Mike Eruzione reveals untold stories from 'Miracle on Ice' Olympic hockey game | USA TODAY Sports
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- čas přidán 20. 02. 2020
- USA TODAY Sports' Larry Berger sits down for an exclusive conversation with 1980 US Olympic hockey captain Mike Eruzione, who scored the game-winning goal against the Soviet Union. The win catapulted the squad to the gold medal game against Finland, which was won by Team USA.
Forty years later, the Olympic hero provides a unique look back at the events which contributed to this game being remembered as perhaps the most memorable sporting event in US history.
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#mikeeruzoine #miracleonice #olympics - Sport
If they ever invent time travel, I will be heading to Lake Placid to witness that game.
Mike Mercer same man
Just don’t try to alter the past
I'd go back to the '77 Summit series, but lake placid is a close second.
I've never attended the Olympics, but I have been to 4 Men's Soccer World Cups...the patriotism at those international events is really incredible. I've sang the national anthem (in the crowd) in France, Italy, South Africa and Brazil, it's very emotional. Being an American at that Game has to be about the greatest possible sporting event of all time. ABSOUTELY Agree, THAT would be THE game to go see.
Oh man, I'm with you!
I was 13 years old and my dad, older brother and I pulled up the sofa closer to the tv so we could watch the game as if we were there. After the US won I noticed tears coming down my dads face. I only saw my old man cry twice in my life, once when his back went out and he was in excruciating pain and the other was when he watched the American hockey team beat the Soviet Union in 1980. Holy crap that was awesome!!!!!
That's hockey players: deflect praise, elevate your teammates, and be humble.
...and have a few beers
That's also pre-reality TV and the internet.
The code
great comment. I do love the game....
K4rt80y and all interviews are the same. It goes “so ah” “oh ah” “and ah” with nonsense in between and in an Ontario accent no matter what.
Because of this team this southerner started watching ice hockey.
Mr. Eurizione, you played in probably the greatest sporting event ever played. Certainly the greatest I have ever seen and I am not even a hockey fan.
Mister Rogers loves all his Neighbors.News Flash from The Irishmen.This is an Ellis Island abomination of kegger proportions.
nhl always welcomes more hockey fans
I didnt know those words could be used together in a sentence, "I am not a hockey fan" 🤯😯
It's definitely the greatest sporting event in my lifetime, and it's not even close. I'm 65, and will never forget it.
I was with then girlfriend watching the game. We celebrate our 40th anniversary this fall. USA!
Greetings from Finland !
Congratulations, David......and here's to 40 more! USA!
Another Miracle! Just Kidding....Congrats and God Bless to you and the Misses.
And?
We need another moment like this and damn soon
Have not won a Gold in Mens since.
I think Brooks made a deal with the devil...lol.
What a great guy a total epitome of America
All the World Series Championships by the Yankees, all the NFL Championships by Tom Brady and the Patriots and the Steelers, and all the NBA Championships by the Lakers and Celtics - all of them COMBINED - do not come close to the magnitude of this one Miracle on Ice in 1980.
Thank you Mike!!
of course because this was a national win! america won!
the only thing that can possibly come close to this is usa ever wins the world cup in soccer
If we ever needed them... we need them now!
You guys pulled off the greatest sports moment EVER.
A bunch of college kids beating the greatest team in the world. What a wonderful, emotional story. ❤
Story of America. Bunch of rag tag military beat the best military in the world (England).
I'm pretty much the same age as the squad members and played HS in Minnesota. Very proud to say that 12 of the 20 member squad are Minnesotans. Oh yeah...throw in Herb Brooks too.
Funny how everyone bitched about the Dream Team playing, when the other countries have had their "amateurs" that have been playing together 15 years. The Miracle on Ice is why I loved having our amateurs playing. We will never see that moment again.
They really weren't amateurs but very poorly paid minor leaguers.
A lot of the players had graduated from their NCAA Schools.
Craig, O'Callahan, Baker, Morrow,
Suter, Harrington, Verchota and Wells all graduated in 1979.
Schneider graduated in 1976 and Eruzione in 1977.
That's 10\19 players that played in the Olympics that were no longer
NCAA Players. Who for all purposes were playing a hybrid
Pro schedule.
People love this, not for just the accomplishment, but it is the perfect story.
Perfect.
