1980 Winter Olympics - Hockey

It was more than a

hockey

game, it was us against them, it was freedom versus communism, no one gave us hope on Halloween, it was a slice of the cold war played out on a sheet of ice, here you have a group of fresh-faced college students taking over the great Soviet bear in the United States at the Olympic games, the confluence of events was so extraordinary that it can never happen again, no one paid attention to what the Americans in the world were saying anymore, our hostages had been taken and We couldn't get them back. The red army entered Afghanistan, we couldn't get them out.

It might have been the all-time low point for the American public's self-esteem. Who knew these kids would become the vehicle to make people feel excited and proud again by waving a flag? It was a miracle that David defeated Goliath It was the greatest sporting moment of the 20th century In the late 1970s, American amateur

hockey

suffered the same malaise as the nation itself in the 20 years since they won the gold medal at the Olympic Games. By the 1960s American teams had become increasingly unable to compete with the dominant Europeans, especially the Soviet Union, whose players were amateurs in name only, the Americans were always amateurs, college students, some of them or recent graduates still playing, but certainly not at the Russian level, there was no way they could be competitive and the feeling going into

1980

was that they didn't really have much of a chance even though it was here in Lake Placid, the goal was to avoid embarrassment at home, so In July of 1979 the best amateur players in the country were invited to try out for the

1980

Olympic team, they invited us all to Colorado Springs and divided us into four teams, basically guys from the east, guys from Michigan, guys from Minnesota and that big one. team over the course of 10 days in Colorado Springs, those four teams played around Robin.

It was a stressful situation, it was a pressure situation and as the tournament went on, I was being evaluated by Herb Brooks. Mike Heads Up. Mike Herb Brooks never went to charm school. Get it out, get it out quickly. If he had done it, he would have done it. he was failed, how would he have caught a hook on that stand? he was abrasive there are two teams playing there he was also the best college hockey coach in the country people were a little afraid of him he had always been considered an outsider if his his own way of thinking his own way of doing things and he had a history with the Olympic team as a player for the University of Minnesota.

Brooks thought he had made the team in 1960. He was even in the team photo, but at the last minute coach Jack Riley added it. a new player on the roster and someone had to leave, someone was cut by Herb Brooks just a day before the team left for the games in Minnesota Brooks, watched with his father as his former teammates beat Czechoslovakia and won the first United States gold medal on ice. hockey when we wanted my dad to check out, he says, well, looks like Coach Riley picked the right guy, doesn't he? It's a true story and you know, he hit me right between the eyes, which left unfinished business in Brooks' life.

He had something. To prove that he was on a mission, a mission to shake American hockey out of its slumber, Brooks first had to cut his roster from 80 to 26. So he started by keeping the players he knew best, the ones who had helped him win three ncaa championships at the University of Minnesota in the '70s included Mike Ramsey and Bill Baker, Neil Bringon and Rob McClanahan, Eric Strobel and Buzz Schneider, but Brooks knew it couldn't be a provincial grass and he wanted to make sure it didn't look like a team from minnesota because it was from minnesota wanted to make sure there was a good balance, so brooks looked east to another college hockey powerhouse, the university of boston, where he got jack o'callaghan, a defenseman with attitude , and to michael zioni, whose name in italian means rash which fits perfectly with his personality to fill.

The biggest role Brooks chose was 22-year-old Jim Craig, who had played goalie since he started skating on the frozen ponds of New England. I started playing as a goalkeeper because I didn't know the rules. I thought you know, it's not too difficult. He was supposed to keep the puck out of the net. He kept the puck out of the net like any amateur goalie, but he spent his college years playing with a broken heart after the death of his mother Margaret from cancer. His father, Donald, took the loss. extremely difficult, I think when my mother passed away, a piece of my father was gone, he was so lost, he was a shell of himself, I think death and the tragedy of that brought us a lot closer, I spent a lot of time with you, man, i talked to jimmy a lot jimmy was the guy in my mind i thought we had to saddle brooks he filled the team with brave players like mark johnson from the university of wisconsin john harrington and mark pavlich from minnesota duluth kenny morrow from bowling green and they picked others , mostly from universities in the upper Midwest, were tough, fast and disciplined, but compared to the best in the world, the players who were called amateurs but actually played hockey for a living, the Americans were just a group of children who were neither feared nor respected.

We were by far the youngest and most inexperienced team when it came to the Olympics, we were just college kids playing flat out, professionals, older, stronger, the better you know the athletes, so it was a really formal task behind Behind the Iron Curtain, another intense coach was preparing his team for the lake. placid but victor tikenov had none of the problems of his brooks the soviets were the best hockey team in the world and everyone knew it so tkonoff's goal was simple to return to moscow with the fifth consecutive olympic hockey gold medal of his country but his own players He despised him didn't mean anything, I would say he was a fan who thought about hockey 24 hours a day.

He wanted the Soviet Union, Russia, to be number one everywhere and anywhere and he wanted all the players who played for him to think the same way the players hated him. To a large extent, life was intense, with practically no family, children or hobbies, it was just work. Vladislav Trediak grew up on the outskirts of Moscow and became immersed in the Soviet sports machine. At a young age he became perhaps the best goalkeeper who ever played and starred in the Soviet national team for over 15 years. We lived in camps for nine months a year. We trained.

We studied theory and practice three times a day. It was a difficult and hard life. I rarely see my wife and children, but the thing is that I loved haki very much. I really thought that this was how it should be and I was willing to sacrifice myself and put discipline before everything to be first and for my team to win. Trediak and his teammates were first year after year, their lives and careers controlled by the Soviets. government because technically they were soldiers in the red army but only technically I went from private to lieutenant Connell but I didn't do anything from the army for the most part they were completely dedicated to hockey in 1980 boris makailov was already a 10 year veteran of the soviet national team and The most recognizable face in the sport of international hockey was linked to politics and any victory had a great political undertone, especially during the Olympic games, when the secretary general and everyone else were worried about how we would represent our country, our task was it only took place first mikhailov and his teammates represented the soviet union demolishing almost anyone who stood in their way they were government sponsored magicians on the ice we have been dominating international hockey since the darkest days of the cold war it was definitely a dynasty for 10 20 30 years their main objective was to win in every game in every period in every turn it was a regular season in which they won 43 of 44 games 64 68 72 76 until 1980 the Soviets were unbeatable in the Olympic games they played hockey the same way We played basketball with the same type of puck control, the same type of intricate offensive patterns and of course Tretiak's goaltending presence, how could you beat him in the US?

Herb Brooks had been contemplating the same question for years and they could execute it. At such a high level of speed skating, passing and shooting, I thought I tried to develop a team that would give them their game back. Starting in August 79, Brooks began employing his main team-building exercise, beginning tough pre-Olympic training. of six months. program with a strategy to unite them as a team his players needed a common enemy he always liked it when you were against him he was the bad boy he liked being in that bad boy role I remember when he told us he would do it I will be a coach, but no I will be your friend and I believe that my body will be here.

Herbie threw out praise like manhole covers. He quoted in the paper that I had a million dollar pair of legs and a 10 cent fart for her. Brain, I might give you that glare and that look and it's like, oh my God, what did I do wrong? Now I can honestly say that there was no sense of regionalism in that team, there was a sense of herbieism and if herbieism had a language that could be found in a small notebook that the players secretly documented every moment their coach began to sound like a cross between yogi berra and casey stengel the players called their strange motivational sayings brooksisms a couple of my favorite brooksisms on our team you don't have enough talent to win on talent alone there's a fine line between guts and brains you look like a monkey fucking a ball football whatever that means I'm not sure ramsay you're playing you're playing worse and worse every day and right now you're playing like it's next week Carrington, you're playing worse every day and right now you're playing like the middle of the next month Kristoff you suck you know you're getting worse every day and today you're playing like Next month I mean it was advice but he was right and his strategy was to work.

Herb Brooks was turning them into a team. Our Olympic team became very united with the idea that it was us against him and we are constantly like a. group trying to show him that we are good enough to play was herbie attacking from the first day to the last day of the

olympics

really made them a unit when september came it was time to start playing against future olympic competition so brooks took the team to europe for a series of exhibition games the americans started strong winning six of their first eight but brooks kept pressing before a game against norway a team they would have to face in the

olympics

issued a challenge i told them guys we're going to have to playing against the Norwegians and the rankings, so we'll do that tonight.

We sent a message right now, but playing flat, uninspired hockey, the United States could only manage a 3-3 draw and Brooks was furious as we went off the ice. Herbie ran away. He sat on the bench by the door and said: Stay outside, on the ice. Steam comes out of his ears. It's so hot that we had tied with Norway, which is the weakest team we've played there. If that's all we can do is draw with the Norwegian national team. -3 and you think you're going to go to the Olympics and be successful, another guest comes, he's standing there with his suit on, he makes us all stand behind the net and on the goal line and starts blowing his whistle and we did it. what are called herbies, which are blue line back red line back far blue line back down and back two or three of them would be exhausting blue line back red line back blue line back down and back 10 or 12 of them would be excessive and the We did it for about 45 minutes to an hour, the rink attendant turned the lights off for us and we're still skating in the dark in the dark, he's yelling at us with a booming voice in this empty arena, you know, it was pretty intense, the message went out.

That time they are not going to play like that and disgrace their abilities or our collective efforts. No one knows exactly how many herbies were made that night, but for the players it was a turning point. That moment probably had more to do with us. solidifying as a team, we felt like we were a group, a family, we looked at each other and said, basically, he can do whatever he wants with us, he's not going to break us. Upon returning from Europe, the team continued its grueling competition schedule in the United States. states and went on a tear winning 30 of their 41 games through the fall of 1979.

At Christmas time we played in a pre-Olympic tournament in Lake Placid, we played the Russian national B team which was pretty good and the Americans beat the Soviet team junior varsity won the tournament and gold medals five to three, but the smiles on theirfaces created a feeling of unease in the team because, despite all the victories, Herb Brooks was not satisfied. I didn't like our team. They didn't like our team chemistry on February 9, 1980 at New York's Madison Square Garden, they skated onto the ice to play a fundraising exhibition game just three days before the start of the Olympic Games, but their Opponents that night it seemed to them it wasn't just an exhibition because every time the Soviet Union's best team played the Americans, they played to win.

The Soviets had recently embarrassed the NHL stars in a three-game series winning the Challenge Cup. on American ice with just a few days until the Olympic games. away they were rolling over opponents like a red tidal wave, they were the red menace and they wore the CCCP on their chest and they were very, very intimidating, you had heard of them, you would know how good they were, you knew their successes. and now you're going to play against them and that night it was welcome to the real world, guys, they crushed us and we thought these guys were in another world, they just kicked us around that track, the goals they scored, where you could have filmed them.

They were so beautiful They were like robots When they scored a goal They never smiled I don't think I ever saw him smile We were all ready to stand up and applaud him because we hadn't seen anything like that before the guy talked about you Look at that gold, see his movement, it was like We were spectators, I looked at the scoreboard. It said ten minus three. It might as well have said twenty minus ten. Ten three. It made it sound closer than it was. It wasn't competition. There could have been a lower point given the preparation and the work we put into it.

It was. Very Demoralizing this dose of hockey reality brought our hopes back to earth as each team left New York City for upstate Lake Placid. His future seemed clear. Anyone who left Madison Square Garden thought the Soviets would win every match in the Olympics and take home the gold medal and never be challenged in the US. All you knew was that when it came time to face at the big bear they had no chance, no one expected a confrontation between the Americans and the Soviets, the teams were in separate groups and would play only if each one reached the metal around the Soviets were expected to be there the Americans were not I know you really They face a herculean task here uh it's like sending them to the lion's cage do you feel that way uh yeah we know that?

We have to be realistic about things. We are a young team. We are the youngest Olympic hockey team ever. If you had to pick us, I think I'd probably be picked fifth. We were anticipating getting the gold medals because we were the strongest. team The Czech team wasn't very strong The Swedes weren't strong either The Americans never really counted as opponents so there was no one to compete with The Soviets barely had to compete in the first rounds as they beat Japan and the Netherlands by one score combined 33 to 4. The Americans opened against heavy favorite Sweden and played a nervous and tentative game trailing 2-1 late in the final period.

I remember the US had several chances to tie the game and you just had the feeling and of course as the clock ticks down and now you're down a minute, well you're not, with only 41 seconds left , Brooks pulled Jim Craig out of the goal and put an extra skater on the ice, but it left the American net empty, it was a desperate move. move for a desperate team fighting for puck control with 29 seconds left he's just trying to get to the net. He couldn't believe it when he walked in. You know, you can always wonder if Billy doesn't score what's wrong with hockey.

