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The story of the 1980 U.S. men's Olympic
hockey team is truly one of the most miraculous stories in sports
history. The movie Miracle chronicles the events leading up to the
hockey team's shocking victory over the powerful Soviet Union team,
beginning with the selection of University of Minnesota coach, Herb
Brooks (played by Kurt Russell) as the coach of the team, through the
team's unorthodox selection process, the practices, the exhibition games
and the legendary game that resulted in Al Michaels's now famous call,
"Do you believe in miracles? Yes!".
The movie is played against the backdrop of tense political times - the
U.S. was in the middle of the Cold War, the Iran hostage crisis, gas
shortages - and the Olympic victory was seen as an event that uplifted
and united a nation. The victory by the U.S. was voted the single
greatest moment in sports during the 20th century by Sports Illustrated.
It truly is an example of David defeating Goliath. Herb Brooks assembled
a group of rag-tag college students with very little in common except
for the shirt that they would pull over their heads and led them to
victory over a Soviet team that was considered the strongest hockey team
in the world, at the time. Only weeks earlier, this same Soviet hockey
team had crushed a team of NHL All-Stars. Brooks was able to put
together a group of individualistic hockey players, a characteristic
that followed American hockey players for many years - it was always
about "me" with the American hockey players - and he was able
to get them to play as one, to play as a team with one common goal - to
win the gold medal. In modern times, it would be similar to assembling a
team made up of U.S. college students and seeing them defeat the
Canadian Olympic team, made up of Mario Lemieux, Martin Brodeur, Joe
Sakic, Chris Pronger and the likes. It just should not happen. And in
reality, it will probably never happen again. Brooks was able to take
these young men and make them realize that with a lot hard work and a
lot of teamwork, they could win that elusive gold medal. This movie is
about the selection and the mental and physical training of the team
that went on to defeat the Russians. And more importantly, it is a movie
about the complex and unorthodox Herb Brooks.
Miracle does a decent job of portraying the events leading up to and the
eventual shocking and historic game. If there is one thing that stands
out in this movie, it would have to be the performance of Kurt Russell.
From everything I can remember about Herb Brooks, he nailed this role.
Although I am too young to really remember Brooks' role in the Miracle
game of 1980, I was fortunate enough to follow his coaching career in
the National Hockey League (where he coached the New York Rangers and
the Pittsburgh Penguins) and his encore performance as coach of Team USA
at the 2002 Olympics. Brooks was a hard-nosed coach who brought the best
out of all his players and who also brought creative and revolutionary
ideas to the table. Without Brooks behind the bench, this team would not
have won the gold medal. Sadly, Herb Brooks was killed this past summer
in a tragic single-car accident. People should not forget what he did
for his country in 1980 and what he did for hockey as a whole in the
U.S.
As for the rest of the movie, well, this was a difficult movie for me to
dissect. Although I am a genuine hockey lover, I had a difficult time
getting emotionally charged while watching it. Sure, it was great seeing
and hearing hockey names with which I am very familiar - assistant coach
Craig Patrick (now the General Manager of the lowly Pittsburgh
Penguins), Mike Eruzione, who scored the game-winning goal in the Soviet
game, goaltender Jim Craig (played by Eddie Cahill who you may know as
Rachel's boyfriend Tag on Friends) and a handful of players who went on
to have lengthy NHL careers - Dave Christian, Mark Johnson, Ken Morrow,
Mike Ramsey. Hell, even some of the Russian players were memorable -
Tretiak, Kasatonov, Krutov, Coach Viktor Tikhonov. It was a fun trip
down memory lane but being a Canadian and a Canadian hockey fan, I
suppose my bias came through watching the U.S. team defeat the Russians.
I enjoyed it but it really didn't get my hockey juices flowing. I loved
the practice that Brooks put the team through following a embarrassing
loss in an exhibition game. It was painful to watch the punishment
Brooks put his players through. It was great watching the game with the
real ABC commentators, Ken Dryden and Al Michaels (both the audio and
visual footage are authentic). I loved Brooks' reaction following the
victory. It was fun watching the U.S. win and yes, it was a miracle. But
for me, it was not a jump-out-of-your-seat, fist-pumping victory. I also
found that the movie didn't do a very good job of allowing us to get
close to the players. The only player that any effort was made to show
us a non-hockey side was Jim Craig and even then, it was a weak effort.
In the end, although Miracle is a good movie, it is not the great movie
that it could have been. Kurt Russell is strong in his role as Coach
Brooks. It is interesting watching the events leading up to the historic
hockey game (which, for those of you don't know, was not the gold medal
game - the U.S. went on to defeat Finland for the gold medal). But I
really did not feel the emotional attachment to the movie that
Americans, American hockey fans and people who can remember the actual
events of 1980 might feel. As a hockey fan, I really did enjoy Miracle
but the lack of drama and emotion that I felt while watching one of the
greatest moments in sports history made me ready to watch the tape of
the Canadian men's hockey victory from two years ago.
  - 6/10
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Brendan Cullin - Senior Editor
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