We need a moment like that again. Something to make us remember even if we disagree on something we’re all prideful Americans.
All the events surrounding this game were so unique that it can never again be replicated, it is enshrined forever as the greatest upset in sports history
Thank you Mike ! This was the best moment i spent with my father who was a WW2 veteran. He knew nothing about hockey , but cried throughout. I will forever cherish this moment with him. I am turning 60 this year. The 1980 miracle on ice continues the be the fondest memory that i shared with my father. I could never thank you , your teammates and Herb enough for it!
Respect to your father and his service.
I watched the game 43 years ago was the most exciting sports event I’ve ever seen. Watch miracle at least once a year ,always brings tears to my eyes,last night I watched the real game for the first time since 1980, real game was better than movie Ha still brought tears.Nothing will ever compare to that game.
A classic moment for the sport. Hard to believe it was 40 years ago - best wishes from Canada.
Canada have 650000 hockey players! USA have 500000 hockey players! Russia have only 80000 hockey players! Soviet League goal scores leaders in 1980 were Shalimov 34 Drotzdetzky 31 Varnakov 30 Priodin 27 Lavrentjev 27! Only the top scores was in 1980 was Makarov 29 goals! Canada and USA should have 15 guys who have scored over 800 goals like Ovechkin today!
There was one Soviet player I remember, just after the game ended. He was holding his stick in front of him and was looking over his stick at the Americans while they celebrated.
His expression got me, made me remember him still all these years later.
I don't know exactly what he was thinking. He could have been enjoying their joy at victory, he could have been remembering when he & his teammates used to celebrate like that when their winning streak started.
But that guy, in that moment, he was not an enemy. He was watching underdogs celebrate a hard earned victory, just like me.
There's a documentary on here that actually explains that moment. The Soviets said they won so much, they showed no emotion. It was expected of them. To watch the Americans, these college students as they were described, win and celebrate was a big change for them.
It was one of the Golikov brothers.
They were damn good players those brothers.
@@KMK7355 thank you for the name. They were good players. That whole team were monsters on the ice. No one believed they could lose a game.
I was 13 and a huge Flyers fan, Gene Hart taught myself and my dad(an Italian immigrant) the game. I watched every minute of the Olympic hockey games that year but my dad missed them because he worked several jobs. The Soviet game was spectacular but the medal ceremony is one of my most cherished memories. My dad was home to watch it and the Vietnam Vet Marine next door asked if he could watch the ceremony with us as his TV wasn’t working. I was happy but both of those men were crying like babies, I had no idea why...as I type this I can barely see through the tears.
Loved this comment , and flyers fan too ? Hell yeah brotha 🤟
Thanks for sharing, Rusty. I was also 13 but did not see the game. I became a hockey fan in 1991 when the San Jose Sharks came into existence. It wasn't until I saw Miracle on Ice with Kurt Russell that I learned of what this team did. It was then that I watched this 2001 documentary Do you believe in miracles by HBO that I really understood what happened at that time. It was then I had tears in my eyes when all said and done. Craig Patrick tearing up during the interview on what these kids had achieved always gets me.
Late to comment, but my 8 year old son started playing hockey this year. Eruzione is my son's absolute HERO 40 years on.
When I'm feeling down, I watch the replay of the game over, and over again. And listening to Al Michaels call it was itself incredible.
43 years later and it still makes me tear up. A defining moment of my life. Thank you Captain! It meant the world to me.
Been binging on all things related to the Miracle 1980 team. Never get sick of this story, never will.
Agreed
I was age 15, a hockey player in Minnesota. I had attended the Herb Brooks hockey camps in Shattuck, MN. Watching this with friends and the Gold medal ceremony was something I will never forget. Miracle on Ice !!!
I met Mike last night at the Beanpot and it was unbelievable. God Bless America 🇺🇸
I am a very proud Minnesotan and the same age as most of the players on the 1980 squad. I also played pond hockey and later HS hockey. I really don't need to say anything else.
You play against any of them in HS?
Nope...different conferences.
It was very needed. We were in trouble. Like now !
I was born in 83 so I unfortunately didn’t witness it live obviously but in 2004 when the movie was released I watched the movie and loved it and eventually the complete game was posted on CZcams and I have watched that probably 100+ times. One of the greatest sports moments ever. I get chills just typing about it.
