Mike Eruzione: USA Wins Gold, the Miracle on Ice, and the Mindset of a Champion

If I had never played in that summer league game,

I never would have gone to Boston University.

And if I had never gone to Boston University,

I never would have ended up playing on the US Olympic team.

Not every day is a great day.

Sometimes things don't work out.

The way you want them to work out.

There are a lot of important values in life.

And the most important one is respect.

And we skated that night because of three things.

He said to us, if you don't respect yourself,

you won't be successful.

All of a sudden, Herb calls me into the back area.

And he says, Mike, I just got a call from President Carter

and they are sending Air Force One tomorrow morning

at 6.30 in the morning to take you guys to the White House.

Other than being a police officer or a firefighter

or somebody in the military, there's

no greater feeling than putting on a USager's seat.

Good.

Oh.

Oh.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Hi, Jonathan.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Wow.

You people were born when I played.

Some of you.

I told Mr. Micaruzioni that if we had the opportunity

to have Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, or Beyoncé,

you guys would prefer him.

Was I telling the truth if you say yes?

I'd rather see me than those three as well.

So, Mike, it is such an honor and privilege

to have you here today.

But before we get started, we wanted

to share a couple of thank yous.

And you met Nicole Tink, my yellow back there.

So she's going to read a couple of thank yous

that we prepared for you, for being here,

and for who and what you are in the world.

Would that be OK with you?

That's fine.

Thank you very much.

Tink, are you ready?

Absolutely.

Mr. Rosioni, on behalf of Unblinded or Certification

Partners, the entire Unblinded Ecosystem,

my co-founders and leaders, Sean Calgi, myself,

and all of our loved ones would like

to thank you for a few things.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you, Mr. Rosioni, for making

the trip to Long Beach Island to be with us

at this Unblinded Immersion.

Your very presence here is a privilege and a gift.

Thank you, and your team, for your voice.

Thank you, and your teammates, for choosing not only

to win that game, but to carry a message of belief

and possibility into the world for decades since.

Thank you for the ordinary becoming extraordinary.

Thank you for reminding us that ordinary people,

through vision, courage, and relentless effort,

can do the most extraordinary thing.

Thank you for standing in the fire.

Thank you, and thank you to coach Erb Brooks

for braving the rivalries, the conflicts, the pressure,

and showing us all that greatness is born in the fire.

Thank you, and your team, for carrying a nation.

Thank you, Mr. Rosioni, and your entire 1980

U.S. Olympic hockey team, for carrying the spirit

of America on your shoulders in the darkest hour.

Thank you for scoring the goal of belief.

Thank you for putting that puck into the net

against the Soviets, not just to win a game,

but to ignite belief in a nation

that had almost forgotten how to believe.

Thank you and your brothers on the ice

for proving possibility.

Thank you for proving together that giants can fall,

and that impossibility is an illusion,

and that miracles are not fairytales, but lived reality.

Thank you for reshaping history.

Thank you and your teammates for a victory

that became more than a medal,

a moment that shifted the psychology of America

and helped open the door to new future for America and the world.

Thank you for embodying team.

Thank you for showing the world that legacy

isn't written by one hero alone,

but by a band of brothers who believed in each other

when no one else did.

Thank you for your humility.

Thank you for staying grounded,

blue collar, integrity, and humble

when the world put you on its grandest stage,

that humility is more powerful than any goal ever could be.

Thank you for your legacy.

Thank you for a legacy that lives not only in the record books,

but in the hearts of every child who laces up skates,

every parent who whispers you can do it,

and every human who chooses belief over despair.

Thank you for miracles.

And finally, thank you for reminding us all

that miracles are not one single lifetime.

They are possible every day, and every life,

and every moment we choose belief.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Sean.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I think we could use a 1980 now.

Yeah, we really could, for sure.

And it feels very difficult for me to call you Mike.

Yeah, when we spoke on the phone,

you asked me to do that a couple of times.

I didn't get my last name until I was in the fourth grade,

so Mike's law easier.

Yeah, so I come from a world very much like you did,

very much like you did Northeast.

You know, I played probably about 10 years under you,

but I had a lot of people that you were shaped by in high school

and was very much like my high school experiences.

You know, I would love to call Mr. Rosy,

and Rosy only I won't in honor of his request to call Mike,

but it feels like you should always be Mr. Rosy only.

So thank you for that privilege to call you Mike.

So Mike, who were you in high school?

Like what was growing up like and you live in a small town?

Big lots of family around.

Yeah, lots of family.

You know, I thought my life was like any other kids' life.

I grew up in a three family house.

We lived in the second floor.

I have four sisters and a brother.

This kind of gets a little crazy.

Upstairs was my mother's brother,

who married my father's sister.

Told you he was going to get crazy.

And there were five kids in that family.

And my father's other sister lived on the first floor.

And they were four in that family.

So I grew up in a house of about 15 kids.

And understood the importance of hard work.

I learned at a young age how important it was to be a good person,

be a good brother, be a good friend, be a good neighbor.

I values that my mother and father taught me.

As a kid growing up in this three,

I thought everybody lived in a three family.

I didn't know people had their own homes.

And as fast forward, my wife grew up four houses for me.

And she's one of 13 kids.

And I lived next door to the house I grew up in.

And my son lives directly behind me.

My daughter lives down the street.

And my other son, he moved to Connecticut a few years ago

because she wanted to be near her family.

And I said to her,

she wants to be with their family.

So as we talked about earlier,

and I have seven grandkids now,

which is kind of fun.

I'm watching them play, hockey football,

lacrosse, they're all up there.

The oldest is 12.

The youngest is 18 months.

But again, back to my childhood growing up,

you worked.

I caddyed as a kid.

My dad worked three jobs.

My mother stayed home and took care of six kids.

There wasn't a lot of money in the house,

but there was a lot of love.

There was a lot of support.

And that's kind of how I grew up.

Sports was your vehicle.

I played football.

I played baseball.

I probably played more baseball than anything.

And hockey was something you did in the wintertime.

They got cold.

You went and played hockey because your friends played.

I remember wanting to play hockey because my friends played,

but I didn't have any ice skates.

My parents didn't have enough money to go buy me ice skates.

If it wasn't something I wanted to show them I wanted to do.

And they used to freeze the tennis courts down the street

from where I lived.

And in those days you could go down the tennis courts

by yourself.

So you didn't have to have a police escort.

Not everybody got a trophy.

You just showed up.

And I remember wanting to play hockey because my friends played.

But I didn't have any ice skates.

But my sister had these white figure skates.

And I sit fit into her white figure skates.

And I'd get the white figure skates and down the hill,

I'd go on the tennis courts and learn to skate.

I've tried to skate.

And hockey is a macho kind of game.

And not only was I in white figure skates,

we had these blue pom-poms on her.

And that's how I started to play ice hockey.

And in those days you could save some people might remember

maybe not.

You could save SNH Green Snips.

And I came home one day and there was a pair of high ice skates

on the table.

And my mom saved up enough stamps to get me a pair of ice skates.

And that's how I started playing hockey at nine years old.

Never knowing it was going to lead to the Olympics, obviously.

But it was something I wanted to do.

I wanted to make parents you support your kids

in what they want to do.

So that's kind of how hockey started for me, the cool.

Like I said, I probably played more baseball.

And I actually, you know, I was in all state football hockey

and baseball players.

I was sportswear was my life as a kid.

And Mike, do you think that was, you know, how much of that

was baseball football hockey was genetic?

How much do you think you worked harder?

You know, you had better co-chain.

Like, what do you have?

I think it's a little of both.

But, you know, but I would hard work.

You don't accomplish anything.

So, you know, nobody steps on the field.

Nobody makes major league baseball or football

or NHL players by just skill.

There's a lot of work.

There's a lot of time.

There's a lot of effort.

There's a lot of sacrifices that can win to people

becoming successful.

And now, again, I think of sacrifices.

Like I said, my dad worked three jobs.

You know, he had a supportive family.

So the sacrifices he made,

that could give me a chance to play a game.

Never knowing it was going to lead, like I said, to Olympic games.

But as a parent, you support your children

and what they want to do.

And I was fortunate to have a dad that understood

that my love was sports.

And he found a way to make sure that I was able to do that.

And, you know, I'll look back on my coaches

by high school football coaches.

A big influence in my life.

Obviously, my college hockey coach, Jack Parker,

at Boston University, where I played and work right now.

And I'm going to tell you this is, you know, a crazy story.

But I always talk about opportunity.

To me, life is about opportunities.

It's what you do with that opportunity that counts.

And I was given an opportunity to play a game.

Never knowing, thinking or believing or dreaming.

It would get to or it got to, but it did.

But I remember graduating from high school.

I wanted to go to the University of New Hampshire.

And my grades were really good in school.

One thing I kind of messed up was,

as long as I was eligible, I was happy.

So I wanted to go to the University of New Hampshire.

I went to prep school for a year, up in Maine,

with the hope of going to UNH and playing football,

hockey, and baseball.

That's what I wanted to do.

Well, the hockey coach didn't think I was a division one hockey player.

So I had no school to go to.

Wow.

I was, you know, 17 years old with no college and nobody interested.

So one school that was interested was a school called Merrimack College.

And Merrimack College was a division three.

They weren't division one.

They were division three school.

And they offered me a full scholarship.

There were a few parents out there.

It was $3,500.

My freshman year.

I think Boston University is, I think, 80 something thousand out.

But that's, thank God I'm not around now.

So I wanted to go to college at UNH.

