Slapshots is a Gordon Korman sports-comedy series about the Stars hockey team from Mars, Ontario. The team of misfits is coached by a possibly-brain damaged former NHL benchwarmer, but rapidly start defining Underdogs Never Lose in a series of intense and zany games. The books' narrator is the team's cub report, "Chipmunk" Adelman.
The four books came out from 1999 to 2000.
- The Ace: Alexia and Trent, the Stars' co-captains, are both phenomenal hockey players who are great at blocking, scoring, and putting rough opponents in their place. Alexia has some of the best stats of any player after just a few games and Trent has the record for most goals scored in a game. Trent's record gets broken in the third book, but as a consolation prize, he sets a new record for scoring at least one goal per game in a hundred straight games.
- Accidental Athlete: Chipmunk (who turns out to be listed as a reserve player) plays in the final pre-playoffs game solely to try to pull off an opposing player's jacket and expose a graduation t-shirt underneath revealing that the player is too old for their league. Chipmunk keeps failing, while also inadvertently bouncing pucks off his body parts and into the goal, setting a new record for most goals scored by a player in a single game.
- The Benchwarmer: Coach Boom-Boom Boltisky's career lasted sixteen years after he first joined the NHL, but he only ever scored nine goals and spent a lot of time on the bench, recovering from head injuries, being traded, or being temporarily bumped to the minors.
- Da Editor: Ms. Spiro is the school newspaper's faculty editor and repeatedly refuses to let Chipmunk print extra editions for important stories or criticize the local hockey league's efforts to sabotage and undermine their rivals.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Mrs. Boltisky, the coach's wife, is described as the prettiest women any of the characters have ever seen. People get nervous talking to her and the Stars weaponize this trope by having her sit in the stands and distract the rival team.
- Egg Sitting: The third book has an egg baby class project as a subplot. Chipmunk's eggs keep being destoryed as a Running Gag (along with everyone else's besides Jared's at one point early on) and his teacher gets fed up and threatens to give him an F if he breaks one more. Chipmunk uses sealant and cement to make the egg shatterproof, but gets a D- due to how that would be a terrible thing to do to a real baby. Jared's egg gets smashed as well near the end of the book, but he still gets an A for protecting it that long and for showing paternal grief over its loss.
- Enemy of My Enemy: When the main characters' hockey team has to fill in for their town's all-stars after most of the all-stars get sick eating bad pizza, their hated Jerk Jock rivals Happer Feldman and Oliver can't stand the idea of the kids who they've bullied, mocked, and lost their first game against winning. They spend the game shamelessly cheering for the other team, even after their coach, teammates, and Happer's uncle start rooting for Alexia and her team.
- Expy: Trent Ruben is a lot like Adam Banks from The Mighty Ducks, being the star player of a rich and cocky rival hockey team who ends up being transferred to a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits due to his placement on his original team violating the league's rules. Like Adam, Trent gradually starts fitting in with his new teammates and feuding with his Fair-Weather Friend old teammates.
- Fun with Acronyms: At the beginning of the book, rival players Happer, Oliver, and Trent are in the same hockey lineup and, due to their great talent and first initials, they are called the HOT Line. After Trent is transfered to the Stars, Happer and Oliver's new teammate is named Garvey, and they spend a lot of time whining about how they are now the HOG Line, which Chipmunk thinks is fitting given Happer and Oliver's piggish behavior.
- The Hyena: Cal Tonelli will go into hysterics over any joke, even if it’s lame and/or is making fun of Cal and his friends.
- I Told You So: Jared Enoch spends a lot of time lecturing the coach whenever something that Jared asked about and the coach ignored (like practicing penalty shots) becomes important.
- If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: Coach Boltisky and his wife own the health food store which sponsors the Stars hockey team, so the players feel obligated to eat (or in some cases, pretend to eat) their food. Only Trent really develops a taste for the health food, while the other characters ocassionally find something apetizing but change their mind after learning its ingredients (e.g. a milkshake without any dairy products in it).
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Chipmunk spends most of the third book trying to prove an undefeated rival player is lying about his age, and exposes him in the name of justice after the Stars beat that rival's team anyway and he is being a Graceful Loser.
- Rules Lawyer: Mr. Feldman kicks Alexia off the hockey team due to an archaic town law forbidding women from carrying pieces of wood longer than three feet. Eventually, Chipmunk realizes that this doesn't apply to aluminum hockey sticks.
- Small Town Rivalry: The towns of Mars and Waterloo are only two miles apart and their kids go to the same school, but there is no warmth between them. Most Waterloo citizens, kids and adults alike make mean and repetitive space-themed jokes about the "martians". The Waterloo officials also spend thirty years unjustly excluding Mars from the county youth hockey league. Once they finally have to give Mars a hockey team, they try to undermine them at any opportunity.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Chipmunk is obsessed with jawbreakers, and his nickname comes from how he always used to have one stuffed in his mouth. He got eleven cavities from eating too many jawbreakers shortly before the story, and the local candy merchants all refuse to sell to him, despite his best efforts. During an egg sitting project, he names most of the eggs after jawbreaker flavors.
- Underdogs Never Lose: The Stars are a rookie team with lots of eccentric players (like a boy who can only skate backwards) but after losing their first three games in the first book, they start getting impossible to beat.
- Worf Had the Flu: The Stars beat the undefeated Penguins during an early season game in the first book but are very nervous about whether they can do so again during the championship game in the fourth book. The Penguins were overconfident, playing on lumpy ice they had no experience skating on, and were tired during the second half of the game due to exerting themselves too hard in the first half out of a panicked desire to compensate for their disadvantages. None of this is true for the championship game, and while the Stars have improved throughout the season, the Penguins are harder to beat.
