Revisiting the Miracle On Ice - A Canadian Perspective

[pbmax]

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/vancouver2010/hockey/2010/02/21/12970856-qmi.html

Its a good read and makes a great point. The event has become so well known, so cliche, that without Herb Brooks around, there is no one alive to tell this story effectively enough to remind everyone why it was, and still is, important. Yesterday, before the USA/Canada game, they had a piece with Eruzione, Mark Johnson and Jim Craig going back with Al Michaels to Lake Placid to talk about the game.

But the effect of the interview is small, as none of them seems to be able to speak to the enormity of their accomplishment. Even the months they spent training seems diminished. You would get a better feel for what they went through reading EM Swift's article on them that he wrote for Sporstmen of the Year in SI.

Eruzione, and maybe Craig suffer from the chicken banquet syndrome, where their retelling has been reduced to quick sound bites and laugh lines. Johnson is just uncomfortable in front of the camera and is not practiced retelling the story. Michaels suffers from both doing the interview and then being interviewed by the players.

One thing I did not know is that Johnson dislocated a shoulder in the series. I can't believe I had never heard that before.

[Joemailman]

It's hard to explain to people now why 1980 was such a big deal because the political climate was such a part of the story. What was different about it was that there wasn't a long buildup to the big event, because no one had any reason to think it might happen. I was a diehard Chicago Blackhawks fan, but didn't know anything about the players because no one followed college hockey in Chicago at that time.

I do remember well watching the U.S.A's second Olympic game where they beat Czechoslovakia 7-3, and thinking that maybe these guys were a lot better than people thought. They were not expected to beat the Czechs, who were considered to be the 2nd best team in the Olympics.

Shortly after the Olympics, Jack O'Callahan, a member of the U.S. team, and a 1977 draft pick of the Blackhawks, was brought out to drop the ceremonial first puck at a Blackhawks game I attended. The place went crazy, and yet 3 weeks earlier, even most Blackhawks fans knew nothing about the guy. The whole story of that team really is the most unique sports story I've ever witmessed.

[pbmax]

We had a delayed Holiday visit to some relatives one winter and my Uncle was going on and on about the hockey team beating all expectations. No one in the family was a huge hockey fan at the time and he may have been picking it up from Blackhawk-centric coverage as he was living in Chicago.

As I remember it, at the time of the visit, the team had tied Sweden(?) and beaten the Czechs 7-3 and we watched the third game (and maybe the fourth) during the visit. The momentum continued after we went home and watched the rest. We all saw the tape delayed broadcast of the USSR game on Friday night and by Sunday the entire family was fit to be tied.

My father had just opened a new office and was actually working on Sunday to unpack everything and get everything put away. He was calling in every half hour to get updates from me until someone brought in a radio and dialed into the broadcast.

[ThunderDan]

Our family followed the hockey team very closely as 2 Wisconsin boys were on the team. Mark Johnson played at my high school and Bob Suter went to East; both attended UW.

Both are still in Madison. Mark is the UW women's coach and Bob runs Gold Medal Sports on the eastside of town.

Mom let us skip church to watch the gold medal game after the "Miracle On Ice"