But I'm going to go to Merrimack.

Well, in the summer, I played baseball in the summer.

I played hockey in the summer.

So a friend of mine called me and he said,

look, we have a summer league game.

And we need some guys to play.

A bunch of guys went away for the weekend.

Do you want to play?

I said, well, you need to play or I'll play.

So I played in the game.

And it turned out the referee of the game was this guy named Jack Parker,

who I didn't know who he was.

It was just the referee.

And when the game was over, Jack Parker pulled me aside.

He says, hey, I'm Jack Parker.

I'm the assistant coach at Boston University.

We have a kid from Canada that decided not to come.

Would you like to come to Boston University?

And I'm like, yeah.

I mean, VU's coming off back to back national championships at the time.

And I said to him, it has to be a full scholarship because my dad can't afford $3,500.

He goes, no, it's a full scholarship.

So I went to Boston University.

And Jack Parker was the assistant coach.

The guy named Leon Abbott was the head coach.

And Leon Abbott didn't know me from Adam.

But I made the varsity my freshman year.

And I was playing a few games here and there.

And Leon Abbott got fired for recruiting violations.

Wow.

Jack Parker became the head coach.

So I went from centering the fourth line to playing left wing on the second line.

And led by team and scoring my freshman year.

Wow.

Well, I'm sure for that.

All right.

So I tell you this story because if I had never played in that summer league game,

I never would have gone to Boston University.

And if I had never gone to Boston University,

I never would have ended up playing on the US Olympic team.

Because that would have come out of Merrimag versus a national championship contending VU team.

So again, life is about opportunities.

And then I was giving that opportunity to play on an 80 Olympic team.

And there I am today.

So it's kind of funny how life works.

That sure is.

So going back for a sec though,

I didn't know that part of the story.

That you're coming out of high school.

You don't have division one offers.

Fun footnote, by the way, my daughter Courtney went to the University of New Hampshire

for storing her college career, just as a quick, fun footnote.

And you have a division three opportunity.

And were you coming out of high school thinking and hoping about playing college baseball or football or hockey?

What was going on there that was in your mind?

Or you weren't thinking that.

So what was happening as you were leading up to going to college, were you hoping to play a different sport in college or hockey in college?

I wanted to play all three.

I wanted to play football hockey in baseball.

Even at Boston University, I ended up playing in hockey and baseball.

They wouldn't let me play football because it was kind of the beginning of the hockey season.

But yeah, my mind was to play all three sports in college.

But ended up just doing two at Boston University.

Although the next, my junior senior year, I didn't play because I made the U.S. national team.

And I went over to Europe for the World Championships.

And I think it's important for the audience how often we could just be overlooked.

So obviously, my career was incredibly talented.

He goes out and ends up starting and be one of the leading scorers in his first year at Boston University.

And this is a defending national championship team.

But nobody else is offering you division one to come play.

Like, why do you think that was?

Just you didn't have opportunities to be exposed to college coaches.

Like, why weren't you getting those opportunities, do you think?

Because they weren't smart enough to realize how good I was.

But I mean, that's...

I'm...

Again, you know, Sean, you and I know each other a little.

But I'm not a real deep thinker.

I'm not that in depth on things.

I just do things.

And I never thought about why they didn't like me.

I thought I was pretty damn good.

Yeah.

You think he was pretty damn good, say yes.

No, but you guys missed it.

And I look at the college coaches that I played against these teams that you missed the boat.

Yeah.

And, you know, Boston University four years, I graduated as the all-time leading scorer.

It's great.

Since it's been passed because players today are a lot better than when I played.

But, you know, I've always been...

The one thing I've always been is very confident in myself as an athlete and as a person.

You know, I was talking to a group of people the other day.

I'm kind of old school.

I believe in a lot of old-fashioned values.

Things that my dad taught me about pride and commitment and respect.

I talked to you earlier about respect.

I tell kids today, you know, it's easy to be a nice person.

You've got to go out of your way to be an asshole.

No, you're really to impart my language.

These people have heard a few F-bombs in the state.

But it's easy to be nice.

It's easy to be a good teammate, a good neighbor, a good friend.

And those are things that I always believed in and always taught, even at a young age.

And I think those are values that carried with me to this day.

But I think carried me through my athletic career, too.

I don't care what other people think.

I know what I think and what I care about and what's important to me.

And I'm not going to listen to somebody say, no, you can't do that.

If they do, then it drives me even more.

That I want to say, really, let me show you what I can do.

And not everybody's a great day.

I've had challenges over 70 years of my life.

I haven't lived the greatest, you know, I've made stupid mistakes.

And that's part of life.

That's part of being the world that we live in.

But I think, you know, when the smoke clears, I can look back on my athletic career.

And what I've been doing for the last, you know, 45 years since 1980s,

take great pride in knowing that I've done a good job at the opportunities I've been given.

And that I think people look at me and respect me and clearly respect my teammates.

You know, what we did was 45 years ago.

And I can talk and we talked about it earlier.

I don't know if you follow anything.

But we just found out that our team is going to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.

Which is the ultimate.

Which is, I think the ultimate honor, you know, it's not a sport to what.

It's on an ESPN award.

This is this from your country.

This is this is if you look at the recipients of it.

It's, you know, something my teammates and I take incredible and credible pride in.

Because our game was more than a hockey game.

We didn't know it at the time.

But realized that it was a moment that that's why I said earlier that touched the lives of a lot of people.

In 1979, 1980, we were looking for something to feel good about.

The hostages, the gas lines, inflation.

And all of a sudden, we come along.

And I've said this, and I'll say this till the day I die.

Other than being a police officer or a firefighter or somebody in the military.

There's no greater feeling than putting on a U.S.A. jersey.

And I'm not playing for Chicago or Boston.

You're playing for your country.

And I think in 1980, people saw that in us and rallied people.

That was, we didn't go to Lake Placid to rally a whole country.

We didn't even know.

And think about it.

There was no Facebook or Twitter.

There were three TV stations.

The social media didn't exist.

And yet, when we won, when we got out into the country and realized that this thing was, wow, pretty big.

And I think again, we take even 45 years later to take great pride in knowing that people came together because of what our team was able to do.

Not me.

What our team was able to do.

And showed the world that, you know, if you believe in something and you're willing to work hard, you can't accomplish it.

And our team was at Herbrook's.

Our coach used to call us a lunchpale, hard hat, group of guys.

Because that's what we were.

If you follow the backgrounds of my teammates, we all came from working class families.

And we're all taught about the important values in life.

And not just the values in the sport of ice hockey.

So, like, as you, a couple quick things.

So, some of the things I want to think about are things.

And I'm, it's exciting for me that you hadn't thought about that before.

Because one of the things that we about why coaches weren't seeing you.

Because one of the things we talk about here is how do we create the opportunities to be seen.

You know, so when you ended up being asked by a friend, hey, would you like to come play in this game?

That was an incredible blessing.

And you seize that opportunity, hearing you rattling clearly.

And, but sometimes you don't get that phone call and have the same opportunity.

You didn't know it was an opportunity, but you were seizing all the opportunity.

But if I could, do you think that, you know, at that time, because today, I know that, you know, this is part of your world,

as all these showcases and club teams in every sport imaginable.

It was a different world then, right?

And in the 1970s, was there anything out there?

Was it just like your college coach, your, I'm sorry, your high school coach was going to be talking to college coaches?

Or were there any showcases?

How broken was the talent assessment system of high school hockey at that time that you weren't seeing?

I mean, do you think it was just all these college coaches making bad choices about not seeing it,

or they just never even knew you existed?

Because there's no social media, no showcases, you know?

No, there were no showcases that you played in your hometown.

I played in, and where I live now, I've played in Winthrop, I played P.V. Hockey, I played Uthockey, I played high school hockey,

I played Banta Mockey, they were all star teams, they were no travel teams.

Today, it's crazy today.

They cost, you know, these kids, they were on these select teams, these travel teams,

and mum and dad are paying thousands of dollars chasing something that might not be there.

But the problem now is, if you're not on one of these teams, they think you get no chance of being seen.

In my day, you know, you were seen because coaches went to your high school games.

There were no showcases, so you want to see the best players play?

Go to Linerina and watch Winthrop High School play Danvers High School.

So, I mean, that's basically what it was.

We live in a whole different, you know, again, I work at Boston University.

We got three kids from Sweden, we got two from Finland, we got one from Russia.

We're recruiting all over the world.

Wow.

And our coaches are out there at these showcases, but all these kids are paying a lot of money to play.

And, you know, to me, there's only a few that are going to make it.

I personally think this kid spent too much money spending searching, trying, traveling.

But that's, you know, that's the culture of, you know, you want to play Division I baseball.

You've got to be on the AAU team.

That's what it is today.

I'm glad it wasn't like that when I played because he just played.

And there were pressures.

And did you have, so when you're at Winthrop then, did you have coaches?

Did you have one, two, five, ten college coaches come see?

Like how many overlooked you?

Was it just the small number?

Was it a lot of coaches that were coming to your high school?

No, I would say they were probably a small number because there weren't many colleges playing hockey at that time.

You know, the game has grown.

It's, you know, where, you know, when I was a kid, you were from Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota.

Maybe Maine, upstate New York, places like that, hockey players.

Now, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida.

Look at how many players played.

Not just men, our women.

Our women's program.

You can't believe how good the women are now than they were 10 years ago.

So the game has grown.

The sport of hockey has grown.

And more and more kids are playing.