The game was NOT against Russia! It WAS against The Soviet Union, that was why it was special.
I know. The players will say the Soviets. The interviewers say Russia. It drives me nuts!
THANK you! That was so annoying.
Got a framed Eruzione jersey in my office. I PLAY FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!
Love you Mike,My hero and we have the same Birthday.
I was a high school frosh and my had died six months before this. I was one of those people to whom this was much more than a hockey game. Also we'd just recently got a then-newfangled device called a VCR and I rode my bike home from school during lunch every day for weeks after the Games to re-watch it. My all-time most impactful/favorite sports moment.
I was 27 when this game was played. I remember walking on air for about 3 or 4 days after. Still the greatest sports upset I've ever seen punctuated by Al Michaels' perfect coda.
I really love this interview....I must have watched the movie 50 times with kurt russell and they captured the same emotions I felt when I actually watched the game.....living in syracuse I was lucky enough to have been able to watch it live on television at 5pm...then when it was aired at 8pm I watched it again and got the same exact feelings and emotions!! these boys will forever be in my heart and memories!!!
I grew up a little north of Plattsburgh, NY and was 11 when this happened. I had friends who went to the game.
I wish the olympics would go back to amateur athletes, it was much more enjoyable to watch.
Even after 40 years of giving interviews, I’m sure they still enjoy giving them just as much as they did the day after they won the Gold metal...... And I still love watching them!
"Three inches left, you're painting bridges."
Michael Eruzione's friends. Love that he shares that.
Eruption, put on your skates. We need you now.
I love that line, too.
That goal rizzo scored was like hitting the PowerBall lottery
I met him during a golf tournament so down to earth and such a high school legend too, I always tell my high school players about him how a local kid made the Olympics and won the gold it always inspires
3:58 is the moment when I - a german native living abroad - realizes what power and love must have been beyond those words spelled by the legendary
Herb Brooks.
Boy Oh Boy how much energy I generate from that story since I've heard about for the first time.
Thank you for inspiring me over and over again
I remember watching the replay of the game that evening and the memory is as vivid today as the birth’s of both of my daughters! AWESOME!
Being from Bloomington MN, you could not imagine the pride we all shared when Team USA practiced at our hometown arena, and also knowing that many of the boys were from our state ..
I can still remember when Neal Broten was drafted to the Mn North Stars in 81 -
Neal Broten is regarded as one of the best, if not the best hockey player the state of Minnesota has ever produced.
Broten was drafted in 1979. Same year as Dave Christian.
I'm from Massachusetts and brought my sons team of HS players out as Bantams to Minnesota in March 2000.
We practiced at the BIG. Rate
was 75\ hour. Couldn't believe it.
I was at the game at MSG when we lost 10-3. The U.S. team came so together during the round robin part of the tournament that it gave them a chance to win And with a couple of breaks they took advantage of they pulled off the greatest sports victory in our country's history. With all due respect to Jessie Owens in '36 and Joe Louis beat Scheming in '38 for our generation this was it. ❤
My very favorite hockey hero and we have the same birthday.
The Greatest Hockey Game of ALL TIME!! U-S-A!!!!
We could use another Lake Placid moment in this country right now 🇺🇸
You will. 2022 Olympics USA wins gold in men's ice hockey. I am Canadian but I think the USA will win it this time.
It’s their humility that makes them hero’s.....they deserved this moment, every second of it.
Just to set the record straight, the 1960 US man’s hockey team also won gold beating the USSR along the way. The difference is due to no ABC or Al Michaels at the 1960 games.
Real American. We can all learn a lesson about true sacrifice and dedication.
My Hero.and we have the same birthday.
I'm 56. I remember being at the Des Moines ice arena watching The Buc's and the PA announcer says the score. And the crowd roars. It was between periods. Funny how people remember great things like that. Great interview
The greatest sporting event and underdog win of all time. When I'm feeling shitty about being an American, I watch about the 1980 USA hockey team.
The good ol days
Still incredible to hear about it. I still get misty eyes remembering where I was when i watched it and he scored the go ahead goal. I was a teen, jumping up and down in the living room, the dog barking at me, and my mom ironing the clothes and watching and shouting “USA!”
Incredible! Miraculous!
The greatest American sports team ever !!!!!!!!
