There's A Marathon Going On

I don't get the channel, but there's a marathon of all The Simpsons episodes happening on FXX this weekend. Every. Single. Episode. All 25 seasons. That's a lot of Homer saying "D'Oh" over the weekend. While hockey hasn't been a major topic in The Simpsons, there is one episode that dealt entirely with the sport we love so much.

Episode eight in Season Six is titled "Lisa on Ice". It debuted 20 years ago on November 13, 1994. The episode sees Principal Skinner handing out academic alerts to the students of Springfield Elementary School, and Lisa - normally a straight-A student - discovers she's not doing so well in physical education! This leads Lisa to taking up a sport, and she eventually chooses ice hockey. And she's good at it!

She joins the Kwik-E-Mart Gougers after Apu spies her stopping pieces of litter fired at her by her brother Bart. With Bart on the Mighty Pigs, coached by Police Chief Clancy Wiggum, a sibling rivalry begins as Lisa's goaltending skills push the Gougers up the standings. Like any good drama, the final game comes down to the Gougers and Mighty Pigs.

I'm not going to spoil the ending here in case you haven't seen it. Thanks to writer Mike Scully's love of the game, The Simpsons dove into hockey for one episode, and it was one of the better episodes in The Simpsons' history based on critics' reviews and the Neilsen rating it received. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm sure you will too if you're able to see it. If anything, it's way better than Milhouse's goaltending.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!