So, you know, you're probably going to get seen a lot more now than you would have when I played.

Because there were just a handful of schools that had Division I programs.

Absolutely.

So when you weren't then in high school, you're loving baseball, football, hockey.

Did you ever think about the Olympics at hockey in high school before college?

Or that wasn't even a thought in your head?

I just, I just played.

You know, I never, that wasn't that smart to think ahead other than just.

I'm going to be a senior next year.

And let's hopefully my senior year will go well athletically, academically, or whatever.

It always went, always went well athletically.

But I, you know, I, again, it was a different era and a different time.

I don't know how I would be in today's era.

You know, because I, I know one thing.

My parents wouldn't have had the money for me to play the travel that the kids play today.

Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

So then when, once you get to college and all of a sudden,

you become this standout, like your mastery is rising.

At that point, were you doing things differently than the other kids?

Like, were you doing extra things or were you practicing more intensely than the people on your team?

Or you were just flat out better already?

No, I, I think a practice is continue.

I mean, you, you, you want to play at Boston University.

You better be ready to play every year because there's new recruits coming in next year and new players challenging you.

But it was, again, it was, it was a different thing.

I watch our players today.

I mean, the, the one practice is over.

These guys are in the weight room.

We have a nutritionist.

We have a sports psychologist.

That, my sports psychologist was my father.

So my, my nutritionist was my mother.

You know, we have a sensory room now.

The kids have, they go in this room and they just sit there and just kind of, I don't know what they do in a sense.

We didn't have any of that shit.

We just, you know, you just played.

And when the season ended, you know, the summertime, you know, I may be playing a little once in a while at the end of the summer to get ready for hockey.

But I played baseball in the summer.

Wow.

These kids have to practice.

They go into the weight room.

I'm going to tell you the truth.

We went to the dugout was the bar on campus.

Practice is over.

Hey guys, let's go now.

We have a few bears and we'll go go to school classes tomorrow and then we'll get up and go to hockey practice.

And after practice, we'll go to the dugout for a little while.

It's, now it's, it's a different, different whole scenario.

And good for them.

I think it's great for the, for the players because these guys have aspirations of playing in the national hockey league.

I wanted to go to Boston University to play a Boston University.

And if it happened that it may be, maybe I could play a pro hockey after, then that was something.

But I didn't go, you know, we have freshmen that come in now, the first round graphics, second round graphics.

Wow.

And then you've got the name image and likeness kids getting paid money.

You know, we lost the number one recruit in the country this year was coming to Boston University.

He's going to be the first pick in the draft next year.

He was coming, it was coming to Boston University.

He's going to Penn State because Penn State's given him $800,000.

Wow.

That's name, image and likeness.

Well, that would be, I don't know if you follow any sports.

Quarterback at Michigan this year is like going to make about $9 million.

You know, Shedaw Sanders, the football player, he took a pay cut to play for the Cleveland Browns.

The money he was making and Colorado.

So you're dealing with a whole different mindset now, this is making money.

Yeah, for me, my scholarship was plenty.

But now it's a different environment in the college sports for men and women.

You know, this is a girl, I think, out in UCLA, the gymnast is making like stupid money.

But that's just the arena we're in now that was never there when I played, when I played, you just played.

Yeah.

So when you're just playing and you're at BU and you're obviously just standing out scoring goals, leading the team on the way to breaking the scoring record.

At any point, did you, I mean, you're just playing, you're focusing.

Do you remember when the first time you ever thought or heard of the Olympics in hockey?

Like, when did that come into your mind?

Okay.

Again, crazy story.

I got asked to play in the 1976 team, Olympic team.

Wow.

And I did not want to leave Boston University.

In those days, you'd leave your school right before the Olympics and you'd go play.

In our case, we trained for six months.

It was a whole different mindset in 1980 than it was in 1976.

So I had a chance to play in 1976.

And that was the year I thought we were going to win the National Championship.

I was a junior at Boston University and decided I was going to stay at BU.

The games were in Innsbruck.

And I think the US team came in fourth or fifth.

But so I missed that and passed that opportunity up.

So again, I talk about how my life turned and things in your life that happened.

So I graduated from Boston University in 1977.

And the New York Rangers, they owned my rights.

They drafted me.

I was a second round draft pick of the New York Rangers.

So when the season ended, BU ended, that summer, I was getting ready to go to camp with the New York Rangers.

So I went to camp with the New York Rangers.

And I had a really good camp.

And a guy named John Ferguson was the general manager of the New York Rangers.

And Fergie called me in and was off.

He says, Mike, you had a great camp.

We really like you.

We think you're going to be a really good player.

But we don't, we're not signing any new players.

We have our first pick, which a kid named Ron DuGay, who had a great career with the Rangers.

And we have a bunch of older players and we're not showing out any money for any more players.

But we want to keep you in our system.

So they sent me to Toledo, Ohio.

And I played for a team called the Toledo Goldegers.

Anybody seen the movie Slap Shot?

Yes.

That's where I was.

You played for the team from Slap Shot?

That was the league.

Oh, okay.

Wow.

Oh, you Google talk, remember him?

Yes.

He was on our team in Toledo for a week and then he got traded.

But anyway.

So I go to camp.

I get sent to Toledo.

The New York Rangers number two farm team.

But I didn't have an NHL contract.

It was a minor league contract.

So I got paid every two weeks by the Goldegers.

I made $4,000.

My first year in Toledo.

I led our team in scoring.

I was rookie of the year.

I'm going to sign with the New York Rangers.

John's Ferguson got fired.

A guy named Fred Sherrow who used to be with the New York,

with the Philadelphia Flyers.

He becomes the general manager of the New York Rangers.

And he calls my agent and says, look at Mike's free to do what he wants to do.

We're not signing Mike.

We know he had a great year but we're going in a different direction.

So here I am in limbo.

What am I going to do?

So I go back to Toledo to stay in amateur,

hoping to get invited to try out for the 80 Olympic team.

So I go back to Toledo.

They gave me $8,000 and a van.

Because I didn't have a vehicle when I played there.

So I had a van and I got $4,000 raised.

But I still got paid every two weeks.

I could get traded tomorrow.

So I got to go back to Toledo.

That summer I got a call from her Brooks inviting me to try out for the 80 Olympic team.

So I go to the A tryouts.

I make the team.

And here I am today.

If John Ferguson never got fired,

I would have signed with the New York Rangers.

And I would have been considered a pro.

And not given an opportunity to play on the 80 Olympic team.

So I go back to Toledo.

And not given an opportunity to play on the 80 Olympic team.

So there are two moments in my life about opportunity.

One in high school.

And second, when the Rangers decided to let me go and do what I wanted to do.

And the best decision that ever happened.

Wow.

And then the Olympic Games.

And then, you know, we win.

And then a couple of NHL teams wanted to sign me into pro contracts.

And I decided it was time to move on and do something else in my life.

And I was going to coach and teach and then found out that this moment,

this event was bigger than we could have imagined.

Wow.

And I remember I was talking to my Fizzed school administrator in my high school

asking if there might be a Fizzed job moment next year because I want to teach.

And then I was thinking about maybe coaching at Boston University because they

was, they might be looking for an assistant coach.

And then IBM, this was, this was in February.

And then IBM called my agent advisor and they, they wanted me to do 10 appearances.

Five at the Fountain Blue in Florida and five at the Drake in San Francisco.

I'd never been to California and I'd never been to Florida.

And they were going to give me $3,000 just to walk out on the stage and wave.

I didn't even have to do anything.

I made more in those 10 appearances than my dad made in one year.

So I thought, this is a pretty good deal.

Maybe I'll do some of these again.

And then I get into broadcasting, then I get into obviously speaking and doing things

that I do now 45 years later.

Although, as you well know, I work at Boston University.

I've been there 30 years.

Although if you counted all the days, I've been there, probably been there five.

I got a good gig, it could be you.

But it's just funny how, you know, your life works.

Never knowing what you're going to do or what is available.

But like I said, after the Olympics, I was going to coach and teach.

That's what I was going to do.

And the next thing you know, wow, this thing was pretty big.

And your life kind of turned or changed.

My life changed to a degree.

I haven't changed.

It drives my wife absolutely nuts.

And we've been together for 50 years.

So it's not like, you know, I always tell my kids all the time the same thing about

I was very happy with who I was before the Olympics.

You know, why should your life change because of an athletic event?

It clearly changed a lot of things in my life.

But it hasn't, it shouldn't change who you are.

You know, my friends and my friends, my families, my family.

And I still live where I belong and stay where I am.

Because if we didn't win, I'd be living in that town.

I'd probably have more than three kids because I'd have been home more.

So for everybody, we have these conversations

over the last couple of days about these dark moments and the hero's journey.

So Mike's phenomenal player has nothing going on with colleges

besides a division three opportunity.

We talked about my opportunities where nobody's looking to me and all of a sudden

there's 100 schools looking at me.

And how God makes all things work together for good or the universe or whatever you believe.

And same thing.

I mean, it's really amazing that Mike comes out second round draft pick.

Mike correct me if I'm wrong.

Most second round draft picks end up on the team.

Isn't that relatively normal?

Yeah.

So Mike doesn't, this is normal course like you're a second round draft pick

from a professional team in sports.

You're going to be on the team and all of a sudden he's not.

And that could have been something.

I mean, we're getting a sense of Mike and Mike seems like a pretty

incredibly grounded person and he just goes forward.

So something that happens that for most people would have been emotionally devastating.

