The Hockey Team of the Decade
Let's go back twenty years to the Olympics of Lake Placid. It was 1980, and in those years the NHL hockey stars could not be chosen for the Olympics. The athletes were chosen at the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, Co., where they went to demonstrate their skills. After rigorous training and months of playing together as a team, they were finally at the Olympics, and the chant "USA! USA!" was making the arena shake, as this team of young college men were about to upset Czechoslovakia by a score of 7 to 3.
Czechoslovakia won the silver medal in the previous Olympics, and was the world champion team in both 1976 and 1978. This was only two days after the US team had battled to a 2 to 2 tie with Norway, another game no one really thought they had a chance to win. For the hockey faithful in America, this was starting to be the best Olympics since 1960.
Now that we've covered those aspects of hockey, let's turn to some of the other factors that need to be considered.
Maybe the crowd gave a home advantage to the hockey team, allowing them to put their emotions into the game so that it improved their play. As coach Herbie Brooks said, "We had our minds going flat-out and our legs under control." His style was hard and fast skating, and working together as a team, and in that game each player showed how well he understood that style of hockey. The Olympics ice hockey rink is 100 feet wide, which means there is a lot of open ice, and Coach Brooks style tended toward breaking toward open ice and skating hard. He had adopted the European style of hockey in order to be able to fight against it most effectively. As he said "We had to cram two or three years of experience playing this way into five months of exhibition games."
There are always key players on hockey teams, and Coach Brooks knew he would need a very good goalie, who at times could give a superior performance. Jim Craig, the former Boston University goalie, came through against Czechoslovakia. The opposing team goalie, Jiri Kralik, did not have a good night. The entire US team was young, with an average age of twenty-two, and perhaps a young team did not have enough experience to know that they weren't skilled enough to beat the top European teams.
When all of the teams arrived in Lake Placid, right wing Dave Silk spent some time looking over the other teams and nationalities. He saw that the Czechs had "Russian muscles", which meant that it wasn't hard for them to hold a defenseman at bay during the game. He found the East Germans the most unsettling, for they used their spare time to play a game called Submarine, where they kept sinking American battleships. Coach Brooks knew that his team was comparing themselves and told them "You go up to the tiger, spit him in the eye, and then shoot him." The strong hand of the coach, the amazing effort of the young team, and the enthusiasm of the crowd allowed the team to bring home the gold medal.
Those who only know one or two facts about hockey can be confused by misleading information. The best way to help those who are misled is to gently correct them with the truths you're learning here.
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A Hockey Coach To RememberA Hockey Great - Wayne Gretzky
A Moment In Hockey History - The Face Mask
African-Americans In The NHL
Athletes Who Buy Into The NHL Franchise
Common Injuries To Hockey Players
Common Problems In Ice Hockey Skating Techniques
Equipment And Warm-ups For New Hockey Players
Hockey At The International Level
Hockey Players And Charity Causes
Hockey Players And The Groupies Who Chase Them
Hockey Players Mismanaging Their Money
How The Game Of Hockey Is Played
How The Strike Changed National Hockey League Rules
Ice Hockey In Movies, Television, And Music
Pro Hockey Games That Are Not On Television
The History Of Hockey
The Hockey Team Of The Decade
The Origin Of Ice Hockey, Skates And Rink Maintenance
The Terminology Used In Hockey
Top Attendance Records In Hockey And Number Of Registered Players
Using Your Hockey Stick Effectively
When Hockey Players Were Tough
Women In Hockey
Women's Hockey Teams
More... The Origin Of Ice Hockey, Skates And Rink Maintenance Ice hockey evolved and developed from the concept of field hockey that.. Women's Hockey Teams Women's hockey has made a place for itself in the last twenty years... Top Attendance Records In Hockey And Number Of Registered Players Thousands of people attend a single hockey match, but there are two matches.. |
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