The Mighty Ducks (also known as D1: The Mighty Ducks and in the UK and Australia as Champions) is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film about a youth league hockey team, directed by Stephen Herek and starring Emilio Estevez. It was produced by The Kerner Entertainment Company and Avnet–Kerner Productions and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first film in The Mighty Ducks film series. In some countries, the home release copies were printed with the title as The Mighty Ducks Are the Champions to avoid confusion with the title of the sequel.

DETAILED PLOT

Gordon Bombay, an arrogant Minneapolis defense attorney, is arrested for drunk driving and sentenced to community service by coaching the local "District 5" Pee-Wee hockey team. In his youth, Bombay was the star player for the Pee-Wee Hawks but missed a penalty shot at the end of the championship game, disappointing his coach Jack Reilly. Bombay meets the ragtag District 5 team, realizing they have no practice facility, safe equipment, or ability. In their first game with Bombay, they are soundly defeated by the Hawks, still coached by the hyper-competitive Reilly. Bombay resorts to teaching them to dive and draw penalties, angering the team and their parents, but player Charlie Conway refuses to cheat.

Visiting his mentor Hans, who owns a sporting goods store, Bombay recalls that he quit hockey after losing his father months before the championship, and because Reilly blamed him for losing the game. Hans encourages him to rekindle his passion for the sport by skating on the frozen pond from his childhood, where he realizes the error of his ways, and apologizes to Charlie and his mother Casey.

Bombay approaches his boss, Gerald Ducksworth, to sponsor the team, allowing them to purchase new equipment and rink time. As they learn hockey fundamentals, the team recruits three new players: figure skating siblings Tommy and Tammy Duncan, and slap shot specialist and enforcer Fulton Reed. Noticing Charlie’s potential, Bombay takes him under his wing and teaches him tactics he used with the Hawks. Renamed the Ducks – after Ducksworth – the team plays its next game to a tie.

Bombay learns that due to redistricting, the Hawks’ star player Adam Banks lives in District 5 and should be playing for the Ducks. Informing the Pee-Wee league, Bombay is confronted by Reilly and sarcastically agrees that the Ducks are “losers”; overhearing this, most of the team (besides Charlie and Fulton) walk out and forfeits their game. Considering leaving the team, Bombay is convinced to stay by Charlie. He goes to see Ducksworth, who reveals that his community service is over and has arranged a meeting with Reilly and Adam's father, who have made a deal with the league for Adam to remain on the Hawks, if Bombay withdraws his complaint. Reminding Ducksworth that coaching was meant to teach him fair play, Gordon remembers his father's guidance that a team is "something you have to earn." Told to drop his protest or be fired, Bombay chooses the latter, "quacking" at Ducksworth on his way out.

Visiting his players in school detention, Bombay regains their trust. Joined by Adam, they win a crucial match and qualify for the playoffs, and attend a Minnesota North Stars game together. With Charlie’s encouragement, Bombay begins a romance with Casey, and the Ducks win two more games, reaching the championship against the Hawks. Reilly orders his team to injure Banks, forcing him out of the game, but the Ducks manage to tie late in the final period. Charlie is tripped by a Hawks player as time expires, and prepares for the same game-deciding penalty shot Bombay himself faced. In stark contrast to Reilly – who told Bombay that if he missed, he would let everyone down – Bombay tells Charlie to take his best shot, but that he believes in him no matter what. Inspired, Charlie fakes out the goalie with a "triple-deke" Bombay taught him and scores, winning the state championship. The Ducks and their families race onto the ice in jubilation, where Bombay thanks Hans for believing in him.

Some days later, Bombay boards a bus to a minor-league tryout, secured for him by the NHL's Basil McRae, who played Pee-Wee hockey with him. He receives his own words of encouragement from the Ducks, promising to return next season to defend their title.