What I'm hearing from you Mike is he kind of like shrugged and said,

all right, on we go.

Because the values that he was raised with.

And that's an incredible strength for this man.

That he's not taking things and trying to analyze why did God do this to me

and why is the universe against me?

He's just like, hey, this is the hand I'm dealt.

Let's go.

And we do see that things work together for good.

As Mike said, maybe he gets on the Rangers.

Maybe he gets hurt.

Maybe he plays a little bit.

And there's a couple of things that happen.

And all of a sudden he's not eligible for the Olympics.

He's not in the NHL.

And Mike's life looks completely differently.

So these two events that would have been incredibly upsetting and frustrating for most people.

Maybe not for Mike.

Because he has such an incredibly strong level of self mastery.

We self masters of our language for psychology.

That he's just like, hey, let's go.

And he knows that he's going to make whatever happens in his life turn into the right thing.

Am I hearing that correctly, Mike?

That's how you operate.

Yeah.

And then my dad always said to me, even as a mortal life, the athletics.

And at some point the game ends.

You know, Michael Jordan had to stop playing someday.

You know, these great athletes eventually it ends.

But your life doesn't end.

You know, just because I didn't play, you know, let's just say this.

If I didn't go to Boston University, I'd still be happy with my life, whatever that was.

Because that's the direction I was going to go in.

I'm always very positive and very upbeat.

You know, there's so much out there for me to do.

If I didn't play hockey, if I didn't play football, I'd be out in on something else.

And I'd have been happy with what I, what I did.

And what I was doing.

But my life took a different turn.

And my life went this way.

But it shouldn't change, as I said earlier, who I am.

Absolutely.

And why should I be different?

You know, just because I want to go metal doesn't make me better than people in this room.

There are certain things that you can do that I sure as hell can't do.

So everybody brings something to the table.

I happen to bring something to the table in terms of my athletic ability.

And then it turned out to be what it's become today.

But I think for me, like I said, if we didn't win, I'd be living in my hometown.

I'd be married to the same girl.

I'd be coaching and teaching.

And that's just the way it was going to be.

That's the way it was going to be.

So this is, and for everybody here, I'm really locking in this.

The lack of attachment that might cast the outcome.

He shows up.

He gets everything he's got.

And then what happens happens.

And I'm inspired.

I'm not only inspired.

It's a really, we talk about the difference between inspiration and tools.

You know, like, right, hockey sticks a tool.

How you use the hockey stick is, you know, part of your tool.

And then you have psychology.

And for me, what I'm clear about is I get, I get more attached than Mike does.

And I invite you to consider the same for yourself.

So thank you, Mike, already for helping me, like, be a mirror for me.

I'm like, yeah, I took things a lot harder than you did.

And that, you know, I had a strong psychology, not a strong as yours.

As a high school athlete, as a college athlete, I was played my way out of college baseball,

my sophomore year, powding.

I was, you know, runner up for Ivy League, rookie of the year, my freshman year at Columbia.

And the coach tried to change a few things.

And I was quiet.

I wasn't ever mouthiest, very respectful.

But I would pow more.

I would take things more personally.

I would be more upset about things.

And what I'm hearing from you is it sounds like you didn't.

Like I asked, when the Rangers didn't sign you, did you spend, if you remember,

did you spend, you know, the night getting upset, you go out a few beers,

you call somebody, you're like, hey, effort, like, here I go.

Or is it like a week you're upset at all?

And if so, for how long?

Well, I was pissed off.

Yeah.

What do you mean you don't want to signmate?

Look what I just did.

But then again, hey, that's, that's your decision.

I'll go in a different direction.

Yeah.

What's here?

How strong is that?

Right.

Yeah.

Look, look.

Please.

Not, not every day is a great day.

Like I said, sometimes things don't go the way you want them to go.

What are you going to do?

Pout?

Quit?

No.

Well, I mean, most people do.

You don't.

No, why?

If you pal and quit sometimes, say yes.

Yes.

So, thank you.

Yeah, no.

That's not in my, that was never in my vocabulary.

And I think part of it is the way I grew up.

And like I said, I saw my dad get up every morning and go to work.

I'm home and go to work.

I'm home and go to work.

I saw my mother take care of six kids with no money.

So, quit isn't something that I've ever even thought about doing.

I know I'm going to be successful at what I do, whatever it was I was going to do.

So, my mindset was, and again, that's my wife and I get into these discussions all the time.

Why are you such a good mood all the time?

I said, because I don't want to be miserable.

I don't want to, I don't want to live a life of wondering.

I'm just going to do what I want to do and I'm going to go ahead and do it.

Despite the challenges.

And like I said, not every day is a great day.

Sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to work out.

I missed the 240 yesterday for $20.

That was so pissed off.

Like this.

The next time I have that two footer, I better make it.

So, again, I'm not that deep a guy.

I'm not that smart a guy.

I just live my life the way I want to live it with total respect for my family and my kids and my wife.

And usually things are going to work out well.

And if they don't, there's another day and I'll figure that out.

And Mike, thank you.

And just so we're like level set.

I failed freshman high school geometry for the year as a freshman high school.

I had a lower GPA in high school than I did in law school.

So, I wasn't, I went to Columbia because of baseball.

You know, so it wasn't that I was thinking about things quite the same way than as I am now.

And one of the things that I think for these guys, like these are people who are trained, like this is not a sales program.

These are people trained to think about how do you, how do you succeed and how do you master things.

And so what we're hearing, what they're hearing from you is we have to say that Einstein said make it as simple as possible, but not simpler.

And honest to God, what I'm taking away from you is that it is so simple for you because you just give everything you have.

You take the outcome result and you just go forward.

And that is that because my, my job, my, the way I look at people is I try to find out, like what's the simple formula that causes my carusione to be my carusione.

And that's present for me, like that's here, like that's just clear to me.

And while you're saying it as yeah, just like it's easy, it's, if you think it's not easy for you yet, say yes.

Yeah, it's not easy for me either, but because you do it, what they're trained to do, what I'm trained to do is like we're going to have the self master according to my carusione, which is very simply don't get attached to get everything you got.

Like the micro is the only one from his dad formula and your identity is in change.

We talk about that, but just go do your thing.

What happens? You know it's going to work for good in any way because you're just going to do the next thing.

You're going to use it as fuel and go forward says that sound like a fair, very simple encapsulation.

I've never met a person that's successful because they're lucky people are successful because they understand the values of work.

And again, I'll go back to my dad always said if you understand the value of work at some point in your life, you'll be successful.

And it might not be today or tomorrow or next month, but when you're the best of what you do, I guarantee it's the time and effort and work that you put in.

And those are values that are important, whatever field you're in, whatever challenges you have.

If you're not willing to work hard at it, you're not going to be successful.

So I worked hard at everything that I've done, whether it as an athlete, or if I happen to go in a different direction.

If sports ended and I went, which it did, I went into a new direction, I worked them hard at what I do, in order to be successful at what I do.

And I think that's, to me, it's pretty simple. It's like I said earlier, it's easy to be nice.

It's really hard to be an asshole.

So Mike, so I live with that.

And if you feel that from Mike, say yes.

If you feel his authenticity, say yes.

And his mastery, yes.

So Mike, you go and these BUNs, the Draft with the Rangers, playing Hockey and Toledo, and now Herb Brooks calls you up.

And what happens from there, do you, then, was there, in the movie, right, these guys have seen the movie lots.

We show clips all the time.

So in the movie, there's the shortened version of the tryout.

Like, could you please take us through what happens?

Well, in the movie, the team was picked in one day.

Trust me, it was two weeks.

And in the movie, they had a bunch of people pick in the team.

There was only one person pick in this team and it was going to be Herb Brooks.

So I went to the tryout.

I got invited.

I was on the Great Lakes team.

They divided all these players into four teams.

And we competed against each other over two weeks.

And Herb Brooks at the stands evaluated the players.

And we were in a room, maybe kind of like this, maybe a little, a little bigger.

And the 68 players tried out for the 80 Olympics.

Wow.

I shouldn't say that.

Hundreds tried out.

68 got selected.

68 of us went to Colorado Springs, competed against each other in a kind of a mini tournament.

And tryouts were over 26 players made up the 80 Olympic team.

But only 20 were going to like blast it.

Six guys were going to get cut.

I can, I can just slow you down for a second.

Is that okay?

So in Colorado Springs, when this happens, what's that two weeks like?

And I'm just going to give you a couple of like multiple choice where there are fist fights.

Where people get along.

Where people are kind of in the same boat of being friends, buddies.

Where they're rivalries from college.

How was all that?

What was Colorado Springs like?

Well, it was a tournament.

It was competitive.

And there was a team from Massachusetts, which I wasn't on.

I was on the at large team.

So my team was guys from Michigan, Minnesota, New York.

And there was the Minnesota team.

And then there was another at large team.

And that had players of coach Brooks's college team, right?

A lot of the kids played under her, but the University of Minnesota.

Right.

Because for everybody.

So coach, her Brooks coach, the University of Minnesota, they were a top program in the country.

Might play to Boston University, a top program in the country, and correct me if I'm wrong.

There's a big rivalry.

Yes.

Well, we had the year before the Olympic triodes in the national championship.

And then the Minnesota and Boston University got into a bench clearing brawl.

I would call that a big rivalry.

Yeah.

Four minutes into the game.

The international championship?

Yes.

Both teams should have been thrown out of the tournament because you can't fight in college.

So we ended up losing a player.

They lost a player.

They ended up beating us in the game.

