaway where the Toronto Maple Leafs play and they spend the rest of the game with their shirts off in the stands. Fergy chips in a handful of assists for his newborn who has made the trip to the Big Smoke with his glowing and patient mother, Aubrey. Nasty and Mark Fraser give the crowd a fight at center ice that, once again, gets the biggest pop of the night.
Some alumni join us for beers after at The Bottom Line, right beside the Hockey Hall of Fame. Many of our friends and family have gathered there and we stay ’til close. It’s almost Christmas and the vibe is righteous. The boys are happy and feeling grateful and we tip our beers to each other from across the room like it’s the final scene of “American Pie 2.”
BOSTON, Dec. 7
Bruins Alumni 14, Bulldogs 14
In coastal cities, I can’t focus on anything ’til I eat my weight in crab and butter, so Wahzy and McD and I meet my brother and his wife for a seafood supper at Row 34 and make faces at each other after every bite like we’re in a TV commercial for The Keg.
The next day, most of the boys are on hand for the morning skate. There’s usually only a handful of us out there, but this is TD Garden and this is where the Boston Bruins play. These morning skates are my favourite part of the whole damn thing — just casually carving around an empty NHL rink, looking up into the vacant stands and smiling at how I, one way or another, made it to The Show.
Andrew Ference stops by the room pregame and this guy should be carrying some kind of torch for the NHL. The man is classy, charismatic and handsome as the day is long. My pal Colton Orr comes by and the boys tell us how much we look alike so, obviously, he is a handsome bugger as well.
This is the first game we’ve surpassed the 10,000-fan mark and McD hits the ice for warmup with his skate guards on. I use my pregame speech to tell the Boston fans that I think the Bruins’ 2011 Cup-winning team is the greatest team of this generation. I also acknowledge legendary Bruins coach, Don Cherry, who helped raise an elite generation of Canadian hockey players and gentlemen.
Hall of Famer Zdeno Chara is in the lineup and, for some reason, Fish gives him a little hook as he’s skating to the bench. Big Z turned around and stared at the Bulldogs after, searching for the offender, and as I looked into that man’s eyes, my nuts jumped up into my stomach and stayed there for several days.
Brian McGonagle (a.k.a. Rear Admiral) of “Spittin’ Chiclets” fame has joined us for the night. He can’t wait to show us his favourite Beantown haunts, but that will have to wait ’til Boston’s finest rescue TR, who is stuck in an elevator. The boys hit the bar hard and when it looks like the night is over, the owners of a nearby tavern open their doors for us and we go ’til morning. I lose my voice completely.
NEW YORK, Dec. 10
Islanders Alumni 14, Bulldogs 4
I’m holed up in a Brooklyn hotel waiting for a steroid shot from a doctor so I can hopefully speak at our game against the New York Islanders alumni the following night. I live vicariously through the boys, who take advantage of the day off in the Big Apple.
Wahzy’s dad is Hall of Fame goaltender and New York Islanders coach Patrick Roy. He treats the boys to a game that night at UBS Arena and no one can believe how skilled super rookie Matthew Schaefer is. Some of the boys take a midnight subway to Times Square after and check that tourist box together. I lay in bed hoping the steroid shot might also aid my slap shot.
Half the Islanders alumni could still be playing in the NHL, so the boys are prepared to get thumped. I’d heard Cal Clutterbuck say nice things about our show in the press, so I seek him out pregame to say thank you. Clutterbuck is clearly inspired by my visit as he goes on to score approximately half of the Islander’s 14 goals that night.
No one who has ever passed a microphone to Terry Ryan Jr. has gotten it back in reasonable time, but my voice isn’t game ready so I ask him to do my usual crowd address and, astonishingly, he keeps it to a tight two minutes. Wahzy digs deep for this one because his dad is in the stands but, the truth is, we are all trying to put on a show for Patrick Roy. Despite our best efforts, the Islanders alumni smoke us. The greatest goalie of all time visits the room after, regardless.
The boys usually stay on the ice signing jerseys and taking photos for about an hour after each game. Long Island was special because when I got off the ice, a dozen of the Islanders alumni were in our room having beers. We usually entertain a handful of players postgame, but Long Island was the first time we had double digits.
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14
Kings Alumni 10, Bulldogs 9
The boys are fired up to be here and rent Mustang convertibles to hit the road in all directions. I’m editing our new show “I Kill The Bear” in my hotel room but receive photos of the boys in Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Hollywood. A small group watch stand-up at The Laugh Factory that night while the rest watch the Kings game with Clarky’s childhood friend, actor Taylor Kitsch. Goody and Wahzy find a party so weird I ask to hear the story twice.
The next day I take my dad to the morning skate and it takes us a half hour to get through security at Crypto Arena. (Mom and Dad have made the trip from Listowel, Ontario — they never skip a trip to California.) ABC and ESPN are there to shoot a piece on the boys. Whoever is getting interviewed gets chirped by whoever isn’t. Our leading lady on “Shoresy,” Tasya Teles, is behind the bench with us tonight and 8,500 people make it known they are very happy to see her.
The Bulldogs promise to take a lap with our shirts off if the Kings score 10 on us. In the dying seconds, the Kings make it 10 and the Bulldogs are flying around the ice half-naked. We all gather at a venue across the street postgame where JoDolo plays to a thousand screaming fans and the boys get real banged up. More than one of us misses our flight the next day.
CALGARY, Jan, 22
Flames Alumni 11, Bulldogs 7
We’ve had the Christmas break between games, so the boys roll into Cowtown rested and ready to rip. We chuck our bags and hit Central Taps (Jord’s recommendation) for afternoon beers and then head to the Saddledome for Flames vs. Penguins. If you’re in Calgary, you go to Cowboys Casino or you’re not doing it right. The boys spend their first of two nights there. Berky’s jacket gets stolen, Wahzy goes on a heater at the blackjack table, and we conclude that pretty girls really like Longer.
