Happy Anniversary, 1980 U.S. hockey team

I was one of the ones listening on the radio.

Mark Johnson is the coach of the US women's team. They play for the gold Thursday:

Monday marked 30 years to the day that Johnson scored two goals in the Miracle on Ice victory over Russia in the 1980 Olympics. As the women's national coach, his mission has been to prepare other players for their own opportunities to play for a gold medal. This team, he said, has distinguished itself through its lack of ego, its accountability, its closeness and its joy in the sport.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/olympics/84990117.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUg7Kk8P3iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

 

Huggy Jr. is 10 and absolutely fascinated by this team. He loves "Miracle" (has probably seen it 20 times) and devoured a Toronto Sun feature on Sunday about the team that featured a "Where Are They Now?" box.

 

30 years later, it still bugs me that two of the great sporting events of my lifetime I was not allowed to see live:
Immaculate Reception: blacked out in Pittsburgh because of the old TV rules.
Miracle On Ice: tape-delayed until after we all knew the result.
If you don't think these are the good old days in sports, you haven't been around long enough to see what it used to be like.

 

Czechoslovakia.

I just turned 3 when the Miracle happened. But it was around that time I learned the term, "Commie bastards" from the old man.

 

Well, here's a terrific piece by Lisa Olson on the Miracle. Some nice perspective here on the differences between these Olympics and 1980.


http://olympics.fanhouse.com/2010/02/23/enduring-legacy-of-the-miracle-on-ice/

"I was thinking, how did my dad even watch me play goal? I was that nervous for Ryan," Craig said of the netminder who wears a shamrock on his helmet, a matching tribute to Craig's lucky symbol. "He's an outstanding goalie with a lot of expectations on his shoulders, but he showed us he's up for the challenge.

I remember watching that game and thinking throughout the whole thing, "No fucking way".

You have your Miracle, we have our Summit Series.

 

"Miracle" is a really cool movie. It transcends the hazard of a movie based on fairly recent history. It's hard when you know what the people look like in real life - Herb Brooks, Craig Patrick, Jim Craig, etc. The actors, especially Kurt Russell, overcame this.

 

The son of Russell and Goldie Hawn plays goal. He is playing somewhere in Europe, I think. Not sure.

 

I believe he played Junior A (not Major Junior) in British Columbia a few years back. Huggy might know

They also have a summer home in Muskoka (Northern Ontario) where it seems half the NHL has cottages.

 

Love them both.

 

Had managed to avoid hearing the outcome of the game and was watching it when my sister burst into the house from somewhere and said, "Can you believe they won?" Still enjoyed seeing every second of it.

The Czech game was the real eye opener. After they smashed them, people started to wonder what was possible....

What often gets lost/forgotten is if they had lost to Finland on Sunday, they very well could have finished without a medal altogether, much less just losing the gold. And I believe they trailed in that one 2-1 going into the 3rd period.

I tend to think this event and its magnitude will only continue to grow as the years pass on. Truly one of the great examples of the triumph of the human spirit.

 

Wild story about Bobby Ryan who played on a national team with Russell's kid. Russell paid for Ryan to attend hockey camps.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/olympian_dark_off_ice_anguish_nYSDlL3gItjOSuoK3lNqqI