Miracle on Ice: How a Stunning Upset United a Country

Miracle on Ice: How a Stunning Upset United a Country — page 1 — Chapter One WORKING TOWARD AN UPSET With the score tied 3-3 in the third period the United States hockey team changed its forward line Mike Eruzione stepped onto the rink and chased after a puck his teammates John Harrington and Mark Pavelich had dumped into center ice Eruzione was the captain of the U S team which was playing the Soviet Union in a crucial semifinal game at the 1980 Winter Olympics If Team USA won this February 22 contest it would have a chance to play for the gold medal Cheering on the Americans was an enthusiastic crowd of about 10,000 people jammed into the small ice arena at Lake Placid New York Team captain Mike Eruzione sped down the ice at the Lake Placid Olympic Arena

Miracle on Ice: How a Stunning Upset United a Country — page 2 — But what were the odds Eruzione and the young Americans could beat the mighty Soviet team which had won the last four Olympic gold medals in hockey At that time Olympic athletes had to be amateurs Many of the Soviet players belonged to their country’s army the Red Army so technically they were paid as soldiers not athletes But the whole world knew they were selected trained and paid to play hockey for their country Most of the Soviet players were in their mid-to-late 20s while a few were just over 30 They had years of international experience playing together as a team Their experience and skill made the Soviet players among the best in the world Just the year before in a series played in New York the Soviets had taken two out of three games from the National Hockey League NHL All-Stars The Red Army team won the final game against the NHLers with its best goalie Vladislav Tretiak sitting on the bench But even with Soviet backup goalie Vladimir Myshkin in the net the All-Stars could not score a goal The Americans on the other hand were mostly college students While they excelled at their sport in school they had started training and playing international hockey together only a few months before the 1980 Games The selection process to create Team USA began with its coach Herb Brooks who was also the hockey coach at the University of Minnesota Brooks wanted players who would work hard and not crack under stress Nine of the players he chose had been with him at Minnesota He knew their talents and they knew his coaching style Mike Eruzione 25 a left winger was one of the oldest players on the squad He was one of four players from Massachusetts The rest were from the Midwest 12 from Minnesota and two each from Wisconsin and Michigan Those states were the hotbeds of U S amateur hockey but the American presence in the NHL was still fairly small Only about 12 percent of the pro players were American in a league dominated by Canadians Compared with professional baseball football and basketball hockey interested few U S sports fans

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