Happy anniversary, Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig and the Miracle On Ice guys.
It was 46 years ago today, Feb. 24, 1980, when the USA hockey team captured the Olympic gold medal. Not by beating the Russians. That was two days earlier. If the Americans didn’t beat Finland in their final game of the medal round, they might not have medaled at all.
Raise your coffee cup if you were paying attention back then. Coach Herb Brooks didn’t think his team was. On the day after the Miracle, he ripped into them as he put them through the most taxing practice session they’d experienced since an inconsistent tour of Europe five months earlier.
They understandably bought into the madness in the aftermath of their epic Friday afternoon 4-3 upset of the USSR. The boys—average age 21, the youngest USA team ever — were signing autographs and basking in the glow.
They had stunned a team that slaughtered them two weeks earlier, 10-3 at Madison Square Garden, a veteran machine that everybody expected to win the gold. Russia hadn’t lost an Olympics game in 12 years. They were the gold medalist five of the last six Winter Games.
(Did you know the Miracle On Ice game was not televised live? It was played in the afternoon. ABC showed a tape-delayed version in prime time – one that was even edited to meet the time window so the network could also cover alpine skiing. I kid you not.)
USA vs. the Soviets? A no-doubter — until that magical afternoon in Lake Placid. But the work was not done. The Finnish were the finish, last in line between the USA and gold.
After two periods, the blue and gold-clad, blonde-headed guys led 2-1.
Brooks, who made it clear from the outset of training camp that he was their coach and not their friend, was fuming.
“If you lose this game, you’ll take it to your x$#@%&! grave,” Eruzione says Brooks admonished his team when they hit the locker room with 20 minutes left. “To your x$#@%&! grave!” he said as they headed back to the ice.
The Americans scored three times and Craig continued his brilliant net-minding, blanking the Fins.
Now we are collectively basking in the golden glow again, x2. Women get to play hockey these days, and in these Winter Olympics, nobody did it better than the USA.
As always, there is a catch to this double dose of ecstasy that most of us are feeling. It’s how the USA men sealed the deal – in overtime.
With reduced skaters on both sides. After playing 5-on-5 during regulation, Olympic hockey goes to 3-on-3 for OT.
I’m no hockey fan. At least, I’m indifferent. Sure, I was rooting for the Red, White and Blue. Owing to my family roots, I hope the Pittsburgh Penguins make runs for the Stanley Cup. I want the Mudbugs to win. Happy to see local high school and junior teams succeed.
That’s about it. So when I noticed the skeleton crew on ice in OT Sunday, it looked like a stupid gimmick. I understood the reasoning – less players out there, more space, probably a faster path to the golden goal. TV friendly. TV, of course, pays tons of millions to show the Games globally.
Didn’t like it. Did like the outcome, though.
But since, I’ve reconsidered. We love football. Games used to end in ties. These days we play overtime periods with different rules at every level.
Baseball is the American game. A couple years ago, MLB started trying to avoid extended extras by starting a tied 10th inning with a runner at second base to accelerate scoring. The scheme was borrowed from the established international tiebreaker procedure in fast-pitch softball. It works.
Used to be they played a full 18 hole round the next day if there was a tie after 72 holes In a couple of the major pro championships, run by the USGA and the Royal & Ancient. Now that format is put aside like actual wooden club heads.
So, if the Olympic gurus want to hurry up in OT by spreading the skaters, fine.
Like I said, I don’t follow hockey, But when I do, and it’s NHL playoff time, the overtime games that go 3-4-5 extra periods are pretty intense, even if I don’t understand much of what is happening.
But after Sunday, the NHL might have to reconsider. Patience used to be a virtue. These days, it’s a rarity.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
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