USA hockey on the Beach
After lounging on the beach at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, we shuffled back to our hotel room just a few long blocks up Kuhio Blvd. The street is blocked off right now to make way for one of the pro Bowl block parties that are infesting Honolulu. Parties galore say the placards, and from the sound of the boisterous gang inside, it’s promising to be a long, long, party. And a nasty hangover for more than a few.
After getting settled in room 2810, I flipped on the TV and on came the Herb Brooks movie starring Kurt Russell. That’s the good movie, not the one with Karl Malden made back in the 1980’s. This one was being filmed just as Coach Brooks died in the car accident on Interstate 35 between Duluth and the Twin Cities. The move was aired on the 32nd anniversary of the Miracle on Ice. I think Russell played Brooks to a tee. The hair was right on, the gum chewing, the little Minnesota accent and the clothes were vintage Brooks. It was my privilege to be with Marsh Nelson on a broadcast of the USA versus Canada Olympic game in Hibbing a couple of months before Lake Placid. We got to visit a bunch more a decade later when I hosted the Hockey Talk show on KDAL following UMD games. Brooks was scouting for pro teams then and he loved to talk the game…”.but don’t ask me about Lake Placid please. That’s in the past.” One show lasted nearly 90 minutes and the lines were still ringing when we called it a night.
I got a lump in my throat watching this movie. Not only was it well done, but also featured young hockey players that looked very similar to the skaters they were portraying. In fact, Buzz Schneider’s son played Buzzie in the flick. I didn’t catch any of the other actor/skaters names, but think back 32 years to what they did for the prestige of Americans. The hockey game was just a hockey game, but by beating the Russians, it made all of us feel pretty proud. The USA team averaged only 21 years of age. Brotten, Vercotta, Pavlich, Harrington, Baker, Craig, McClanahan, Johnson and others…so young and so coachable. The game was played shortly after Russia invaded Afghanistan when Russia was called The Evil Empire by USA politicians. The Summer Olympics were boycotted by the US and poor Gary Bjorklund of Twig didn’t get a chance to wow us with one of his good marathon runs. So that January game was what we had to hang our hats on for another four years.
It’s a funny thing to be sitting on this warm, sunny deck overlooking Waikiki Beach and be thinking about hockey. But ask yourself, was there a better game. In any sport? Was there a game that meant more to you and to your nation than the USA victory over the Russians? I don’t think so. 32 years later, and I bet you can remember where you were and what you were doing when that game was won. I can. I was listening to KDAL. Aloha Rik Jordan
