Apu, the coach of the Kwik-E-Mart Gougers, witnesses Lisa deflecting the litter and throws a hockey puck at her without warning, which she catches.

With four seconds left, Bart is tripped by Jimbo, giving him a penalty shot against Lisa that will decide the outcome of the game.

[3][5] To better familiarize himself with the sport, Anderson ordered a batch of VHS highlight tapes, watched the NHL playoffs for the first time, and made several trips to scout youth games, taking notes on how players looked stickhandling and shooting.

"[6] Gretzky eventually ended up appearing in the Season 28 episode "The Nightmare After Krustmas", becoming the first hockey player to guest on the show.

[7] The episode starts out with Lisa tricking Bart into believing it is a snow day by throwing a snowball at him which she made out of the ice in the fridge.

[4] The scene was inspired by Scully, who as a child loved to sit and listen by the radio waiting to see if there was going to be a school snow day.

[4] The scene where Milhouse was bound by his hands and legs to the net was inspired by stories Scully had heard about Springfield Indians owner Eddie Shore tying his players to the posts "trying to teach his goalies to stay in the crease.

[6] Although there was an emphasis on detail for the show, one mistake Scully regrets is having the game clock running (and eventually expiring) on Bart’s penalty shot.

[3] Kent Brockman's line about a Garry Trudeau musical revue about Ronald Reagan is a reference to Rap Master Ronnie, an off-Broadway play about the Reagan administration that ran throughout the 1980s.At the assembly, bully Kearney has Dolph take a memo on an Apple Newton, a personal digital assistant.

When Moe visits Bart and Lisa at the Simpson house to see if they have any injuries that may affect the odds of the upcoming game, Marge sends him away as he pleads, "They're gonna take my thumbs!

The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "a fabulous episode for Lisa and Bart, although with a special mention for a few seconds of tremendous Edna Krabappel wickedness".

[14] TV Squad's Adam Finley gave the episode a positive review, commenting that it is "a skewering of parents who become too involved in their children's sports and turn what should be a lesson in teamwork, trying your hardest, and losing gracefully into a kind of Roman Coliseum where grown adults live out violent fantasies and their own failed ambitions through their children".