And who was the player you guys lost?

We lost Terry Mahara, who was a leading goal scorer at the time.

Right.

And they lost one of their guys who wasn't quite.

They're leading the guy.

Terry Mahara.

Yes.

Did he make the 80 Olympic team?

No.

Terry was from Canada.

Got it.

He was the captain of our team in 1976.

And Jack O'Callaghan, he played four.

Jack was a freshman at Boston University at that time.

Got it.

On that team.

Right.

There were four guys when the smoke cleared at the end.

There were four guys from Boston University, nine from the University of Minnesota, two from Wisconsin, two from Bowling Green, one from North Dakota, and two from Minnesota Duluth.

But they were of the 20 guys, 12 of the 20 players were from Minnesota.

Wow.

And 13 of the players, then, I'm counting correctly, nine from Minnesota, four from BU.

So 13 of the players were from this big rivalry.

Was nine from Minnesota with four from Boston University?

Well, and Wisconsin and Minnesota had an huge rivalry.

Oh.

Because the national championship battles for years.

So there was a lot of animosity between the two programs.

But so we're in the room, and 68 players tried out.

I heard him come up to the stage, and he said, if I call your name, please stay.

And if I don't, thanks for coming.

Okay.

I'll try to forgive me for interrupting.

Just what I'll really let these guys get it, because they've seen so many as clips.

Right.

So do you think in that moment, A, I know I made the team, B, I think I made the team, C, I hope I made the team, you know, probably B, because I was on the Great Lakes team.

And I was elected captain of the Great Lakes team.

And then we, the Great Lakes team won the tournament.

Oh, wow.

And I led our team and scoring.

So I thought I'm going to be on this team.

But the concern I had was Minnesota coach, Western players, Eastern coach, Eastern players.

That's how it always was years before.

It was an Eastern coach.

He was going to pick most of the guys going to be from the East, because he knew them.

So my concern was his herb going to take an Eastern guy.

So we're all in the room.

And I remember the first name he called was Ken Morrow.

Ken, he was a great defenseman from Michigan.

He lived for the Islanders later.

He won four Stanley Cups right after the Olympics.

That's a pretty good run.

And I'm sitting there thinking, I hope this is an alphabetical.

My name is not going to be called.

And then my name was called it.

So there were 26 players in the room.

And then her.

You were the second name called?

No, I was called later on down the road.

We started to get concerned.

We all antsy wondering, you know, kind of listening.

Is it going to be me?

Is it going to be me?

And it's interesting, because now we have the Winter Olympics coming up in February.

The team USA is going to have 26 players, 25 players.

They carry more now than they did then.

Then they could only carry 20.

So 26 players make up the team.

And then we're going to embark on six months of training.

And six guys is going to get cut throughout the course of the season.

And you're still up until I was elected captain in October.

Was this by the players?

By the players.

But I don't think I was voted by the players.

There's no way nine guys from Minnesota voted for guy from Boston.

And as our assistant coach said, we voted, but her account of the balance.

I think Billy Baker was probably named captain by the team because the nine kids played with him at the university.

And Billy actually was the assistant captain of the 80 team.

And for whatever reason, they gave me the captaincy, which was not a big deal to me.

I think my dad was more excited than I was because I've always said I was a captain amongst captains.

We had a team of captains.

Everybody in that team was a captain of the high school team.

Eight guys were captains of the college team.

So it was a great group of leaders and people.

So the captaincy was nice, but it wasn't that.

Oh my god, I'm the captain.

So 26 players made up the team and throughout the course of six months.

Of travel and training.

Six were going to get cut.

And up until the last week, I still wondered if I was going to be one of the 20.

Wow.

Okay, take it back for a second.

Okay.

So during Colorado Springs, that time was her Brooks quiet and just watching and scouting.

Or was he already starting to be coach her Brooks towards everybody?

No, he was coach Brooks.

And that's the way it was going to be.

I think we played 60 some odd games all around the country.

Went to Europe for a month, played overseas.

And then throughout the course of the six months, he evaluated all the players.

And you know, he threatened to cut me two weeks before the Olympics.

He said, look, he's just not doing it.

I just don't know what I'm going to do.

And I'm like, wait a minute, I'm like captain.

And I'm thinking, well, he's the coach.

And you know, always, and it's even funny.

A year's later, Herb would call my house.

And this was before cell phones.

And my wife would answer the phone and she'd go, it's coach Brooks.

And I'm like, oh, shit.

Here I am.

I got three kids at home and I'm worried he's going to yell at me.

He was always in charge.

Even when he threatened to cut me, I thought he would.

And it was just the last kind of jab at me to get me going for whatever reason I don't know.

But he was an incredible mind kind of guy.

He loved to get into people's heads and players heads.

And part of me said, he can't cut me on the captain.

And the other part said, you know, he just might.

He's crazy enough to do it.

So in the, you guys get together.

Like the movie depicts a moment that Mike told me actually didn't happen.

He didn't say who you play for a play for team USA.

But there was a night of crazy skating.

So can you take us through that night?

And if that was, was there a time the team was the movie?

Miracle shows great division between the players.

Was there that kind of division or is that a little exaggerated?

Or what was it really like?

And then how does that fit into the skating?

The division was what they thought was going to happen once the team was picked.

Everybody can the Minnesota and the Massachusetts guys get along.

Can the Wisconsin Minnesota guys get along?

And we bonded right from the beginning.

And I tell you that because anybody who's played hockey,

you realize at a young age how important your teammates are.

Hockey is the ultimate team sport.

And you know how important.

Like I've said many times, Mark Johnson was from Wisconsin was our best player.

We don't win without Mark Johnson.

But how good would Mark be if the right wing and the left wing and the defenseman and the coaches weren't doing their job?

So we understood everybody had a job.

Everybody had had a role.

Understand what your job is.

Understand what your role is.

And we as a team have an opportunity to be successful.

That was the mindset from the beginning.

Not everybody's going to be out and on the power play.

Not everybody's going to be out killing penalties.

Everybody's got a job and a role.

We do that. We'll be fine.

To me, I've always said this.

There's no better place to be, whether it's on a team or in business,

when everybody that you're with has the same goals and objectives that you have.

And our goals and objectives as a team was to be the best.

Never knowing it was going to lead to a goal model,

but we knew in order for us to be successful,

we had to believe in ourselves, but we had to believe in each other.

And that's a great place to be.

That's awesome.

To go to practice every day, knowing everybody's willing to sacrifice to be the best.

And that's that was our mindset from the beginning.

So the teams picked 26 guys.

Then right before the Olympic Games,

we he cuts the last two players.

Right.

It's the beginning and the skating skating.

Right.

We played Norway and the game ended in a three-three tie.

And her brothers are very happy with the way Norway was not like a world power.

No, we should be able to handle the Norwegians.

They're not known for talking and ended in three-three tie.

And in the movie Miracle, they have the guys on the bench looking at the girls in the stands.

That look at her.

Look at her.

That trust me.

That didn't happen.

I told my wife that didn't happen.

I said the guys from Minnesota were looking at the girls.

I was not.

But we did skate.

We skated for an hour and a half.

They shut the lights off in the building.

We didn't go 20 at a time.

We only went waves of five guys at a time.

And only 15 of us dressed that night.

The other 10 guys were in the stands watching.

So we did the herbys for about an hour and a half.

The game ended.

The drill ended when Mark Johnson smashed a stick against the glass.

And Herb said, if I hear another stick smash against the glass, you'll skate till you die.

I said one more time.

What do coach Brooks say?

If I hear another stick smash against the glass, you'll skate till you die.

That is called zoo synergy, ladies and gentlemen.

Yes.

And then they shut the lights off in the building.

Just had the electrical lights on it.

We finished the skate.

And he brought us in the locker.

This way again tomorrow, you're going to skate again.

Well, we beat Norway eight to nothing the next day.

I'm going to tell you why I tell the story about why we skated.

It wasn't because we were looking at the girls in the stands.

To me, this is the message from herbys.

There are a lot of important values in life.

And the most important one is respect.

And we skated that night because of three things.

He said to us, if you don't respect yourself, you won't be successful.

If you don't respect your teammates, people that you work with,

people that you associate yourself with, you will not be successful.

And if you don't respect your competition, you will not be successful.

We never made that mistake again.

And now, I'll fast forward.

We win the Olympic gold medal.

We beat Finland.

A lot of people don't know this.

If we lose the Finland, we could have won no medal.

There was a chance we could have come in fourth place.

We beat Finland.

We win the gold medal.

We go lack in the locker room.

It is bedlam.

Bedlam in the locker room.

All our parents are in the locker room.

You couldn't go anywhere in late class and without your badge,

with your name tag.

To this day, how our parents got in the locker room,

we have no idea.

How my dad got in with a six pack of beer.

I have no idea.

My dad was sitting waving at me like it was a high school game.

And the locker room was the size of this year.

It was so tiny.

All of a sudden, Herb calls me into the back area.

And he says, Mike, I just got a call from President Carter.

And they are sending Air Force One tomorrow morning at 6.30 in the morning

to take you guys to the White House.

I want you to make sure that everybody's in bed early and nobody acts up tonight.

And I looked at Herb and I said, who's going to watch me?

I got to tell you the truth.

We stayed out all night.

But why I tell you that story was Herb never wavered from that value.

Respect your success.

Respect your accomplishments.

Respect the time, the effort, the work and the sacrifices.

We put in collectively and you put in individually.

