About 0-48

The 1986-87 hockey season was a season unlike any other in North American hockey. Through the course of their inaugural, 48-game season, the Omaha Lancers won zero games. Zero. Most games were blowouts: opponents scored an average of more than 9 goals per game, while the Lancer offense could only muster a little more than 2 goals per game. Some games though, were close: a few nights they lost by one or two goals, and two games even went to overtime. But the Orange and White never left the barn with that elusive “W.”

After only ten games, the head coach was fired. By the end of the season, three different men held that title. Their home arena wasn’t so much an arena as it was the local skating rink that couldn’t hold even 1,000 fans. According to reports, in mid-January, the organization was thousands of dollars behind on rent. On one road trip, the team bus broke down.

While all this may seem extraordinary to you, how must all this have felt for the players? This group of 16-19 year olds came to Omaha from across the country to further their own hockey careers and instead suffered unprecedented losing. Some players were just happy to be there; while some had difficulty coping with defeat after defeat. Some players got homesick; while some lost the chance to advance their career.

But they were a team. A team with character. A team that stood up for each other. A team that never quit. And they were a team that--up until the final buzzer of game #48--believed they had a chance to win.

Our goal with this documentary is to take the viewer inside the minds of the teenagers on the team that couldn’t win. Every player has a different tale to tell, every player had their own way of handling the constant losing, and every player had hockey on their minds at home, at school, and at their jobs.

“0-48” is the story of the 1986-87 Omaha Lancers.