Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez), a high-powered lawyer, is haunted by an incident from his past: while playing pee-wee league hockey as a child, young Gordon missed a crucial shot in the state finals game, leading to the team's only second-place finish and invoking the wrath of his coach, Mr. Reilly (Lane Smith).

When Gordon is arrested for drunk driving, his boss gets him to take a leave of absence and for his 500 hours of community service, arranges for him to coach a hockey team of misfit kids. At first, Gordon treats the coaching job with contempt. But when his team loses to a team led by his old coach Reilly, the fire under Gordon is lit. Inspired, he leads his team on a mission to succeed. The team begins to win games and soon they are ready to face Reilly's team for the big championship game.