

Season 6 • Episode 44
LatestIn the town of Podolsk, The Bears hockey club hires a new coach, Sergei Makeyev, a former National Hockey League player, who sets out to get the club to the Junior Hockey League and make The Bears a successful team.
Acting
Denis Nikiforov's gruff coach energy carries six seasons
Production
Surprisingly authentic on-ice sequences for a soap
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Junior League became a sleeper hit by filling the post-Soviet absence of earnest sports dramas, capturing Russia's complicated relationship with hockey as both national pride and escape from economic struggle.
The production used real Junior Hockey League players as extras, and several cast members continued actual hockey careers after filming wrapped—method acting taken literally.