Cody Lightning didn't want actors learning to skate for his hockey movie. He wanted hockey players learning to act. That's the choice sitting at the centre of Smudge the Blades, which had its world premiere at TIFF Lightbox on September 12.

Lightning directs and stars in the film, playing Coach Willie, a Zamboni driver who ends up running a struggling teen team called the Treaty 6 Blades in northern Alberta. He takes over after Ed Helms's character, the team's original high-strung coach, gets the Blades booted from the league. From there it's Lightning's second feature as a director.

The comparisons write themselves. There's a bit of The Mighty Ducks in the DNA here, an outsider adult landing a ragtag youth team. But Lightning is quick to draw the line between his coach and Emilio Estevez's Gordon Bombay, the lawyer-turned-coach who ran his 1992 team ragged chasing a championship.

"I would rather cast hockey players and coach them in acting than to teach an actor how to play hockey," Lightning told The Hollywood Reporter, explaining a production choice that shaped the whole film, not just its look on ice.

Coach Willie doesn't do the rousing speech either. No Kurt Russell in Miracle telling a locker room that greatness comes from opportunity. "Coaches usually want players to have a team spirit," Lightning said. "Mine is the opposite: 'You guys are so hard on yourselves and just take it so seriously that you're not having fun. Enjoy yourselves or let loose.'"

That's not incidental to the plot. The film is upfront about why a team full of talented Indigenous teenagers keeps losing, and it isn't a skills gap. Lightning, who has coached young Indigenous players in real hockey leagues, points to racism that's common in Canadian arenas, stands and parking lots alike.

"There's prejudice and racism and we face a high amount, not just in hockey, but in general," he said. "And that deflates your confidence as a young person. And when you know dysfunction continues to happen, it's hard to break out of that."

The film doesn't shy from showing what that does to a young team. The changing room scenes after a loss are described as heavy with resignation, kids visibly worn down rather than fired up for the next game. Getting them to believe in themselves, Lightning said, is the harder coaching job. "It's hard to let your kids know, 'hey, you're worthy,'" he said. "You're worth it. You guys are great players and just keep playing your game if this stuff happens. That's a life lesson, not just a hockey lesson."

Still, this is an underdog sports film, and it does eventually let the Blades catch fire as a team heading toward the championships, Coach Willie finding his inner Herb Brooks along the way.

What happens to Smudge the Blades after its Toronto premiere, whether it picks up a distributor and a wider release date, isn't settled yet. For now it's a festival title, and the industry conversation at TIFF this week will tell us how far it travels from here.