Miracle on Ice

February 27, 2019

WHEN: 02/27/2019
QIC: DOI
PAX: Stevie Ray, Kevin, Oxy, Bandcamp, Palmolive, Moore, Overbite (FNG), Turnpike, B&B, Pookie, Smokes, Bogey, Quicken

“On this day 39-years-ago, the world witnessed the greatest upset in sports history. The United States Men’s Olympics Hockey Team took down the Soviet Union 4-3 in the medal round of the 1980 Winter Olympics and they eventually went on to win the Gold.

There have been some crazy upsets since 1980….Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson in 1990, The 07 Giants over the Patriots, Appalachian State over Michigan..but none of those even come close to what the United States accomplished in 1980.

The Soviets were 27-1-1 after they finished with the Bronze in 1960. They won the Gold Medal in 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1976 outscoring teams 175-44. Beating the Soviets was basically impossible, especially for a bunch of college kids. The Soviets also just months before the Olympic games, took down the NHL’s best in the Challenger Series at Madison Garden.

Long story short, the Soviets were the best hockey team in the world and it wasn’t really close. The Americans were a bunch of college kids who had been playing together for a few months. They had no business being on the ice with the Soviets, let alone beating them. But they did. All because of one man….Herb Brooks.

Herb Brooks led his boys to a 4-3 victory over the Soviets at a crucial point in the cold war. He set out with a goal to adapt to the Soviets and beat them at their own game, and he succeeded. A Mike Eruzione goal with 10 minutes remaining in the 3rd period was the final nail in the coffin for the Soviets as Herb and his team would go on to win.

So when you are out tonight with your buddies, do a shot for Herb Brooks and the 1980 United States Men’s Olympic Hockey Team, they deserve it.”

It was with this as prelude that 14 men gathered in the gloom to pay homage to the team. One FNG (welcome Overbite) so disclaimer given and we were off.

Warmup
Good Mornings x10
SSH x52
Mountain Climbers x15
WMH x10

The Thang
Head to the hill at the school entrance. Herb Brooks was famous for getting his team in shape and working the crap out of them. He would often bring a trashcan onto the ice to give men a place to puke. His most famous exercise was the “Herbie” where the team would skate from the goal line to the blue line, back to the goal line, out to the red line and then back to the goal line. We approximated this with signs and telephone poles. However, as Turnpike pointed out they never went uphill. We did…seven times. One time for each goal scored in the 4-3 victory.

Then off to the low wall where cards were laid out for the men. On each card was the name of each player on the roster and their number. The men would announce the name of the player, his position and his number and then we would do an exercise based on his jersey number. There were lots of dips, derkins and a few burpees thrown in. We made it through the full roster.

Off to the school wall where in homage to the fact that the end of the game against the Soviets was a balls-out frenzy we did balls to the wall until failure.

The PAX then ran back to the shovel flag and took it to the track where we ran one victory indian run lap in honor of #1 Steve Januszuk the backup goalie who never actually got in the game but was as much a part of the team as anyone. Flag in front handed to the man running up to take the lead.

No time for Mary.

COT
Thanks for coming out and helping YHC celebrate #52 and the US Mens National Hockey team. It was an honor to lead and thank the PAX for following me around for 45 minutes. Go out today an win something that everyone thinks is impossible.