Not every fictional drama draws real-world outrage before it even airs. But Netflix’s upcoming hockey series “The Sticks” has done exactly that, reopening a wound for families who lived through one of the most devastating sports tragedies in recent memory.
What The Show Is About
“The Sticks” follows a grieving wife, played by Michelle Monaghan, who takes over coaching her late husband’s high school hockey team in Minnesota after tragedy strikes. Netflix insists the series is entirely fictional and not based on real events.
Why Families Disagree
The story’s premise bears striking resemblance to the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash, a real Canadian tragedy that killed 16 people, including players, coaches, and staff, when their bus collided with a semi-trailer truck. For families who lived through that loss, watching a near-identical scenario play out on screen feels less like coincidence and more like exploitation.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Show title | The Sticks |
| Lead actress | Michelle Monaghan |
| Release window | 2027 |
| Real event referenced | 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash |
| Lives lost in real crash | 16 |
| Families’ main objection | Fictional framing despite specific parallels |
The Bigger Debate
This isn’t the first time Hollywood has faced this dilemma. Films like “We Are Marshall” and Netflix’s own “Society of the Snow” worked directly with survivors and victims’ families to portray real tragedies respectfully. Others, like the 2011 film “United” about the Munich air disaster, faced backlash for skipping that step entirely. “The Sticks” now finds itself in the latter camp, at least in the eyes of the families affected.
What makes this case sharper is timing. The Humboldt tragedy happened just eight years ago, not decades — the grief is still raw, and many affected families feel blindsided rather than consulted.
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Where Things Stand
Netflix has not changed its stance, maintaining the show is fiction. Whether that framing holds up once “The Sticks” actually releases in 2027 remains to be seen — but the backlash has already put the streamer under a spotlight it likely didn’t want this early.
