Herb Brooks

Herb Brooks
Herb Brooks : For those of a certain generation, the 1980 U.S. Olympic team hockey “miracle” victory over the Soviet Union stands strong and perhaps “Where were you when it happened?” Sporting event in every time – an idea that was reinforced when “Sports Illustrated” called it the greatest sports moment of the century 20th.

Photo permanently from the heart of the impossibility of dramatic – and perhaps to save this one – is the image you are looking now at this moment: sleazy tireless and goalkeeper, “said Jim Craig, North Easton, pride, Oliver Ames, Boston University, wrapped in an American flag as he was looking from his father in the stands.

It is also time and time to happen.

30th anniversary of the miracle, “ice” will be featured prominently at the end of this week’s Olympic hockey with the high temperatures last Sunday with the much anticipated United States and Canada confrontation; the BBC may be tempted by a piece in the schema that Craig, Mark Johnson, Mike Eruzione and broadcaster al-Qaeda Michaels to return to Lake Placid and the memories of the magic that happened there.

We caught up with Craig in a dignified and friendly, and now 52 and a successful Boston-based motivational speaker and business over the phone this week while he was preparing to make his second trip to Vancouver during the Olympic Games. Here are a few of his memories and views from our conversation:

They always stick together: When asked about a certain player to watch any of the hockey teams at the Olympic Games, Craig – of course – Select goalkeeper United States:

“It seems Ryan Miller will be there every night, so there will be a lot of pressure directly on his shoulders,” said Craig. “It’s outstanding keeper, it’s really, but there will be a lot of expectations from it because this is a young team and you’re not sure exactly how to experience some of the players here are going to respond to certain situations.

“But they’ve got a good man there and beyond. Miller’s outstanding, and I think he was going to be up to all that is required of it. I like to watch him a lot.”

Craig said he believed the United States did the right thing in giving opportunity to young players instead of going with Modanos and Tkachuks, and veterans for a long time and who formed the nucleus of the team that won an Olympic medal only once, and a silver medal in 2002. In fact, he would like to see in the program of the United States to go one step further.

“I really hope that it will take to return to the amateur,” said Craig. “But these young people to the United States team should be no fear, were not afraid of playing so far, and the talent is there. They just need to be prepared and to remain outside the penalty area, and be able to accomplish some things.

“In fact I believe it was really smart, what [Brian Burke, the United States team and officials] did. You had some older veterans who were of the type used to lose here. Experience is a great air to win, and if we look back on our team ‘80, Herb Brooks did not take all the best players when we put together, he made the winners, and if it [the University of Minnesota] or comrades of us from Poe, who were NCAA champions] [1978]. If you have a handful of players who have this one thing in common – they want to win above all – they will bond as a team. It’s a process, but it’s worth it when we get there. ”

Herb Brooks, was a good man: The reason the legendary group the United States is notoriously rude and demanding of his players – on the centrality of the ski with – lights – - Outside ’til you drop scene in the movie “Miracle” Disneyfied only a little, said Craig.

Adapt to the style of the coach was not easy for many players, but Craig said that even then, I realize that, while it could be far-Brooks, there was a reason for taking this approach.

“There was always a way to grass and madness,” said Craig. “We treat each individual depending on what he thinks we need and what he thought would get the best of us, not only on the players but as a whole.

“For me, it was the father figure. My mother had died [Margaret Craig died of cancer in 1977], my father has lost his job just now, and there was some pressure on some of us to skip the Olympics and turn pro, so we will get some money, and was like , ‘Why do you play in the Olympics? you could be getting paid to play.’ But it was my mother dreamed of me playing for the U.S., and I intend to do that, and loyalty, for her, and Herb knows what is my state of mind.

“Certainly it was difficult, but he understands why it was important for us, why it matters for me, as I was coming from in my life, and I will always appreciate that about him.”

Craig chuckles. “I think history shows that he does not know what he was doing, right?”

Happy to remember: It was 30 years – 10,950 days, give or take sunrise or two – since the “miracle on ice”, and Craig recognizes that not a day passes when he is not mention of the completion or request to participate in the memory, or memory.

Would be understandable if he bristled at the notion that it is the defining moment, or have grown weary of reliving it over and over again all these years. But he says that is not the case at all, jovial tone adds a layer of conviction.

“I get a question on whether he gets older all the time, and the answer is no, no,” said Craig. “I understand where people are coming from with this issue, if it’s like” Groundhog Day “or something like that, but it is not, not really. It is such a thing especially to be part of something that means a lot to people, to be part of the something that happened 30 years ago, and something is likely that people are still talking about 30 years from now. ”

Craig’s legacy and its role in the victory benefited to some extent, both financially and professionally, of course, but he says his appreciation for this “miracle” as much to do with what it means to other people because it has to do with what he and his colleagues accomplished during those halcyon days of the Lake Placide.

“What we’ve done has become incredibly emotional and personal thing for people, and it’s such a positive memory for me and all of us who were part of that,” said Craig. “If anything, I’m lucky to be involved in something that matters a lot of people.”