Nope. That honor goes to the 1992 dream team.
@@notdudleezy Really. Present your case for.
@@notdudleezy lame. Total frontrunning team with about half of the top 10 players ever. Truly inspiring!
You know I was five years too late to see this beautiful game but man it was a Joy and honor to see on CZcams what a great USA team 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Watched on TV As 14 year old and was without a doubt the most exhilarating sports memory ever for me. Secretariats Belmont performance a distant 2nd. I was at home I'm front of TV smiling and crying like Jack o'callahan. What a memory
Just love Mike!!! Hi Mike....As a Canadian (my brother played with him back in the "Gold Digger days",) I fell upon this old video and was transported back to Canada ,and watching our friend and the most delicious win of all time..... Great interview and great human being in Mike Eurozone.. Stay safe America and hopefully the borders will open and life will carry on..
I still don't understand how the USA beat the Russians. I was never more excited watching a sporting event. I remember jumping up and down like a little kid. "If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. ... Tonight, we stay with ' em, and we shut them down because we can!"
The Greats moment in hockey history. USA USA.
I got his book on Audible and it’s so well worth it!❤
So cool that they’re all my age and he’s from Boston
This guy played for the United States of America.
They earned it.
That game was definite turning point for the country. The greatest game that hardly anyone saw live... remember watching it later, on tape delay.
The Gold medal game was almost an afterthought.
I met Mike years ago at a speech he gave in NYC what a great guy and a great speech. I will never forget it.
Hey Mike I would like to thank you & the whole...U.S.A....Team for what you guys did for us..something our politicos had no interest in..keeping America great...& 2day it's even worse with no hockey team to pick us up again....so anyway Mike..just wanted to say thx to you & that wonderful..." Miracle on ice"
I've read his book, and it was probably one of the most uplifting books I've read. Wish I could have been there to witness that miraculous moment.
I really would love to read his book.....I pray something this beautiful happens again to bring us together as one nation.
I rember watching the replay like around 6 o'clock I was 14 yrs old at the time I rember watching the news they said they were not going to give the score so watched unbelievable game
Hats off to the officer that drove him.
Forty years later its remarkable that after THAT game NO ONE would have believed the overwhelming presence of Russian players in the NHL currently..
Which would be shocking enough if the most famous one WASN'T the face of a franchise whose arena is about a mile northwest of the Capitol/east of the White House.
@@TPTGopher right? Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Semin, Varlamov... So many Russians playing there.
The questions are exceptional.
I love this! And I love that being the captain of that Miracle team, and could walk on water... Even if he is 60 and Herb Brooks walked in, he'd do whatever Herb asked him to do.
Love you guys
I have his book. It’s amazing, highly recommend it
thats so 80s sports lol, gassing beers the night before the biggest game of their lives.
Chills whenever I read see or think about it. Us boomers (sorry milenials)
grew up with the threat of.nuclear war, having bomb drills by staying under desks (as though that would help), getting kicked out of Viet Nam, losing Laos and Cambodia to communist regimes, and the USSR was the number 1 boogeyman behind all that. Toss in the Iran hostage situation and Soviet aggression in Afghanistan, and the 68 suppression of Cbeckoslavakia still fresh in our minds--positive national pride was non-existent.
Top that off was a pre-Olympic exhibition game between the two teams when the Soviets thoroughly thrashed the US squad.
So, yes. a super moment in our lives.
One of my favorite stories is that of a US Airline flight from the US to Europe and the pilot announcing the score. The flight consisting of mostly Americans burst into cheers, sung the Star Spangled Banner God Bless America, no red or blue voters, complete strangers coming together as one people joyful and having pride in our country.
Sorry for the soapbox, just thinking how much hope was generated by the hard work and dedication of that team
I loved that story! I remember that game well.
I'm a millennial was 8 but was a bonkers Northstars fan so I I do remember as a kid one of my sports memories..and also rickie Henderson made me the only sports freak in my family
Just finishing up his book. It's a good read.
I watched this game with a bag of bite size milky ways .. they were new at the time..I was 9 and it was awesome
For the US team to have beaten the Russians in 1980 was an incredible feat.
