They are buying in. They are converting. They are eating it up.
Yes, as a matter of fact, the members of the 2002 U.S. men’s hockey team do believe in miracles.
Oh, it might not be considered a miracle this time around for the U.S. men’s team the way it was in 1980, but the players on this year’s team, who are the children of that year’s team, are eagerly following the guy who is the father of both.
“Herb Brooks is a great coach,” said Mike Richter, the goalie who backstopped the Americans to a monumental tie against Russia at the E Center on Saturday night.
These players all know that Brooks coached the most famous hockey team of their lifetime.
“This feeling’s already special,” center Doug Weight said, “and he brings it out even more. He knows the game. He knows how to motivate.”
And these players all want to believe the miracle has some shelf life, especially the 13 members of this year’s team who endured the embarrassment of the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, with an early elimination on the ice and the dorm-trashing off of it.
“Herb talked to us about what it takes to create a miracle,” said U.S. captain and former Blackhawk Chris Chelios. “He said it takes luck, hard work and character, and he stressed character.”
Some players came prepackaged, such as former Blackhawks defenseman Gary Suter, whose brother Bob played for Brooks on that “Miracle on Ice” team and is now part of Brooks’ 7-0-2 lifetime U.S. Olympic coaching record.
Others recently joined the congregation, such as Brett Hull, the highest-scoring American who just scored the biggest goal of the tournament when he beat Russian goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin off a pass from Blackhawks defenseman Phil Housley with less than five minutes remaining.
“I keep calling it that Herbie Brooks magic,” Hull said.
“Yeah,” responded Brooks laughingly, “I’ve scored 650 goals or whatever in the National Hockey League. Whatever Brett says.”
Here’s why Brett says it: Hull fanned on his first shot. But after the puck bounced gingerly past Russian defenseman Sergei Gonchar, Hull buried his second.
“[Housley] saw my eyes were this big,” Hull said of the pass. “We looked right at each other.
“I felt ecstatic [when I scored]. It made my hair on my neck stand up. It’s the greatest feeling ever. I’ve scored a lot of goals. Nothing compares to [the Stanley Cup-winning goal he scored for Dallas in 1999], but this is similar, I can tell you that.”
It was 2-2. It would end that way. Advantage, U.S.
In this three-game seeding round, which the Americans complete Monday against Belarus, the U.S. and Russia are tied with 1-0-1 records.
If both win their next games–Russia faces Finland on Monday–the tiebreaker to decide the No. 1 seed would go to goal differential, which the Americans lead 6-3, and you have to like their chances, considering their 21-game unbeaten streak on home Olympic ice (19-0-2) dating to 1932.
“The tie is huge,” U.S. forward and Hawks captain Tony Amonte said. “It puts us in a great spot to get No. 1 in our [pool].
A victory over Belarus would put the Americans in position to play the other bracket’s No. 4 seed in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. That opponent figures to be Germany, which is 0-2 with a game against Sweden on Monday.
“That’s why that last goal was huge,” Amonte said. “With a loss [Saturday], you’re looking at Sweden, the Czechs or Canada in the quarterfinals. We talked about that. We wanted to go out there hard and set ourselves up for that next round.”
The setup actually came five minutes before Hull scored in another move that has convinced the players they have something otherworldly going on behind them.
Midway through the third period, the man behind the bench juggled his lines, putting Hull on the ice with Mike Modano and Amonte.
Hull called it Brooks “magic.” Brooks called it the familiarity of former Dallas teammates. Either way, Hull scored, and the Americans now appear to have an inside path to the semifinals Friday.
A big comeback. An emotional goal. Players bonding. Players believing. All thanks to some juggled lines.
“It’s always a good thing with talented players,” Amonte said. “Just give them a change of scenery, get things going. With me and Modano getting held off the board there, it was nice to get Brett on the line and get some production.”
But Hull is thinking something else.
“We’re looking at playing very solid defensively and keeping the goals against to a complete minimum,” Hull said. “I think we all know–and I didn’t realize it until a few years ago–it all starts with defense, and we can take the offense from there.”
So there you go. If you want to know the depth of their belief, it is a defense-first philosophy from a guy who has scored 671 NHL goals.
He’s buying.
They all are.
