There’s been a lot of reminiscing about what happened 40 years ago this past weekend at Lake Placid, New York — the memorable “Miracle on Ice” — Team USA’s dramatic victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympic hockey semifinals.
Yes, it’s hard to believe that it has been 40 years since that televised victory and the famous end-of-the-game “line” by broadcaster Al Michaels, “Do You Believe in Miracles — Yes!”
That 4-3 win over the Soviets wasn’t the clincher, the United States still had to beat Finland in the championship for the Gold Medal, which they did (4-2) and Michaels concluded that game’s action with “This Impossible Dream Comes True.”
It was quite a moment in sports, in Olympic history and it was a great victory at a time when the U.S. was “struggling” to keep up with the U.S.S.R. while the decades-long “Cold War” was still part of the daily news. Later, that same year, President Jimmy Carter announced his boycott of the Summer Games in Moscow. Imagine the disappointment of U.S. athletes not allowed to compete in the Olympics after striving so hard to earn that opportunity?
Back to the 1980 Winter Olympics and the men’s hockey team, coached by St. Paul-native Herb Brooks, who had coached the Minnesota Gophers to the 1979 NCAA championship. Brooks had been the last player cut in 1960 and did not make the USA team which won gold at California’s Squaw Valley. He did play for the United States in both the 1964 and 1968 Olympics.
Brooks was surrounded by Minnesotans on that famed 1980 team. Amazingly, 12 of the 20 players were from Minnesota — and nine of them had played for Brooks at the University of Minnesota.
The 12 Minnesotans and their (home town) were: back-up goalie Steve Janaszak (White Bear Lake), defensemen Bill Baker (Grand Rapids), Dave Christian (Warroad), Mike Ramsey (Minneapolis), along with front-line players Neal Broten (Roseau), Steve Christoff (Richfield), John Harrington (Virginia), Rob McClanahan (St. Paul), Mark Pavelich (Eveleth), Buzz Schneider (Babbitt), Eric Strobel (Rochester) and Phil Verchota (Duluth).
Harrington-Pavelich-Schneider made up the famed “Iron Range” line which scored 17 of the team’s 33 goals in the Olympics!
Janaszak, Baker, Ramsey, Broten, Christoff, McClanahan, Schneider, Strobel and Verchota had all played for the Gophers, while both Harrington and Pavelich skated for the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) Bulldogs and Christian played his collegiate hockey at the University of North Dakota.
Goalie Jim Craig was from North Easton, Massachusetts and played college hockey for Boston University. Team captain Mike Eruzione was from Winthrop, Massachusetts and also had played for Boston U. Olympic scoring sensation Mark Johnson was from Madison, Wisconsin and had stayed at home and played for the Wisconsin Badgers.
Of the 20 players on the team, 12 were from Minnesota, four were from Massachusetts (all four went to Boston U), two were from Michigan (both went to Bowling Green) and two were from Madison, Wisconsin and both stayed home and played for the Badgers.
Six of the seven coaches, trainers, managers and doctors were from Minnesota. Only assistant coach Craig Patrick (Wellesley, Massachusetts) was not. Manager Ralph Jasinski (Mounds View), goalie coach Warren Strelow (Mahtomedi), team physician Dr. Nagoblads (Edina), team trainer Gary Smith (Minneapolis) and equipment manager Bud Kessel (St. Paul) were all from Minnesota.
That makes a total of 18 of the 27 gold medalists, Minnesota natives! That’s something for our state to be proud of.
Adrian / Ellsworth’s senior-loaded high school girls’ basketball team was impressive Saturday in its 57-24 quarterfinal Section 3A South tournament victory over Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda.
The Dragons effectively utilized nine seniors — four starters and five reserves — in a fundamentally-sound triumph over a young Coyote squad, which frequently had four sophomores on the court.
Those nine A / E seniors were Ashlyn Meester, Kallie Chapa, Moriah Bullerman, Bailey Lonneman, Morgan Dreesen, Kasie Tweet, Jennifer Preuss, Kristina Cauwels and Marissa Lehnhoff. Junior starter Jayden Zebe, along with junior Shawna Rogers and sophomore Julia Bullerman also contributed nicely for the well-balanced and defensive-minded Dragons.
HL-O / Fulda played five seniors — starters Khloe Gehl and Kelsey Fuerstenberg, along with Kailee Haberman, Rebecca Salentiny and Cheyliska Schaffer — and the Coyotes received good minutes from junior starter Morgan Gehl, along with sophomores Chrissy Hermeling, Emily Madison, Taryn Evers and Faith White, while freshman Anna Fest and junior Tara Tuin also saw action. Those five seniors provided great leadership for the Coyotes, who will bring back lots of varsity experience in the winter of 2020-2021.
Murray County Central staged a remarkable comeback in its 69-53 quarterfinal loss to a tall and talented Red Rock Central squad. The Rebels were down by 25 points (42-17) at halftime, but rallied with a 36-21 scoring burst to slice the gap to 10 (63-53) before the Falcons stopped MCC’s surge with the game’s final six points.
Six players hit 3-pointers in the game for the Rebels, who were led by 5-8 junior guard Brynn Graphenteen’s 13 points.
Sunday afternoon, while driving in my car, I did something that I had not since early October — listen to the Twins on WCCO. They were playing a spring exhibition game in Florida. Spring is not far away!!!