The most amazing part of game is the Russian team had many NHL hall of fame players on the team, at least 6 players on Russian team would have been NHL superstars and on team USA none are in hall of fame. The talent level was ridiculous, the Soviets beat NHL teams...The Soviet goalie had a bad half a game, in one game anything can happen. After Mike scored you still had 10 minutes to hold lead. Having Mike Ramsey a great defensive D man and Ken Morrow really helped shut down the Soviets. The shots on goal was close to 50-17.
KLN 4 ken Morrow is not in the hall of fame
KLN 4 best American player for goals in NHL was Dave Christian he had 340 goals BUT he played as a defensemen during the Olympics. Morrow and Ramsey’s were great defensive D men but not hall of fame
Hey who are you?
Mike Eruzione!
Where are you from?
Winthorp, Mass.
and who you play for?
I played for... UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!
Thanks Mike for the winning goal!
Here on CZcams, there's a wonderful documentary called, "Do You Believe in Miracles," and toward the very end, there's an interview with Vladislav Tretiak. When the Russians got home, people stopped him in the street, asking "How could you lose? And to whom? Some students?" The look in his eye when he says that tells the whole story. He was later quoted as saying, "Every day I think about this."
I have that on DVD. Great documentary!
If he'd still been in the game, they probably wouldn't have.
@@TPTGopher Eeh, I disagree. I used to play some goalie myself, and both the goals he gave up were beyond embarrassing. Everybody on that Soviet team was distracted and playing poorly, and Tretiak played worse than any of them.
True, but to a man to this day the Soviet guys insist that the shock from this (when Mark Johnson and Slava Fetisov became NHL teammates, Johnson asked about that move the first time they met and Fetisov said "Coach crazy") made it far worse.
@@TPTGopher I get your point, but don't you think after the years of dealing with that loss, Slava was doing a little Monday morning quarterbacking out of sheer hope and frustration? Tretiak had a bad game. Period. They all did.
You were meant to be there. You were meant to be AMERICAN HERO'S !!
To this day, my heroes remain Jim Craig & (somewhat unrelated) Bernie Parent.
Janazak (don't know if it's spelled right) can get no love. Back up goalie to Jim Craig never played during 80 games
Nice job Larry
You know I meant Jeremy Roenick at a airport in Minneapolis. I actually had a lengthy conversation with him. He is also from Boston like Eruzione. I kept bringing this up, what Eruzione had ever said about this etc..... I was such in awe
Love you guts
Get rid of the background music!!!
Mike Eruizone is proof that you can stretch 15 minutes into 40 years.
Brian OSullivan if anyone deserves it it’s him and his teammates!!!!! Love these guys.
A hockey game is more than 15 minutes.
@@alfonsomunoz4424 I’m talking about his minutes of fame. It’s stretched to the point that that 15 minutes has lost its shape.
@@cityhawk, Eruzione said he wrote the book Making of a Miracle so that his grandkids know there's more to his life than scoring a goal at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
Would love to shake his (or any of that team’s) hand just once in my lifetime #bucketlist
The famous untold story!
Does it irritate anyone else how this guy keeps asking about Russia? Good God man, it was the Soviet Freaking Union and the height of the Cold War! Come on!!!
Overblown!!Sapporo team w/Murray as the General played out of a fox hole for a Silver w/a bunch of healthy scratches from Erie.
Автор победной шайбы матче СССР-США Лейк-Плэсиде, 1980 (после Олимпиады закончил карьеру игрока)
No European Olympic Team folk liked the PROFESSIONAL "Soldiers" on the U.S.S.R. Hockey Team ...... sure the Olympic Village was celebrating the USA Olympic Team Victory too. Loved the games ESPECIALLY the Russian game and of course Gold Medal clinching win over Finland !!! GBjj
As soon as they .introduced NHL players to participate in the Olympics it lost all its luster. You can’t put a bunch of All-Stars together and expect them to know each other and play together you have to practice and play together for at least a year to get cohesiveness and become a team that’s why the NHL stars couldn’t do anything. And that’s what made this so exciting those young men were my age at the time when they did this. that’s what made it special.
We could use another Team USA 1980!🇺🇸🇺🇸
The real miracle that night against the Soviets wasn't that the USA won but it was they won getting outshot over a 2-1 margin and only had 16 shots the entire game. That makes it even more of a miracle
Crazy even now with NHL players USA still has not repeated this feat. At least they got the Silver and Herb Brooks was the Head Coach again!!!