The Puck Stops With Ryan McDonell in Season 2 of SHORESY as His Character Becomes The ‘Keeper’ of Secrets

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede With all the extreme and quirky personalities on display in SHORESY, it’s hockey goaltender Mark Michaels who gets singled out as the “weird” one. Think about that for a moment. Ryan McDonell, who plays Mark Michaels, should wear it as a badge of honour. What an accomplishment! “I like that,” McDonell said. “It’s a good card that I’ve been dealt. But you know, he sees nothing wrong in his world with what’s going on. I mean, Mark Michaels is living in Mark Michaels’ world. That’s the way I’ve played it the whole time. But there is a different twist to him this season.” McDonell is referring to Season 2 of SHORESY, which premieres Friday, Sept. 29 with the first two episodes dropping on Crave. Subsequent Season 2 episodes of the LETTERKENNY spinoff roll out on Fridays. Almost immediately in the new season of SHORESY, as the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs of the Northern Ontario Senior Hockey Organization (The NOSHO) continue their noble quest to never lose again, the other characters begin to notice that Michaels – as he is commonly known – is “acting weird.” The problem with that diagnosis, however, is that Michaels is a goalie. Consider this exchange: Shoresy (played by series creator Jared Keeso): “People are saying you’re acting weird.” Michaels: “What do you say?” Shoresy: “Goalies are always weird.” But is there more going on with Michaels than merely being a goalie? “Michaels is a very big onion, there are a lot of layers to peel,” McDonell said. “There are two sides to life, right? Everybody keeps saying he’s the best goalie in the league. But there’s doing well at your job, and then there’s you, yourself, the person that you have to go to sleep with every night. There could be a gaping hole in his heart. So I like what I was given this season, and I love playing the character. He’s a complicated one, that Michaels.” McDonell, who originally is from Nova Scotia and has been working in film and TV since he was in his late teens, said another thing he appreciates about Season 2 of SHORESY is that the characters have more scenes together. The team was essentially being assembled and getting to know each other in Season 1, but there’s a shorthand to the comedy in Season 2. “It’s a little bit of a different flavour, now that we’re all established as a team, but hopefully we won’t let you down in the comedy department,” McDonell said. “I was with Keeso last week, actually, just gearing up, and Season 2 is really impressive. Once again, the music is on point, giving that little extra emotional tug every once in a while, and I’ve always been a fan of that. I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Jared very well, and know the world of where LETTERKENNY came from, and the pace, not just in the way it shoots, but the way it comes off the page. You trust the editing. We don’t really screw around too much, as I’m sure other people who work on the show have said before. The crew is such a well-built, well-oiled machine. They all know each other. I’m just really excited to see what people think of Season 2.” Has McDonell ever been a goalie in real life? He laughed when he heard the question. “No, I haven’t … well, wait, that’s not quite true … I played goalie in soccer the odd time, when our normal ’keeper was gone, and I fared okay,” McDonell said. “But ironically, the only two hockey-related things I’ve ever done in TV and film, I’ve played a goalie, which is so strange. I mean, I played a lot of hockey up until I graduated, a pretty high level out East, but then I gave it up to act. I love the game, and I still play a little bit here and there.” Ultimately, even if Ryan McDonell isn’t a goaltender by trade, he clearly is the right man to play complex goalie Mark Michaels, who is definitely “acting weird” as Season 2 of SHORESY begins. “To be part of something that you’re kind of crafting, and you’re there the whole time, it’s so fun,” McDonell said. “The hockey, the music, acting with friends … you don’t get that too often. Even just having this conversation right now, I’m going to carry that into future stuff. I’m very aware that this is a huge blessing, so I’m going to really cherish it while it’s here.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv