Miracle on Ice: How a Stunning Upset United a Country
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
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
Eruzione was one of the players who had done well in college setting scoring records at Boston University In the games leading up to the Olympics however he had trouble scoring and at one point Coach Brooks decided to cut him from the team Brooks told his friend Gus Hendrickson another college coach that he planned to dump Eruzione But Eruzione’s your leader Hendrickson said You need a leader The other players were upset when they heard they might lose their captain Everyone knew Eruzione was not the best scorer or skater on the team But they also saw that he was a leader someone who could boost their spirits and encourage them to play harder Brooks finally saw that cutting Eruzione would not be good for the team and so he let him stay The youngest player on the team was defenseman Mike Ramsey He had just turned 19 a few months before the Olympics Despite his youth he was a star for the Americans In 1979 he was the first American college player ever taken in the first round of the NHL draft Several of his teammates had also been drafted but they like Ramsey chose to delay professional careers to play for Team USA
Future four-time NHL All-Star Mike Ramsey top checked a West German player during Team USA’s road to the Olympic medal round One drafted player who decided to play for Brooks instead was defenseman Ken Morrow He was large and strong and his full beard made him stand out among his mostly clean-shaven teammates Morrow held off playing for the New York Islanders so he could go to the Olympics Like Morrow and Ramsey Mark Johnson was talented enough to play in the NHL The center played for his father Bob Johnson at the University of Wisconsin Known as Badger Bob Mark’s father had coached the 1976 Olympic team He had almost chosen Mark to play for him even though his son was then only 17 By 1979 Brooks knew he wanted Mark Johnson as his top center He told Johnson that the team needed him if it was