The next day, the van over to the morning skate smells like a brewery. Craig Conroy comes down to say hello and Zach Whitecloud has lunch with the boys after, and Ryan Huska gives us a tour of the Flames dressing room. The remaining Bulldogs arrive and now half our room smells like a brewery and the other half smells like a dispensary. What better time for Lanny McDonald to arrive with a mixer pack of beer from his Tamarack Brewing Company and the boys enjoy a hair of the dog with an NHL icon.
I’m a lifelong fan of the Calgary Flames so I’ve brought my Johnny Gaudreau jersey to wear out onto the ice and pay my respects. I put it on moments before hitting the ice and realize I’ve mistakenly brought the women’s-cut jersey I got my wife for Christmas a while back. I opt to hold the sweater out in front of me instead, and Johnny Hockey gets the biggest pop of the night.
TR’s dad, Terry Ryan Sr., is behind the bench with us for this one and provides a flavour of East Coast flair only outdone by Terry Ryan Jr. The Flames go up three in the first three minutes. Lanny McDonald appears on our bench to settle the boys down with more beers and we start to claw our way back. Brian McGrattan has unreal hands for an all-time heavyweight. Goody accidentally opens up Marty Gelinas under eye, and Theo Fleury is +10 on the night. I don’t score often but the hockey gods are watching and I pot one in the iconic barn where my favourite team plays.
McGrattan and Mike Commodore join the boys for Round 2 at Cowboys postgame and the night gets spicy. We’re true pros at this point, though, and no one is late for our 9 a.m. bus call.
EDMONTON, Jan. 23
Oilers Alumni 11, Bulldogs 9
There are a number of things working against the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs in Edmonton, Alberta, on January 23:
1. The Oilers alumni are stacked.
2. This is our first time playing games in back-to-back nights.
3. We’ve just done back-to-back nights at Cowboys.
Only two of us take the ice for pregame skate and we both agree this is the nicest barn in the NHL. A banner at the end of the rink reads “This Is Oil Country” and that says it all. I meet my parents for a coffee in the lobby and Darcy Hordichuk introduces himself. I tell my parents after that the man they just met has the best hockey fight of all time (vs. Mel Angelstad on Oct. 6, 2000).
This is our biggest crowd of the tour at 12,600, and the boys get tattoos of that number when we get to Vancouver. Hall of Famer Chris Pronger stops by the room beforehand and the boys are inspired. We go up three early and prove that playing guilty is a performance enhancer.
There are a handful of killers on the Oilers alumni, including Georges Laraque, Kelly Buchberger and Hordichuk, but we are most preoccupied with Raffi Torres who, given the score, does not appear to be having a good time. His mood changes after he scores three and the boys give him plenty of room to do so. Nasty and Laraque go at center ice and the video has gone viral by the time we crack a postgame beer. Fish steals the show with an electrifying shootout goal and adds two more pretty ones, so we label the evening “Fishy Night In Canada.” Ales Hemsky plays on one leg and is still the silkiest player out there.
The boys make it three nights in a row and hit the town hard postgame. First stop is Bar Trove owned by Connor McDavid’s wife, Lauren, and then the boys take a limo to Beercade. Wayne Gretzky calls me the next morning to ask how the game went and TR mentions that McDavid was at the game. We’re still not sure if that last part is true.
VANCOUVER, Jan. 26
Canucks Alumni 10, Bulldogs 9
We love all our children equally, but the boys largely agree that Vancouver is the nicest city in Canada. A handful of the boys chuck their bags and dash to Grouse Mountain for night skiing. Despite it being Goody’s first time on skis, he goes full tuck down a hill not for beginners and wipes out in what B Nolan calls a top-three funniest thing he’s ever seen in his life. I’ve gotta scratch the coastal city seafood itch so I take a handful of the boys to Joe Fortes where we eat our weight in crab and butter.
I lived in Vancouver for 10 years, so I go zigzagging through my old neighbourhood the next day (the West End) and reconnect with the city I came to to become an actor. McD and I have dinner with some pals at a place on Cambie called June and I have a ravioli dish that I still can’t shut up about.
We finish the tour with a crowd of 9,000 on a Monday night at Rogers Arena. On the bench with us are the brass of the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs, played by Tasya Teles (“Nat”), Blair Lamora (“Ziig”) and Keilani Rose (“Miig”). I won’t be told there is a more watchable trio on television and the team feels complete with them standing behind us.
We’re told to keep an eye for Cliff Ronning, who can play a bit grumpy, but all eyes are on Hall of Famers Daniel and Henrick Sedin, who graciously joined the Canucks’ alumni roster weeks before the game. The respect that players and fans have for these two is palpable.
The boys are skating around smiling all night as we stick the landing on the tour. My line combines for half a dozen as a cherry topper. The Jims line score the rest, as usual. Clarky played years of pro hockey but never got to skate his kids around the ice. We watch our guy check that box postgame. You have never met a group of dudes who are this happy after giving up 30 goals in three games.
We are immeasurably thankful to the NHL alumni players who hosted us along this tour. Every single night, it felt like we were on the same team as these legends of the game. To the gentlemen we shared the ice with, we are humbled by your presence and grateful for your partnership.
The boys want to give a heartfelt thanks to all the fans that came out, enjoyed the game of hockey and contributed to our charitable efforts in each city we visited. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to live out our hockey dreams. It has been a pleasure and an honour. See you next time.