So even though we had won this incredible moment,

although Herb and I, like I said earlier,

our team didn't know it was that big a deal.

He never wavered from that fact.

Respect your success.

And that's an important value that you have to have in life,

not just sports.

And I think that's what we talked about a little earlier.

I think that's what we've lost sight of in our countries.

People just don't respect people anymore.

And you know, I can mention it.

But we just got awarded.

Our team is going to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.

Which is, I think, did I say that earlier?

You did, yeah.

Well, I repeated myself.

But that is an ultimate honor for our team.

And I think that's what makes our team and separates our team

from other athletic achievements is that it was a US story

and not Boston or Chicago.

So I think Herb was the right guy to keep and maintain

those values that are so important in life.

And he was an old school guy.

You know, he was, he was, you know, lunch, pale, hard hat.

That was our team.

That's the way he coached us.

That's the way he was.

And Mike, so now we're getting towards the Olympics.

And there's the game against the Soviets at Madison Square Garden.

And do you think that why do you think Herb wanted to play that game?

Was it just, hey, this is part of the schedule?

Was there, you know, any deeper thought you think by, you know,

coach Herb Brooks and the game did not go well for you guys.

And how did, how did that all fit into what would happen at the Olympics

if it all was just like a game and like, hey, watch it all.

Well, for me, it was the last and why we scheduled a game.

I have no idea other than maybe Herb wanted us to play the Soviets

just to see what the competition was going to be like.

Because during our season, we played 68 games against colleges,

minor league teams.

We had a great series with the Canadian Olympic team.

We played him eight times.

We had a great series with the Soviet B team, not the A team.

The A team was playing the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders,

the NHL teams as they prepared.

So the last game was in Madison Square Garden.

So you guys understand this?

So they're the 1980 team that Mike is on.

They're playing against college teams, minor league teams.

The Soviets are playing against the NHL teams and beating them.

And the NHL all stars.

Mike and the team, these are college players, the Soviets,

because of communism versus capitalism,

are professional hockey players, essentially,

where their life is paid for, their world is paid for.

And these are much older players,

much more seasoned players, like they would be NHL players,

and I repeat, they were beating NHL teams and NHL all star teams.

But Mike, back to you and going into Madison Square Garden.

So we step on the ice.

You got to remember one thing.

Some of the Soviet players were going for the third consecutive gold medal.

That's playing together for 12 years, some of these guys.

The average age of our Olympic team in 1980 was 21 and a half,

22 years old.

Not a fact anybody here follows college hockey.

But our Olympic team in 1980 would be the youngest team in college hockey today.

Wow.

And I was 25 at the time.

Last night, there was 25.

Neil Broughton was 18.

Mike Ramsey was 18.

David Christian was 19.

So we step out in the ice in Madison Square Garden.

The building sold out.

This is two days before the Olympic Games.

And we lose 10 to three.

Totally embarrassed, totally humiliated.

God, we thought we were good,

and all of a sudden we got welcome to the world moment.

So we lose 10 to three games over.

The last two guys get cut from the team.

Now 20 of us are going to get on the bus the next day

and go to Lake Placid for the Olympic Games.

And when the game ended,

Herb didn't say anything to us.

He said, go back to the hotel, get a good night's sleep.

Come back to the whole drink in the morning.

We'll pack our bags and we'll go to Lake Placid.

Never mentioned talked about the game.

So the next morning I picked up the New York Post,

wrong newspaper to pick up.

And the article talks about how the US team has no chance

in the upcoming Olympic Games.

The Soviets are the best team in the world.

They will win.

They will win the gold medal in the US.

It has no chance.

And it said we didn't have the talent,

we didn't have the ability,

we didn't have the experience to compete at that level.

And then there was a quote from Herb Brooks,

and Herb said, I knew our team was in trouble.

When the Soviet players were being introduced,

my players were applauding them.

And it was like, there's column of this,

Yakashv, this Kutov, these great players we heard so much about.

Herb was a great speaker, great motivator.

We go in the locker room to get ready to go to Lake Placid.

He said, gentlemen, if you ever get a chance to play

the Soviets again, and we don't know if we are,

because they're in the other division.

We had to win our own division or come in second in our division

to even get a chance to play them.

He says, remember how you played in the second and third period,

not the first period.

We were losing sixth to nothing after one period.

And I tell you that because he turned a negative into a positive,

right away.

He said, look how even you played with him when you guys were ready to play.

So instead of screaming and yelling at us,

saying how much we sucked or how bad we were,

we walked away thinking, wow, we played even with the best team in the world.

And I tell that story because when things don't go well,

and there are times things don't always go well,

find something positive and build off of that,

because if you think negative things, guess what,

not the negative thoughts will stay in your head.

So we get on the bus clearly excited about what just happened.

We played even.

And we don't know if we're even going to play him again.

So our mindset going into Lake Placid was totally different

than if he had screamed and yelled at us.

So we get to Lake Placid and the tournament starts.

But that game that we lost 10 to three was never,

ever talked about again.

Even when we got to play him the second time in Lake Placid,

the day before it practiced, who had never said,

remember what happened last time,

that game didn't, it was like it didn't even exist.

All he talked about was positive.

Well, do the things we need to do in order to win.

We were never concerned about other teams.

Purve said it in the movie.

I think a lot I haven't seen the movie in years,

but play your game, play your game.

That was constant on our bench.

We were never concerned about what other teams were doing.

We needed to control the things we needed to control

and do the things that we needed to do in order to be successful.

So play your game, play your game.

Throughout the Soviet game, that's what he talked about.

Never once did he bring up anything negative

about what had happened before.

So that mindset's different.

Your mindset's totally different.

This game didn't, it was like it didn't even exist.

It was something in the past.

And I wouldn't have expected to hear that.

That's extraordinary.

Right?

I mean, would you guys have expected to hear that?

Yeah, extraordinary.

So now you're at the Olympics and as it starts,

and I think you play Sweden game one, am I right?

Yeah.

So going into the Sweden game, as you're there,

was there any talk on the team about how you guys would do?

Gold medal, medal rounds, or the team culture was more like,

just play the game in front of you.

Did the guys talk about things?

What was that cycle?

Well, we got to leg flaccid, and the first thing you do

is you go into the room where they're going to give you the clothing

that you're going to wear for the opening ceremonies.

In our case, it was sheepskin jacket, jeans, cowboy boots,

cowboy hat.

I live in Boston.

That's the last time I'm going to wear a cowboy hat

with boots and jeans.

But anyway, that was the, you know,

so you get all your clothing, and then I remember there was a stack

of sports illustrated, and you go over and you pick them up

because they get predictions, speed skating,

bobsled, loose.

And you read, it's got ice hockey.

And it says, the Soviets will win the gold medal.

They're the best team in the world.

Czechoslovakia, because of the rivalry between the two countries

from a political standpoint at the time,

and the Czechs had the three-stosity brothers who were great players,

they might give the Soviets a game.

Then it said, Sweden, Finland, Canada, and West Germany

will fight for the bronze.

United States will be anywhere from seventh to tenth place.

And I think it was the same guy who wrote the article

in the New York Post because it said we didn't have the talent,

the ability or experience to compete at that level.

And I remember seeing it the second time,

reminding me of my high school football coach.

My high school football coach told me that ability and a dime

gets you a cup of coffee.

And you think about it in your life.

How many times we've all been around people with great ability

and great talent and can't get the job done?

It's like, no, I can take you all outside.

I can measure how far you can run, how high you can jump.

I can measure how much weight you can lift.

But I can't measure heart, and I can't measure pride,

and I can't measure commitment.

And those are intangibles.

I've said this, little things separate good teams from great teams

and little things separate good business from great business.

Intangibles, hard work, qualities that our team had.

So we opened up the Olympic Games against Sweden

and there's nobody in the building at that time

because the opening ceremonies were the next day.

The games hadn't officially officially started.

And there were maybe two, three thousand people in the stands.

Billy Baker scores arguably the biggest goal of the Olympics

were 28 seconds left to go.

We tie Sweden two to two.

And it was a huge point because nobody thought we could beat Sweden.

At the end of the game, sorry.

Yeah, so they're losing by a goal into the final minute, correct?

28 seconds.

28 seconds left.

They're losing.

If they lose this game, then basically there's no way

they're going to make the medal round.

Yeah, right.

It would have been really hard because that was a big point for us to get.

Yeah.

So we tie Sweden and we get a point.

Next day is the opening ceremonies, which was incredible.

Next day is Czechoslovakia.

The only team that anybody thought could beat the Soviets

and we blow them out.

We beat them seven to three.

Now everybody's talking about the US hockey team.

You can't go anywhere.

You can't talk to anybody.

The good thing was there was no media.

There was no Facebook and stuff like told you earlier.

So we didn't know what was being written.

And we were in a little village in Lake Placid,

which is about the size of this church.

And we beat them.

Then we beat Norway.

Then we beat Romania.

Then we beat West Germany.

And now we're in the medal round.

That was our goal.

Get to the medal round.

And as it turned out, we were second in our division

because Sweden had a better goals for and goals against.

So it's a crossover.

Number two plays number one.

Obviously number one in the other side was the Soviets.

They were averaging seven goals a game.

They beat Japan 16 to nothing two nights earlier.

Wow.

And we're going to play them.

That's the deal.

You're in the tournament.

The next game is the Soviets.

And now we'll play them.

And so the movie shows the pregame speech.

I think when we had spoken a few months ago,

you had mentioned, I think,

that more of what her brook says in the movie

in the Soviet pregame speech,

he said in practice the day before.

