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Jake LeBlanc

MNGT-5560

Movie Review

2/22/2023

Miracle

Miracle is the true story about the 1980 United States Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team,

also known as the “Miracle on Ice”. If you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend you do

because it is a great sports movie that talks about challenging times during the Cold War and

promotes patriotism in the United States. The movie is about how the United States was a team

full of college hockey players (because professional athletes were not allowed in the hockey

Olympics at the time) defeated the Soviet Union who were the most dominate hockey team for

decades leading up to the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. The United States team was

a roster made up of college students who did not know each other and never played with each

other. Also, a lot of the players on the team hated each other because they had rivalries in college

against each other. For example, defenseman Jack O’Callahan who played for Boston University

had a rivalry with forward Rob McClanahan who played for the University of Minnesota dating

back to a College National Championship when Boston University played Minnesota.

O’Callahan believed that McClanahan cheap shotted him during that game which resulted in

O’Callahan getting injured and not being able to play the rest of the game where Boston

University ended up losing, so O’Callahan thought that McClanahan “stole the ring off his

finger” because of the cheap. The two ended up in a fist fight in training camp. This would be

like Auburn and Alabama being in a National Championship and someone from Alabama cheap
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shots an Auburn player which causes Alabama to win the championship and then those two

players being on the same team months later. Another struggle the United States team went

through was that since professional athletes (aka NHL Players) were not allowed in the Olympics

at the time, they were a team full of college kids playing against grown men who played for their

respective countries national team. These other countries national teams were teams filled with

grown men who grew up playing together and had a lot more chemistry together than the United

States. There are three leaders in this movie that I want to specifically talk about, Head Coach

Herb Brooks, Captain Mike Eruzione and the entire team as a whole for what they did for the

United States during a tough time during the Cold War.

The main leader in this movie was Head Coach Herb Brooks, he was responsible for

assembling the entire and developing a style of game to not only be competitive in the Olympics

but to beat the most dominant team in hockey, the Soviet Union. Herb dealt with many

challenges as head coach. One being that a lot of guys on the team hated each other due to

playing against each other in college. The way that Herb battled this was that he developed a

coaching style where he was a real hard ass coach that expected a lot from his players and was

not a friendly coach. He said he did this because “If the players hate him enough, they won’t

have time to hate each other”, this created unity within the team. One of the ways he did this was

after a pre-tournament exhibition game that the team should have won but ended up tying, he

would not let them leave the ice after the game. Herb made the team to sprints for hours just after

playing a full game. The manager of the rink ended up turning the lights off to get the US Team

off the ice, but Herb kept them on the ice to do sprints. Herb was also a master motivator who

gave some of the best pregame speeches of all-time. His most famous speech was before the

Olympic Semi-Finals against the Soviet Union where he said “Great moments are born from
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great opportunity, and that's what you have here tonight, boys. That's what you've earned here

tonight. One game; if we played them ten times, they might win nine. But not this game, not

tonight. Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them, and we shut them down

because we can. Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be

hockey players—every one of you, and you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time.

Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the

Soviets have. Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it!". This pregame speech

fired the team up so much they defeated the best hockey team in the world.

The next leader I want to talk about is the Team Captain Mike Eruzione, he was not an

outspoken captain and he did not need to be because his Coach Herb Brooks spoke enough for

everyone, Mike led more my example by doing the right things at the right time. For example,

after the game that Herb Brooks made the team do sprints for hours after the game that I talked

about in the last paragraph, Eruzione showed the true leader that he is. During practices

throughout training camp Herb would ask players to introduce themselves by saying their name,

where they were from and who they played for. Most players would say their name, where they

were from and the college they played for, but not Eruzione. After hours of doing sprints after

that game, players were exhausted, some were throwing up and they barely do another sprint.

Herb blew the whistle and said “again” signaling the team to do another sprint. Eruzione shouted

out “Mike Eruzione, Winthrop, Massachusetts!”, Herb then asked him “who do you play for?”,

Eruzione then said as loudly as he could since he was so out of breath from doing sprints, “I play

for… THE UNITED STATES OF AMARICA!”. This was the answer Herb was looking for the

whole time and finally allowed the team to stop doing sprints and get off the ice. This showed

the team that they were no longer a team full of individuals from different colleges, but they
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were a team united together playing to represent their country at the biggest stage in the world at

the time, the Olympics. After this moment, Coach Herb Brooks named Mike Eruzione Captain of

the 1980 United States Men’s Olympic Hockey Team.

The final leader I want to talk about is the entire 1980 United States Men’s Olympic

Hockey Team for what they did as a whole for the country. The 1980 Olympics was during a real

trying time for the United States, it was during the Cold War and there was a lot of animosity

between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union almost did not come to the

1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York because of animosity between the countries. However,

they decided to come because they wanted to show the United States how dominant they were

and wanted to beat the United States on their own soil. A week before the 1980 Olympics, the

United States and Soviet Union played an exhibition game against each other and the Soviet

Union dominated the United States and beat them 10-3. Leading up to the Olympic Tournament,

the United States team was predicted to not even make the Medal Round because of how young

and inexperienced the team was. However, the U.S. Team made it to the medal round by tying

Sweden 2-2, beating Czechoslovakia 7-3, beating Norway 5-1, beating Romania 7-2 and beating

West Germany 4-2. Making it to the Medal Round was already an impressive feat for the United

States since they already surpassed their pretournament expectations. However, their semi-final

was against the world powerhouse, the Soviet Union who just beat them badly a week before the

tournament. This game between the United States and the Soviet’s was about more than just

hockey, it was about having pride for your country, being a patriot and being pro United States

during the Cold War efforts. The entire country had eyes on this game, and everyone was

supporting the Olympic Hockey Team for this game and took pride in their country. Before the

game when the team was in the locker room, they could hear all their fans chanting “USA, USA,
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USA” and this made them realize how much more than a hockey game this is and that they have

the support of the entire country. The United States ended up beating the Soviet Union by a score

of 4-3 with the game winning goal coming from Captain Mike Eruzione. Even though it was just

the semi-final game, the team celebrated like they just won the Gold Medal. United States fans

filled the streets of Lake Placid and were celebrating like crazy. The country was all one,

celebrating how U.S. just defeated the best hockey team in the world. They still had to play in

the gold medal against Finland and ended up beating them 4-2 and winning the gold medal.

Surprisingly winning the gold medal was not the thing that brought the country together as one,

it was when they beat the Soviet Union in front of the whole world during a trying time during

the cold war.