Well, the team spoke, that was the most important goal of the Olympics because if the Americans lose that game, they will be practically out of competition before the Olympics start to end. Two days later, the Americans faced underdogs Czechoslovakia again in a game they had to win. Many people said that the Czechs were considered the second best team in the world and the only team that had a chance to beat the Soviets. We practically dominated the Czechs by far, the second best team arrived, there is no doubt that the Soviets are the best. to check second best and the Americans led six to two at the end of the third period as the Americans were skating to a 7-3 victory. johnson was knocked to the ice by a cheap shot from a czechoslovakian player the american player injured right there number 10 mark johnson while johnson lay injured americans watching on tv i'm going to take this stick and I'm going to shove it down your throat the people were ready to hearing that kind of thing he wouldn't have sat back and let the ayatollah run roughshod over the US while we were holding a bunch of hostages, I think that was one of the moments where a lot of people in this country said: “Hey, they've got a pretty good little story going on here, we've got these fresh-faced kids that have to keep a look at these guys and look at this coach, I mean, he's back there with his players.

Now you get a draw against the Swedes, you get a win on checks and you can feel it starting to build. You can feel the interest in America." Now we're noticing these kids who are starting to turn this tournament around, so everyone is starting to look forward to this possible matchup against the Soviets, but before that, you have three more games, Norway thought it was the easiest of the games and it was You have to come back to me, who scores Mark Pavillage's baby and they won that game Germany presented a bit of a problem, although on Wednesday night, the last one. game before entering the metal round, Germany leads two nothing, so wait a second, what's going on here you don't want this bump in the road, you don't want it every once in a while, the United States can come back and beat Germany, so they did everything they had to do, but then of course there was the specter of the Soviets just looming there the Soviets looming in the middle round with an undefeated record and overflowing confidence apparently no one certainly not a group of university students could prevent them from winning the gold medal, one of the Soviet sports ministers who was responsible for hockey, said that basically you know guys, I'm not congratulating you yet, but we are very close.

The Czechoslovak team did not qualify. Americans are students. We beat them at any time of the day or night. We are already on top of the world. much stronger, no one ever doubted that and they were just students, in short, we didn't respect that team and you can't do that in hockey. The first game of the medal round had been scheduled months in advance for Friday, February 22 at 5 p.m., not exactly in prime time, but then. no one expected it to be a match between the world's superpowers at a time of growing international tension there was talk of changing the match from five to eight because people wanted national television, we were told that the Soviets said absolutely The match will not be played at five as scheduled, so ABC Television made the decision to tape the game at five, but wait until eight to broadcast it, so here, in this very strange and strange circumstance, you have a five o'clock game a Friday. where people file into a building in daylight and go to a semi-matinee, no one would understand that it would be, you know, maybe the most memorable sporting event they would attend in their building.

I'm sure there are a lot of people. In this building, those who don't know the difference between a blue line and a clothesline are irrelevant, it doesn't matter because what we have at hand is the rarest of sporting events, an event that requires no preparation or superfluous adjectives in the locker room before the game. Brooks gave the speech of a lifetime, he told us that we wanted to be players, we were meant to be here, this moment was ours and he told the story of going up and spitting in the tire's eye, I remember they are taking the first one.

I walked past and looked up and around and it was full of flags overflowing everywhere there was a buzz and electricity around the arena united states against russia united states against russia the intensity and the hate is incredible you don't want to hit someone against the board do you want to pump across the boards and I remember a telegram we received from a lady in Texas, you realized that the USA on the front of your sweater meant you were playing for your country for decades, the cold war had a way from bursting in all types of hot climates. places on this day would be a small hockey rink in a small town in the Adirondack mountains on this day February 22, 1980 the only placid thing around here was the lake here we go while the game is on the soviet union in red in the united states states in white, I remember for the first five or six minutes I felt like I couldn't feel my feet on the ice, the Americans even felt for a couple of minutes that this was going to be a little different game, they were skating with determination and purpose.

They had not shown before against the Soviets in Madison Square Garden the Americans were so strong in the first half that it was unexpected for us they played very fast and very emotionally in all aspects it did not make any difference the Soviets hit first losing the point slap Shot and was deflected and the Soviet Union leads one to nothing at the 9 12 mark of the first period. The Russians scored first and he grimaced and thought here he comes, but the American team took that hit. Craig made some key saves and then Buzzy. Schneider went in from the left wing, the tying goal failed to disturb the Soviets, they quickly scored again and it seemed that the first half would end with a two to one advantage, but with seconds remaining the methodical team that almost never made mistakes He made the worst.

