An Evening With The Hoff

I was channel-surfing tonight after getting home from my weekly sporting endeavour. There's rarely anything entertaining on television these days, and it seems to be even worse on a Sunday night. As I was perusing the multiple channels with nothing on, I came across a roller hockey game! The only catch? This wasn't your average roller hockey game as the crowd featured Tiffany Amber Thiessen and Alexandra Paul sitting side-by-side in the front row cheering on someone named Cody. Slightly confused and wondering why I'm watching a standard-definition television program, it soon became clear that I had been sucked into the Baywatch world.

It took some digging, but Episode 4 of Season 7 of Baywatch is entitled "Windswept", and it features an NHL-branded roller hockey game where Cody and his roller hockey team play for some fictional trophy. The episode was written by David Braff and it aired sometime in 1996. According to the IMDB page, the synopsis of the episode is as follows:

Mitch is the main attraction at the Baywatch Lifeguard Bachelor Auction and is "bought" for $5,000 by a wealthy socialite, named Alicia Hancock, who's eager to put him to her very satisfaction. But Mitch ends up stranded on a desert island with the snobbish Alicia in which both of them get on each others nerves fast. Meanwhile, Cody joins a roller-blade hockey team to satisfy his yen for power while Caroline and Stephanie enjoy watching his performance on the court.

I have to admit that I missed out on the Baywatch Lifeguard Bachelor Auction at the beginning of the episode, but I did get to see Cody play a little hockey. The weird part is that I can't find David Chokachi, the actor who portrays Cody on the series, playing hockey anywhere else. He may know how to rollerblade thanks to his time in California, but hockey as certainly not something he did regularly. Or ever, it seems.

If you've made it this far, you might be wondering why I'm writing about this episode from 23 years ago. The reason for this is that Baywatch didn't exactly hide the NHL logo or its teams' logos when playing. In fact, the "NHL Breakout" logo is visible throughout the roller hockey portions, and the two teams show the "Mighty Ducks" name on the goalie's helmet and the Blackhawks logos on the opposition's shirts. Fans in the crowd also show some rather unique support for NHL teams as the New Jersey Devils - the 1995 Stanley Cup Champions - are shown on a fan's shirt just three seats to the right of Thiessen and Paul in the crowd.

Among the guest stars in the show are agent and co-head of the Hockey Division of Creative Artists Agency Pat Brisson as "The Operator" and retired hockey star Brian Mullen as per the credits, but there's zero reference or thanks given to the NHL, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, nor the Chicago Blackhawks for any usage of their logos or trademarks. Normally, if a television show has paid for or obtained the rights to use said trademarks, there's some thanks given to the those who own the trademarks, but apparently that's not the case in Baywatch's world.

Anyway, if you have 45 minutes to kill, here's the episode. The hockey action isn't all that great and there's a fairly predictable outcome of the game, but that's how most Hollywood TV series end their shows, right? Here's "Windswept", aka S7E4, of Baywatch. Enjoy!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!