TJ Oshie is debuting a documentary, titled Coach, about his dad’s battle with Familial Alzheimer’s at the DC/DOX Film Festival next week. The screening will take place on Saturday, June 14, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in DC’s Penn Quarter neighborhood.
TJ lost his father, Tim “Coach” Oshie, just over four years ago on May 4, 2021. His dad suffered from a rare form of Alzheimer’s, transmitted through a genetic mutation that begins to affect those who have it as early as their 30s or 40s.
Oshie notably scored a hat trick against the New York Rangers the day after his father passed away. The Capitals gifted him the three goal pucks from the game this past October.
“The making of the doc was, for me, maybe I was a little nervous at the start to kind of open up, but these guys were so great to work with,” Oshie told Team 980’s Craig Hoffman earlier this week. “So generous to come meet me and make everything work with a growing family. They made me feel very comfortable, that I could open up and share.
“It’s been a long process. These guys have done a lot of work on this thing. I’m happy to do the interviews and sit through the story, but I’m not back there crunching clips and making everything look perfect. The mastermind is behind these guys, and I’m very proud of how they were able to portray and show the story of me, Coach, and my family.”
According to the film festival’s description of the documentary, the 39-minute film follows Oshie as he is forced to confront the possibility that he and his children may share the same gene mutation as his father.
“A story of courage, legacy, and the choices that define us, this film explores how a son’s love and a hero’s resilience are tested in the face of generational adversity,” the conclusion of the description reads.
The film is co-directed by Clifford Nash and Griffin Nash, identical twins and co-founders of Nash Pictures, and boasts executive producer credits for Seth and Lauren Rogen. Listed among the cast credits on IMDB are several familiar names to hockey fans, including Lindsay Czarniak, Zdeno Chara, Paul Bissonnette, and Ryan Whitney.
“When we got to know more about TJ’s story, there was this parallel that was basically as TJ’s NHL career was skyrocketing, Coach’s health started to go down just because he was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of Alzheimer’s,” Clifford Nash told Hoffman. “I just think that when we started contrasting those two stories and then started working with TJ and developing how he was going to tell this story, we were just blown away at how connected it felt and the emotional strings of it.”
“This film, it’s taken about five years to get to this point,” Griffin Nash added. “So we’ve seen the story, like most documentary stories, change after you start. And I think it goes back to TJ just trusting us with the story, being honest on camera. We’re not driving anything here. We’re just telling the story.”
Oshie, along with the Nash brothers and producer Mark DiCristofaro, will participate in a post-screening discussion with The Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson. Tickets for the screening are still available on the festival’s website, with general admission tickets priced at $15 each.