Is that right?

Right.

When I saw the movie for the first time and I heard his speech,

I'm like, oh, shit, that's long.

I don't remember him saying that.

But I remember him saying, you're born to be a player.

You are meant to be here.

This moment is yours.

Tonight is your night.

But in the movie, they lent them that because of what he talked

about in practice the day before.

They're ripe.

They're ready to be beaten.

If anybody can beat him, you guys can beat him.

And we went on and on and on about that.

So I think they incorporated what he said the day before

into the speech before the game.

And they show the wall in the game.

How did that build over?

Was that a real thing that the wall letters?

Yeah, we got telegrams.

I mean, every day you'd get bags of telegrams

from people all across the country.

That's the only kind of way that we knew people were watching.

But I remember we got a telegram from a lady in Texas.

And I live in Boston.

And all the telegrams said was beat those comedy bastards.

That's all it said.

And I was like, wow, that's cool.

So that went up on the wall.

And a lot of telegrams would come to individual players,

family, friends, and some just to the team in general.

And it was a great way to spend, you know, you come to practice

and it'd be telegrams.

You had to open up and read it and put it up on the wall.

So we're walking out of the locker room onto the ice

and that wall of telegrams with the air.

So we knew people watching from afar,

but nowhere did we have an idea of the world

who was watching the way they were.

So that was kind of motivating for us as a team.

And then we went out and obviously beat the Soviets four to three.

And two days later we had to play Finland.

Would it be okay if we watched a couple clips in the movie?

Yeah.

Hey, Ting.

So maybe let's show the pregame talk,

which is a combined talk from the day before in practice.

And then, you know, leading up to going on the ice.

And we're ready to play that quickly or as a take a minute.

Just go in the blank, Ting.

Just how long?

Yeah, perfect.

Great moments are born from great opportunity.

And that's what you have here tonight, boys.

That's what you earned here tonight.

One game.

If we played them ten times, they might win night.

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.

Everyone 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 them.

This is your time.

I'll go out there and take it.

What is that bring up?

Bring back if anything for you.

Just the emotion in the locker room.

See how quiet it was?

It was deadly quiet.

Our locker room was never quiet.

Guys would be eating hot dogs before the game.

Like I said, Neil brought an 18 years old.

He'd have a slice of pizza before he'd go on the ice.

And I'm sitting there.

How can he eat anything like that?

But this game here.

I remember walking in the locker room.

How deadly quiet it was.

Just focused and we are ready.

Although I thought we were ready for every game we played.

But never in the locker room was it quiet like that.

And then I think the speech I said to you.

A lot of that stuff he talked about the day before.

That I'm sick and tired of the Soviets.

Everybody talking about them.

And I thought they did a great job of combining everything.

And I think the music adds a little to it too.

And for Russell, he was amazing as her Brooks.

Although friendlier in the movie.

Well, let's hold it.

That guy.

This is something Mike said to me just a little while ago.

Kurt Russell playing her Brooks.

He said was much softer and friendlier.

That way he saw the movie.

Like her wife's in the movie.

And I don't think I saw her once a year.

I don't even know what she looked like.

But there is a couple of scenes in the movie that he smiles.

And I'm like, that's not the guy that coached.

So did you ever see her Brooks smile?

Yeah.

Years later.

Because I was a broadcaster for the New York Rangers.

When her was the head coach.

So I got to see a little.

Another side of her herb.

Her made a choice to coach our team that way.

He was going to be the.

It was good cop, bad cop.

Greg Patrick, our assistant coach, was huge.

How important he was.

Because her stayed away.

He was an SOB.

That's the way he was going to be.

Partly because, again, all the Minnesota guys on the team.

If her, you know, favored the Minnesota guys.

It would have created an unpleasant locker room.

But the fact that he was a bitch to all of us.

And was a, was a hard demanding coach.

Blonde at us.

Even more together.

Because it was always us against against him.

You know, we'll prove you wrong.

Really?

You're going to yell at Busy.

Then yelling at me.

And we understood that.

And he says, he said many times.

There's a method to my madness.

But he did say after the Olympic Games.

He would have loved to have been closer to that team.

But choose not to be.

Wow.

And so he was sacrificing what he wanted emotionally for himself.

For some greater outcome.

Yes.

Okay.

Any.

And we'll get to, we're ready for to come out to the game tank.

Okay.

So we'll go there in one sec.

And so just in a little bit of fun.

Whether any moments where he just did something totally crazy and insane.

Or were some of the more ridiculous moments.

They've even felt ridiculous then.

But as you look back.

Any unique, crazy, interesting moments between the team and him.

Or things he said that come up for you.

Mike.

No, he was, he was just a prick to play for.

John Harrington.

Used to write down some, we called them brooksisms.

Herb would come up with these statements.

And Harrington would write them all down.

And we kept them a book of them.

You know, one thing, one time he said, we've, we've, we've.

But don't weave to the sake of weaving.

And weaving was intercrete across, crisscross.

That's the style of hockey that we were going to play.

So weaving was the international thing.

And I remember sitting there going, we've, we've, we've.

But don't weave for the sake of weaving.

And he told Ken Morrow one day in practice that he was skating like he had a 10 pound fired on his head.

And Kenny skating around going, what's it look like?

So there were some stupid things that he said that kind of made you laugh a little.

Yeah.

But for the most part, he, he stayed pretty true to form.

As far as being, this is the way it's going to be.

And, and like I said, we, we got it, we understood it.

But we as a team kind of had fun with it sometimes without him knowing it.

And there's a scene in the movie with an interaction after the Soviet came between Jim Herb Brooks and Jim Craig.

Did that happen?

How did he relate to Jim Craig, you know, coach Brooks?

I don't know that.

That must have been something was separate.

You know, gold tenders, you usually just leave them alone.

We had a gold tender coach who could probably maybe deal with Jimmy.

But for the most part, you know, whatever they said, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have remembered.

And it is correct, by the way, the team has never been back to get the whole team making out to Air Force One the next day or they did just Jim Craig did not.

He went, he went to Atlanta because he signed with the Atlanta.

So it is true that not even at the White House.

The next day has the team ever been back together again since they were all on the podium together.

Is that correct?

Is that crazy?

I remember sitting on the plane going back to Boston after we go to the White House and then found out that this thing was huge.

And I remember getting on the plane at Eastern Airlines.

That's how long ago that was.

And I'm sitting next to Dave Silke.

And Silke kind of got tears in his eyes and I said, Silke, what's the matter?

And he just looked at him and he went, it's over.

We're never going to play together again.

And it was like, fuck, you're right.

And we all went our separate ways.

You know, Neil Broughton signed, Mark Johnson signed all these guys, you know, signed pro contracts.

And I remember going home and we want to go metal on Sunday and Monday night my mother's making me dinner.

And I'm like, what the hell just happened to me?

And I had to get up early the next morning to go to New York to do good morning America.

And I slept in my own bed.

And my mother made breakfast the next morning and had a car over limousine taking me to the airport to take me to New York.

I got on the Eastern Airlines Shuttle and everybody on the plane started applauding.

And I turned around.

I didn't know who got on the plane.

I swear to God, I went, what the, what do you people watched?

And the pilot and he just wrote a book, the pilot.

In the book he mentions, he told me to get out of my seat and come and sit behind him on the plane.

Because people wanted to come up and talk to me and get autographs and pictures.

And he said, don't tell anybody here because you're not allowed to be here.

You're not, you know, a member of Eastern Airlines.

And I remember getting off the plane and the new York line with people.

They were all clapping and patting me on the back.

I'm like, healthy.

You know, what happened here? You people watched.

It was, it was, it was crazy.

You know, to go from having no idea to, oh my God.

My God, I was 10 years old.

I was not a hockey player.

I did like the islanders at that time, but I was much more of a baseball, football, basketball, fan and player.

And nobody in my family was a hockey person at all.

And I remember fighting with my mom to help Rush get me home so we could listen to the game on the radio.

Because I don't fire a call correctly.

It wasn't in, I was in New Jersey.

It wasn't being broadcast on television.

That was tape delay.

It was so big.

So I had to listen to it on the radio.

And I was, I was a huge USA person.

So I loved the Olympics.

I watched everything.

So I didn't necessarily just love hockey, but I loved all of it.

And I sat by myself.

In the basement of my parents' house, small house on the main road, we were on three families, two family.

And listened to this go on.

And as a 10 year old, somehow, I mean, couldn't stand the Soviet Union.

Comedy bastards like, but I was in a comedy bastard household for sure.

And it meant everything.

And I sat there as a 10 year old by myself crying when you guys won.

And what all those people did and they were sharing, it just couldn't be more real.

And I thank you for that with all my heart because what you guys did was life changing for me.

And every time along the way that I faced challenge, I couldn't find out it was going to go blind to high school sports challenges.

And everything they would come in my life, things to this day, your signature or fraudulent version of it.

But I hope it yours is on a jersey in my library in my house along with the hockey skates and has the 80 blue jersey.

All you guys signed it and the skates.

And that is the core of everything for me is what you guys did.

And it is so unbelievable and it is totally believable.

And how I relate to what you guys did personally and what we talk about here is it was totally possible.

It was almost impossible, but obviously it was totally possible.

And because of the process, the system that was put in place, we call that the math, the math and numbers, the dynamics and the heart.

Coach Herbrook put that together, you was capped in such an incredible leader amongst leaders, as you always say, all these leaders.