It was a mental mistake and it changed the course of the game. Davy Christian has the record. There are about five seconds left in a period. I stopped to skate to the bench thinking the period was over and Mercy and Mark Johnson left like it just didn't happen. he stopped playing he was still playing the russians had stopped I was going hard towards the net the defenseman just let me pass by him I picked up the puck from a rebound and was able to put the puck in we relaxed a little we thought that the period was over and that unfortunately the buzzer would sound horn, that was a big mistake, the biggest mistake as far as Herb Brooks was concerned was that the Soviets weren't taking the Americans seriously, he had worked that out all week when he was making fun of the Russians, these guys.

I think they're going to go over everyone, look how conceited they are. They're not here to play hockey. They had to trade jeans and you know, take a vacation and come home with the gold medal. They do not take this seriously, but the Soviet coach. Victor Tikenov was so serious that he did the unthinkable and replaced the best goalkeeper in the world. I went to the locker room and was getting ready to continue playing, but tikanov came in and said that tritiak was playing poorly and wouldn't play in the second half. That was it, but the new Soviet goalkeeper didn't have to worry in the second half because his teammates played as if they wanted to end the illusion that the Americans really had a chance, quickly scored the go-ahead goal and dominated the action. . shooting the Americans 12-2 in the second half only the brilliance and goal of Jim Craig prevented the game from becoming a blow and whistle.

My goal every game was to keep the team I played for in a position to win. up by jim frey if you're going to beat a team as good as they were you needed your goalie to play well and when we made mistakes jimmy made great saves and the second half was over the soviet union olympic ice center three in the united states we are just one goal down we've been there during the olympic games we're down in sweden we're down in west germany this is no big deal it's not a big difference for us just keep playing keep going it all comes down to the last 20 minutes and now you've got a match hockey game where you can have a chance to win it, but the Americans had never come back against the best team in the world and the Soviets always dominated the third period.

It seemed as if tonight was no different until lightning struck. Dave Silk cuts it off and throws it into the net. Turns out it's right up my alley and now the game takes on a whole new perspective for me. The Americans lose 10-3. Is now. a hockey game, a hockey game that wouldn't stay tied for long because just 81 seconds later, the team captain, whose name is Italian for eruption, unleashed a puck that bounced toward me and hit the spot you know, like me. my friends say to this Dave. You know, three inches further to the left you'd be painting bridges, the US team.U.S. depends too much now and jim craig is making too many good saves and that's when the building went crazy, I mean, that's when the sound was felt, I mean.

That was like an earthquake, the atmosphere in that arena was incredible, the feeling that they could do this. Actually, that's a lot of time against these guys. They were able to score in 10 minutes, which would take us 60 minutes to score. And now he knew it. he was in front and it looked like he hit the post, he did, it was wide open, the Russians had always beaten everyone to the end and they weren't worried, too long, too long, you can't hold them off for that long. just a constant clock clock turn by turn turn by turn went on forever time just stopped 353 left in the game grass kept reminding us to stay with your game just play your game play your game saying it over and over we were doing play shots block renaissance slap shot is blocked in front for tomorrow 225 224 223 remaining kept increasing and increasing and the clock kept running out and it got stronger and but they a little bit stronger the puck sweeping out to the front the backhand goes wide when I got only one part that the billiards legend got in 43 seconds left until the last minute I thought we would beat them to lose that was not possible the only thing that came to mind was the word miraculous and then miraculous became a question.

We beat them before we beat those guys. It was amazing to be able to come out and hug each other and just look at each other. Yes, God, you know the Russians and God, God, they couldn't even talk. Jack O'callaghan, he's coming bombing. On the ice, the first guy hits me and I'll take that photo to the grave with me and I'll never forget that we had that shot of one of the Soviet players with his chin resting on the top of his stick and he had such a curious look on his face. His face, I mean, it was almost like he was enjoying this a little bit.

We won so often that we no longer felt the excitement that the Americans showed. On the one hand, it was great to see their emotions, but for us. It was very bitter as the game was also not broadcast live on television in the Soviet Union. It was not until Saturday morning that Soviet hockey fans heard the surprising news when the war began that the service was lost and the game was shown. repeatedly, no one believed that, first, the Americans lost it, second, the Americans lost it on American soil, and then, what's the most embarrassing thing you lose to college kids?

