Posted on 02/21/2018 7:30:58 PM PST by Alberta's Child
One of the greatest sporting moments EVER.
That's the humility of a hockey player, I tell you.
Thank You so much for posting this :)
When U.S. Olympians were real men and Americans still had dreams.
Indeed. I'm reminded of a story told by Kevin Lowe, then of the Oilers, after the Islanders beat them for the Stanley Cup in 1983.
(paraphrasing, since I don't recall the exact quote)
"I went to their locker room afterwards to congratulate them on their win, expecting to see them whooping it up and wildly celebrating ... instead it was rather quiet and subdued, the Islander players sitting there with ice packs on their bumps and bruises, groaning from exhaustion .... it was then that I realized what it takes to win the Stanley Cup"
~ MM ~
LOL, my favorite Herb Brooks quote was: "...You've got a million dollar set of legs and a ten-cent fart for a brain..."
Love the Brooks quote. You could fill pages with them. LOL.
"Arrive at the net with the puck and in ill humor"
I'm inclined to agree. What Heiden did will never be duplicated.
“If you lose this game, you’ll take it to your f....... graves! *walks out of the locker room, then returns* Your f........ graves!” - Brooks after the US was down 2-1 to Finland at the end of the second period of the final game.
This may be the most memorable because it was all over TV:
Mike Eruzione said -- and this was around 2003 when they did the interviews -- that the astonishment of their victory diminished over time because in retrospect the U.S. team was much better than they realized. He knew how good they were after seeing some of those players go on to long, solid NHL careers over the next 15 years.
Center Neal Broten achieved an unusual distinction when he won the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 1995. He was the first player -- and maybe still the only one -- to win an Olympic gold medal, the Stanley Cup, and an NCAA hockey championship.
Man, so many personalities in hockey...anyone who loves hockey just adores the movie Slapshot, because it has every single stereotype in it!!!
And the personalities...Herb Brooks...Don Cherry...
I went to the winter carnival in 1987 in Quebec City in 1987 and went to the NHL All Stars vs Soviet Union...it was so frickking cold...we drove up in a camper we rented. there were four of us, and three of us were named Bob. My neck hurt so bad because the whole trip, someone would say “Bob...” and all of us would twist our heads around to see who was being addressed. The guy at the camper rental gave us a thing of anti-freeze for the toilet and said “Whatever you do, don’t let the toilet freeze!” Well, it froze.
When we arrived in Quebec after 8 hours, I wanted to go for a walk. I got all bundled up and walked into this park. I got about 100 yards, and realized there was no other human being outside anywhere, and then I realized how damned cold it was, and turned around and went back. It was damned cold.
The first night we got up there, the heater on the camper wouldn’t work right...I woke up in a down bag after a night of heavy partying, and my bag and my hair were frozen into an inch of ice inside the window!
We went to the NHL Hall of Fame (road version) and had to wait an hour outside in something like 20 below zero cold...and every single person looked like a prehistoric beast with steam coming out of our mouths and noses, jumping around like eskimos doing some kind of bizarre snow dance in an attempt to keep warm.
When we got inside, we made a beeline to a table where Gump Worsley was signing autographs...he looked at us, and said “Were you people waiting in line out in that cold to come in HERE? You people are f**cking crazy.”
I burst out laughing...that, coming from a guy who played old time hockey with no mask!!!!!!
Ah. I miss the old hockey days...
I just watched it again for the first time in years a few weeks ago.
Loved it. Just loved it.
I've played hockey with some very flaky guys, and I even have a personal Herb Brooks story for you. I'll send it by Freep-Mail tomorrow.
Good night, all!
One thing that cannot be overlooked, is that the US team had months to prepare for the Olympics and play together in a lot of exhibitions before the Games.
One of those games was a 10-3 defeat to the Soviet Union a month before the Olympic Games.
Today, teams are thrown together with little time to practice together as a team.
You too...I’m turning in too...:)
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