U.S. Hockey Past Tells Tales to USA Hockey Present
USA Hockey U-18 Players Meet Legends of 1980 Squad
On Friday night, Nov. 21, the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team played host to USA Hockey’s U-18 squad in an exhibition match-up. The fourth ranked Golden Gophers fell in overtime, 5-4, their first loss to the young U.S. squad in their last six meetings.
Before the game, the future of USA Hockey met the past, when members of the famed 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team recounted their Olympic experiences in the hallway of the Mariucci Arena. For several of these young players it was an opportunity to meet Dave Christian, John Harrington, Rob McClanahan and Buzz Schneider, the last group U.S. hockey players to win an Olympic gold medal, and players that they may have only known about through the movie Miracle.
McClanahan, who scored five goals in 1980, says that the movie Miracle did a good job portraying an argument he had with head coach Herb Brooks during the team’s Olympic opener against Sweden, but the movie missed out on one important part.
Schneider, Harrington and McClanahan also got some laughs out of the young group of players when they told them a story about how coach Brooks made the team skate following a game in Norway. Schneider got the last laugh as he remembered not skating because he was thrown out of the game and had already showered and dressed.
The four players, who all live in Minnesota, were in Minneapolis to take in the game and promote the Miracle on Ice Fantasy Camp, March 29-April 2, 2015, in Lake Placid, N.Y. They along with Mike Eruzione, Neal Broten, Steve Janaszak, Ken Morrow and Mike Ramsey, will be the camp’s “coaches” while as many as 68 individuals take part in this once in a life-time opportunity to skate with, be coached by, and receive instruction from these Olympic heroes.
In addition to hockey instruction and games, attendees will be treated like gold. Fantasy campers will be picked up at Albany (N.Y.) International Airport and transported to and from
Lake Placid via motor coach. They will spend four nights at the High Peaks Resort, enjoy dining, socialize with the 1980 players, receive a gift bag including practice and home and away replica 1980 USA Hockey game jerseys, hockey helmet, gloves, socks, pants, camp apparel, souvenir autographed hockey stick and a framed autographed photo of each participant and their team with the 1980 Hockey Players. Participants will also receive a camp highlight video and be a part of those “inside” stories that may not have been told over the past 35 years.
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To learn more about the Miracle on Ice Fantasy Camp visit www.MiracleonIceFantasyCamp.com. Follow the camp on Twitter, @1980HockeyCamp and on Facebook, MiracleonIceFantasyCamp.
* Information provided via Miracle on Ice Fantasy Camp Press Release