Are they drunk or what happened in Lake Placid and all over the United States? claims that the victory triggered an outpouring of national emotion never before caused by a sporting event that we had had no reason to attend. I felt patriotic as a country for a long time and this was one reason and it was a good reason why we could be proud of ourselves again. We beat the Russians. It was us, it wasn't them, it wasn't the American kids, it was us. beat the Russians while the nation continued to celebrate for the hockey team, it wasn't over, but people always forget that the United States had to win another game on Sunday, it was still possible that the Americans wouldn't beat the Finns, that not only they wouldn't win gold, they wouldn't win any medals and Herb understood this, we were excited, we were anxious, we couldn't wait to go out and play and we heard Brooks walk into the locker room and he looked at us and said if you lose this. game, everyone coming up is one now what it's become was just electricity going through my body that's right it is, I mean the crowd felt it and we felt it and here we go with the possibility that it's become so familiar all along the week USA USA and something else It became familiar once again, the Americans would have to come from behind towards the point and deviate forward by pico lane, suddenly the Americans are left behind after two periods, They are behind two to one, we are going to win the best game of all time. and losing to a bunch of damn fins before the third period, the 20 American kids who had banded together as strangers seven months earlier with dreams of winning any medal decided to use their final 20 minutes as a team to take the gold by force.

There is no way Finland is hiding a gold medal from us and we went out there in the third period and I think we just crushed them from the moment they opened that door and let us out, they had no chance three unanswered goals in the third period gave the United States a 4-2 victory for the gold medal. This impossible dream comes true in the jubilation that followed the victory. Goalie Jim Craig looked toward the stands looking for his best friend. He was looking for him just to show respect. It would be great if mom was still here today and to appreciate everything he had done, she would be great, just a shame she wasn't around long enough to see the fruits of the reward, at least down here, I'm sure she was a big part of where she was, now we are proud to present the victors in the ice hockey competition, someone said put your hand over your heart and sing like a bird and I walked down the line just to see your flag raised a little bit louder than everyone else and hearing your anthem play in your own country is very special to us this was our war you know this was our chance to go out and put on that American flag and that uniform and go out and fight for our country winning the gold medal didn't solve the Iranian crisis it didn't get the Soviets out of Afghanistan but people felt better people were proud people felt good about being Americans because they could identify with those of us who were working class lunch pale helmet children who represented them at an athletic event that was much bigger than a hockey game and then I turned and looked at my teammates and they were looking at me and I was looking at them, no one told us what to do, they just called everyone out. on the podium, I mean, we all wanted to be together on that podium, we hug each other, our medals are on, we are checking each other's medals.

I remember looking down and thinking, how did he get all those guys over to this little square? That was a miracle too, the team had come together so closely that there were fingers in the air signifying this incredible triumph. In the end, it was the unit camaraderie that developed that was something special. Those guys, well, those guys deserve that medal. it was a true genuine love story between young people who respected each other that was the period the chapter the verse the end of the story of me at that time for the second place team returning home to the soviet union without the medal of gold was an unknown task when you win the silver medal it is an honor but not in the soviet union when we got home we wanted to quickly hide from the shame at the airport in the streets people were saying how come you lost and who some students at a reception from the Kremlin for Soviet Olympic athletes Victor Tikanov, the coach who lost to the Americans, met with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev and tried to explain to him what went wrong.

He was talking to Chicanos and thinking he didn't cry, but he just said, "We'll try to win this." It's just a coincidence and Brezhnev almost hugged him and said Victor, I know you're better than the Americans. It wasn't until the American team arrived in Washington D.C. for a reception at the white house that began to sink in how much the victory had revitalized the spirit of the nation there were people lining up everywhere Russians were hanging and effigies they had signs shouting that they wouldn't let the buses through we had caravans after greeting a grateful president carter something else started to sink in.

This would be the last time we would all be together as a team, we were having lunch and everything was going great and then it was time to go home, hey, see you around and that was like see you later, I I mean this. Is it over from that moment on? That team has never been together. The 20 players have never been together. I believe in miracles. I don't think I'll ever see a miracle of that magnitude again in the world of sports. Yes I believe it. I believe in miracles in world hockey history. I would put it as miracle number one.

Beating a team like ours was an event, so I believe in miracles. Yeah, I think this was a case where, for at least a few hours, a magical trainer got a magical group of kids to believe they could do something they really couldn't do. It's a miracle, yeah