And you really did do something that was virtually impossible that changed the course of human history.

And it's so unbelievable.

And remember, you know, Mr. Micah Rizioni isn't on television, he's not in movies, he's not on social media.

But he's at the seashell today.

And what happened?

Somebody recognized me.

And then what happened?

Then they wanted to take pictures, then they wanted autographs, then they started chanting USA, USA.

And I'm like, I just wanted a drink.

And it was going to recognize me here.

So I finished my drink and took pictures and signed some photographs and left my drink at the bar, I'm still pissed off.

We'll get you a few drinks.

We'll get you a few later.

Tank, can we hit it?

Let's hit it.

All in here, second time.

They're waiting to be okay.

They're making a game.

They're all set.

So, let's go!

That's Judy!

Come on, buddy!

Come on, Brass!

Come on, Dave!

Let's go, Voszico!

So, let's go.

Here we go.

Come on, Dave!

Come on, Brass!

Come on, Dave!

Let's go, Voszico!

Come on, Dave!

Go!

Let's go, Voszico!

Let's go, 머리!

Ready?

One, two!

1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2!

So fairly accurate and not fairly accurate and how were you so focused that you don't

even remember hearing USA were you at all aware of the moment and the magnitude or you

just like I'm focused then we're going to go play this game like when you're on the ice you

don't hear anything you hear a teammate you know asking for a pass or her be yelling change

up the lines or whatever so you don't hear any chance you're on the bench you could hear the

crowd a little but you're still you know you're just so geared to what you're doing what you're

watching you know everything's kind of blocked out and it's funny because I'm not that smart

of person but it's amazing the focus that you can have in a situation like that we are just

in mindset is just on the ice and you know what's happening in front of you. Awesome.

Do you miss playing at all? I skate I help out with my high school team I've been you know

45 years of volunteer coach I skate with my grandkids they play so we were talking

earlier I got a little rink I put in my backyard so the kids the grandkids come over and

we'll skate and things like that but do you check them? I don't want it because I may fall and miss

them I'm a golfer so I'd much rather do that than then then skate around the ice I don't need

the aggravation plus I just can't do things you know I try to lift the puck and my shoulder hurts

and my crush. So so quick fun fact and we're going to take then go to the next spot the game is

tie three to three and I don't know some guy scores a goal that puts the USA up four to three so

maybe we'll go there next but not that long ago Mike was golfer and he ends up at this place and

there's a shared experience and some people around the table and I think it was Tiger Woods

Jack Nicholas who was considered to be the greatest golfer in history by many Jack Nicholas's

son and oh the president of the state's president Trump and president Trump's like come on over

and so Mike is sitting there and I think you reminded the president of a very important fact

that he might not have been aware of what Tiger Woods and Jack Nicholas and some difference

between you guys. Well I you know what I'm not going to get into politics because I have no

president Trump a long time he used to play celebrity golf with us and while he was the president

I played a couple of rounds with him because I remember his club so I was going to play that

day but Jack Nicholas's son ended up playing I was going to be the fourth in the group

so they'd done golfing and I was sitting at a table and president called me over and sit down

and we're just talking back and forth about this and that and I looked at the president and I said

hey boss I said there's a lot of majors between these two guys but I'm the only gold medalist

at the table. Let's hear from that and he looked at he just he went he went that's funny.

Take we're ready. We're ready guys to give him a heads up we are so games going okay once

that games going you're playing and is it what I'm hearing is it's for you you're so focused

the team it's like just another hockey game but I think it keeps I think and correct me from

wrong but what I'm also hearing is because you treat it like just another hockey game you no

longer you guys weren't elevating the Soviets you're playing hockey and the game is now three to three

in the third period correct not correct or is there any time in the game when it kind of changed

where you guys became clear was just a hockey game we could beat these guys like did you come into

the game just as a game what is your confidence as a team do you think build over the game you know

first of all you know you go into the game thinking you can win if you think you're going to lose

you're probably well so I mean we knew it was going to be difficult we knew we had to play well

we had to be smart we had to be disciplined we couldn't take penalties we couldn't get into

a shootout because if you know we weren't scoring five goals you know four four we got four

because you know if they scored if they scored five we weren't getting five right but that again

that's the way the game kind of went but as a player you just focus on what you're doing doing

your job do the things that you're you're asked to do go out there every shift play hard play smart

be disciplined and you know the game just kind of goes the way it does and you know I will see

Mark Johnson scores a goal with no time left on the clock to tie the game at the end of the first

period the end of the first period was a huge goal because we didn't play really well in the first

we weren't terrible but we didn't play well in the first Jimmy played great so it's two two

you know then it's you know it's three two them and it's three three us and like I said if

if it got if it got to be four two them the game's over because now we get to chase them now we

get to change the way we want to play the fact that the game stayed the way it was going because

you guys when you were never down two goals in the game no right yeah no we were never down

you know I'll give you a statistic that I didn't know about till a couple of years ago in a third

period of the Olympics the third period we outscored our opponent 16 to three that is unheard of

we gave up three goals in the third period all tournament long wow we didn't give up any

Definland we didn't give up any to Sweden and we didn't give up any two Soviets if that was

conditioning condition I think condition was a big part of our success we played four lines we

didn't just play one until we we rolled four lines everybody played everybody contributed

and and when I scored to a ten minutes left to go can we can we see that first set is okay

this part tank does it go in again I hope so

closing

let's hear it for that

do you ever watch the movie and think it might not go in

but I mean and I'm like I know that you're a humble man like I listen I'm not that deep

um do you feel anything when you watch that or or know I feel happy that it goes in um you know

yeah obviously it brings a smiley face you know you know for me knowing I was able to help

on our team at a time when we needed something to happen uh like I said earlier though if Mark

Johnson doesn't score his two goals who knows my goal doesn't mean anything but the fact that I

scored it a team and I did it and there was still ten minutes left to go in the game that was a

long ten minutes uh but in the movie uh like I said I haven't seen it in years but in the movie they

have like at the end after I scored like the Soviets to just save Craig save Craig save Craig

and when you watch the actual footage I scored with ten minutes left to go in the game and

the Soviets only had five shots on a goal in the last ten minutes we do we totally shut them

down in the third period and especially the last ten minutes but again I you know I look at it

yeah it's nice it went in I got the winning goal and uh we win four to three yeah and so what that

means is and and take let's get ready to watch the last very end of the game okay so for everybody

that means that they just kept playing the game and as the Soviets became more desperate and

urgent it sounds to me like what Michael Rizioni is saying is that they were taking that momentum

as a team and they were shutting down the Soviets they weren't just playing great defense they were

still playing offense they were outplaying them at every level because the Soviets only had five

more shots on goal the rest of the game am I hearing that correctly yeah yeah we they started

doing things they normally don't do you know and we just continued to play the way we were playing

continue to do the things that made us successful throughout the tournament

tank please

so

and the chain resume

Michael Rizioni out of Washington and the Captain of this US team has just put the US ahead

the first time exactly halfway through the third career.

This U.S. team was demoralized by the Soviets.

Very talented, very nervous, very much in awe of the Soviet team.

And this is a U.S. team that tonight is not in awe of anyone.

Come on boys, here we go.

And then it's left to play.

The fact that they trust the Barlemonts.

Gruto, I'm crossing the U.S. Blue line now.

Put fast back, come to the wall set.

Shot.

Shoot.

Gruto!

Gruto!

Gruto!

Gruto, over the buck.

Right in front.

And another U.S. team by Jim Craig.

Where are you today?

Gruto!

Gruto!

Gruto!

Gruto!

Get out of the aisle, leaving the charge up the eye.

Some fire.

News monitor.

Now say word again.

primeiro募.

it grabbed the counter arrow.

He shoots.

He hit off off off.

Shoot.

Keep clearing.

Jeff Zhang a big way!

Big, thy, but planted hard.

победed.

倒ing towards it.

Really hard.

Who is favorite of 3rd career?

30 to 40 seconds, short shift, 30 to 40 seconds, keep it out of the box.

Final lock, gonna walk this week I'll walk this week.

Over the blue line, get my truck right in front of you.

Shining save my credit.

Switch it off, go, go, go, go.

Over the blue line, up the back of the truck.

Send to the right half of the board.

It's fine by so.

It's coming clear by Mario.

Yeah, so we have to be back in the room now.

What's taking the moment out?

That's to play in the third career.

That's how he leaves it for me, Kala.

Kala.

Roses up in a hallmark.

Slap shot.

Not the way by Klai.

Jumping out.

Yeah.

Roses in an halbour.

Get ready.

He moves to the next crucial.

Go, he's running on the 445, billion let's him up.

And the

Shining saves all the creeps that can be back playing the game.

It's a different set than from here.

He moves it up to Kuto.

Kuto for the box.

Roses on.

We'll begin on the net, backstop by Krai.

Show your gun boys.

Move back in the quarter.

And really amazes how well-conditioned this US team is.

I've never seen these trophies outskated this late in the game.

And that's exactly really what US team is doing at the end.

We'll do it.

Across the fact, trust me.

Shot.

Kick the way back!

Ready!

Way to go, Jimmy!

Over the wall champs.

We'll be getting on the net.

Thanks to that fight, Craig.

Jimmy now!

Jimmy now!

Come on, Jimmy now!

Let's start the game.

Look at that bull in this game!

Car the lock and center-rise.

To crew time.

He doesn't have what to do!

36 seconds.

Come on!

Back off over the wall line.

To more chest.

Back off the same.

Fightin' from the second turn.