Okay, hockey is already pretty exciting.
But apparently it needed superpowers.
“Screech Owls” is returning to the screen with a completely new animated adventure that takes a team of young hockey players off the ice and throws them into mysteries filled with high-tech villains, globe-trotting missions, specialized suits and some rather impressive hockey-inspired abilities.
Shaftesbury and Sphere Animation are teaming with the National Hockey League and Boat Rocker Studios for the new 26 x 11-minute action-adventure series, which reimagines Roy MacGregor’s “Screech Owls” books for a new generation.
And this isn’t the team’s first trip to television.
The books previously inspired a live-action “Screech Owls” series produced by Shaftesbury in 2001, with original head writers John May and Suzanne Bolch now returning to lead the animated adaptation. Suren Perera will direct the new series, which is currently in production in Toronto.
This time, however, the Screech Owls are getting a pretty significant upgrade.
The young hockey players find themselves solving cases that can take them from jewel heists in Vancouver to a mind-control plot in Montreal, somehow balancing saving the day with the considerably more normal problem of making it home in time for their next hockey game.
Thankfully, they aren’t heading into those missions with hockey sticks alone.
When danger strikes, the team can gear up in specially designed suits that enhance their natural abilities through something known as Power Pulses. Those powers allow the kids to use the very skills that make them strong hockey players in completely new ways, whether they need to outrun someone, smash through an obstacle, defend their teammates or turn ordinary objects into crime-fighting tools.
Suddenly hockey practice feels considerably more important.
Leading the Screech Owls is Neela, voiced by Ana Sani, the team’s courageous captain whose powerful shot becomes even stronger when her stick is charged. Joshua Odjick voices charismatic forward Ishkode, whose suit can amplify his speed and dexterity, while Erika Prevost voices Camille, the team’s curious goalie and resident tech expert. Her abilities allow her to shield the team from incoming threats and energize objects into projectiles.
Then there is Trevor, the team’s defenseman and resident combination of brains and brawn. Jonathan Malen, who appeared in the original “Screech Owls” television series, returns to the franchise to voice the character, whose enhanced strength lets him power through barriers and just about anything else standing between the team and its mission.
But the Screech Owls aren’t taking orders from just anyone.
Former NHL All-Star P.K. Subban serves as an executive producer on the series and will also voice Coach P.K., the team’s larger-than-life leader. There is a particularly nice full-circle element to his involvement too, as Subban grew up reading the original “Screech Owls” books and is now helping bring those stories to another generation of kids.
PWHL star Sarah Nurse will also appear as herself, with additional guest stars planned for the series.
Underneath all the super suits and impossible missions, though, the concept still comes back to the qualities kids can develop by being part of a team. Courage, leadership, trust, quick thinking and knowing when to rely on the people beside you matter just as much when the Screech Owls are facing a villain as they do when they’re out on the ice.
And that’s what makes the combination work.
Kids don’t necessarily need to understand every rule of hockey to follow a group of friends racing around the world, uncovering clues and stopping bad guys. But making those heroes hockey players gives the action its own identity, allowing the series to turn skills learned through the sport into something much larger and considerably more outrageous.
“Screech Owls” is being developed beyond television as well, with plans to build the property across interactive gaming, consumer products and global licensing.
The animated series will make its English-language debut on CBC in fall 2027, followed by its French-language launch on Radio-Canada and TFO in winter 2028. The NHL holds exclusive distribution rights in the United States and Nordics, while Boat Rocker Studios will handle distribution throughout the rest of the world outside Canada.
Which means we’ll be keeping an eye out for exactly where the Screech Owls eventually skate onto screens here in the U.S.
Until then, Neela, Ishkode, Camille and Trevor have mysteries to solve, villains to stop and hockey games to somehow make on time.
No pressure.
Just remember to bring your stick.
Apparently you might need it to save the world.