Do You Consider in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Group

Perhaps The Greatest Coaching Job in the History of Sports
A great chronicle of those heady days in Lake Placid nearly 25 years ago. Everyone seemed to find something they liked in this improbable victory. For me it was the coaching job turned in by Herb Brooks. It may be the greatest coaching job in the history of sports. Here are excerpts from an AP article about the late Coach Brooks which says it all:Herb Brooks was behind the bench when the American Olympic Hockey team pulled off the greatest upset ever at Lake Placid NY in 1980, beating the mighty Soviets with a squad of mostly college players.That shocking victory, plus beating Finland for the gold medal, assured the team a place in immortality.The young U.S. team was given no chance against a veteran Soviet squad that had dominated international hockey for years and had routed the Americans 10-3 in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden the week before the Olympics.On Feb. 22, 1980, the U.S. team scored with 10 minutes to play to take a 4-3 lead against the Soviets. As the final seconds ticked away, announcer Al Michaels exclaimed, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”It remains one of the most famous calls in history.Brooks’ leadership helped turn a ragtag team into champions. He had hand picked each player.”You’re looking for players whose name on the front of the sweater is more important than the one on the back,” Brooks once said. “I look for these players to play hard, to play smart and to represent their country.”Interviewed years later on why he headed to the locker room shortly after the Miracle on Ice, he said he wanted to leave the ice to his players, who deserved it.Players kept a notebook of “Brooksisms,” sayings the coach used for motivation, such as: “You’re playing worse and worse every day and right now you’re playing like it’s next month.”But, before playing the Soviets, Brooks told his players: “You’re meant to be here. This moment is yours. You’re meant to be here at this time.””He was ahead of his time,” team member Ken Morrow said. “All of his teams overachieved because Herbie understood how to get the best out of each player and make him part of a team. And like everyone who played for him, I became a better person because I played for Herb Brooks.”Born in St. Paul, Brooks played hockey at the University of Minnesota, where he later coached from 1972 to 1979, winning three national titles. He was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990.When Brooks decided to coach the 2002 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team at Salt Lake City, he was asked why he would return after writing the most improbable story in hockey. “Maybe I’m sort of like the players — there’s still a lot of little boy in me,” Brooks said. “And maybe I’m a little smarter now than I was before for all the stupid things I’ve done.”Brooks was the last player cut on the 1960 U.S. gold medal team, and unfairly so, the victim of favoritism by his coach. But he persevered, and played on the United States Olympic Hockey Team in 1964 and 1968. And when he coached the 1980 Olympic Team, he did not repeat the mistake made by his 1960 coach. It was difficult and painful, but he did the right thing selecting the players for his 1980 team. And as they say, the rest is history. Or was it really a miracle? That is left for each reader to decide for themselves.In an interview at his White Bear Lake home not long before his untimely death, Brooks described to the Minneapolis Star Tribune about watching one of his favorite movies, “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.””You know, Willie Wonka said it best: We are the makers of dreams, the dreamers of dreams,” Brooks said. “We should be dreaming. We grew up as kids having dreams, but now we’re too sophisticated as adults, as a nation. We stopped dreaming. We should always have dreams. I’m a dreamer.”This DVD deserves to be in every sports fans’ library. With it I recommend the book, One Goal: A Chronicle of the 1980 Olympic Hockey Team, if you can find a copy of this sought after collectible.

Watch this before you watch the movie “Miracle”
I really liked the movie “Miracle” but the whole time I watched it I couldn’t get past the fact that it was made by Disney out of my head. Everytime something seemingly amazing happened I kept thinking, “why did they have to Hollywood this up, why did they have to add Disney magic?”. I thought the story was good enough to stand on it’s own without addind unnecessary drama. Well guess what…they didn’t add anything. All that stuff actually happened. A goal really was scored in the last moments of a game to get them to the medal round, the coach really did make them skate in the dark after tieing inferior competition, the captain of the team really did almost get cut, Brooks really did disappear into the tunnel immediately after they won, etc. etc. IT’S ALL TRUE!! Reality out did Disney, now how often can you say that?I won’t go on about this being the greatest sporting moment in American history and one of the biggest upsets in sports history period because that is already a well known fact. What I will say is this DVD does an excellent job of putting the game in true context. The cold war, the gas problems, hostages, America having a “crisis of confidence”. It also does a great job of conveying just how powerful of a team was Russia. It includes interviews with a few Russian players along with some footage of their domination (to put it lightly!). Just watching Vladislav Tretiak doing his stand up-get down drills gave me chills. That team was scary!All in all this DVD does a near perfect job of wrapping everything up into an easily digestable documentary that shows you just how truly amazing of an event was the Miracle on Ice. I recommend this DVD to anyone.

Sweet nostalgia
Just purchased and watched this and I couldn’t help but think our country (and world) is in a very similar place now in January 2016. Maybe worse now in some ways! Just as in the late 1970’s, our place in the world is in question. I think most Americans are weary and feeling very beat in recent years. 1980 was a year of renewed strength and patriotism for the United States. The U.S.A Olympic hockey team won gold and with that momentum – elected a true leader as president later that year. 2016 has a very similar feel to 1979. Although there is no winter Olympics this year, maybe some pride will come this summer in Rio; and All I can pray is that the near future proves that history repeats itself, and WE DO elect another winner (as in 1980) and do rise again to be the greatest nation on earth. We deserve it!

I watched this the day it arrived. I was not disappointed. The DVD has no extras but the documentary is really good and worth getting. It’s very exciting. I also appreciate the political parts that have been included. It’s well rounded.