MIRACLE ON ICE, REVISITED : Brooks played his ‘Rockne routine’ at the right time

It’s 10 years to the month that a certain locker room scene took place at the Lake Placid Olympics that has been lost in time. But for Steve Janaszak, it’s still as clear as the day it happened.

Herb Brooks, coach of the U.S. Olympic team, was telling his players how it would be if they lost to Finland after their momentous victory over the Soviet Union.

“Herb did one of the better jobs of bringing the team back to reality,” said Janaszak, a backup goaltender on the team. “Basically, he walked in and told us after the Soviet game that if we lost to Finland, we would take it to our grave.

“There was incredible apprehension before this game (with Finland). We were horrified by the thought that we’d be sitting around 10 years later and wondering how we could lose the gold medal after coming so close. Essentially, we were afraid to lose.”

That one scene just about summed up Brooks in that element. Few could inspire teams as well as the Olympic coach, who brought Rockne-like qualities to his locker room talks.

“He had a special ability to motivate people,” Janaszak said. “He could be difficult at times, but from the standpoint of motivating people he was the best.”

This U.S. team had a sense of destiny about itself, thanks in large part to its authoritarian coach. Through a grueling exhibition season of some 60 games, Brooks pushed, prodded and even insulted his players.

And at the right time, he inspired them. Just before the Americans were about to go out and meet the powerful Soviets in the medal round, he fished out a paper from his pocket and read to a hushed locker room:

“You are born to be a player. You are meant to be here at this time. This is your moment.”

That was the closest Brooks ever came to praising his team. More often he was critical.

“He was a disciplinarian,” said Neal Broten, a forward on the 1980 Olympic team who was later reunited with Brooks on the Minnesota North Stars. “He expected a lot from his players and you expected a lot from him. He has very good systems, he’s a good motivator and he knows how to get the best out of each individual, whether it’s a pat on the back or a slap in the head.”

Usually, it was just cold water in the face, figuratively speaking.

“I wanted to do everything I could to be an honest S.O.B.,” Brooks said.

For a while, his players thought he might be too honest.

“You didn’t have to like him, but you respected the stand he took and his hockey knowledge,” said Mark Johnson, the New Jersey Devils’ center who scored some key goals for the Americans against the Soviets. “We were behind him 100 per cent. Sometimes you got frustrated and mad, but at the end you had to respect him.”

At one point, the U.S. team was almost in a state of revolt because of Brooks.

“Right before we went to Lake Placid for the Olympics, Herb was talking about bringing in some new players from Minnesota and shaking up the team and making (captain) Mike Eruzione an assistant coach,” Janaszak remembered. “Well, he had a palace revolt on his hands. It was ludicrous to us.”

The team banded together and threatened a wholesale walkout if Brooks went through with his announced plan. Brooks met with the team and the whole thing was settled quietly. The team remained in tact and everyone was happy, including Brooks after Eruzione went out and scored a couple of goals in the next game.

“That was the kind of anger Herb generated,” Janaszak said. “I don’t know if Herb just did it to stir us up or if he was actually going to carry it through, but it sure worked out well.”

Another incident took place, this time with an individual player, that seemed to create the proper emotional climate for the Americans and move them in the right direction.

Rob McClanahan had suffered a thigh injury in one of the early Olympic rounds and taken himself out of the game. That brought Brooks storming into the locker room after McClanahan, screaming that he was a “baby” and a “spoiled rich kid.”

“McClanahan was crying and coming after Herb,” Janaszak remembered. “It was some scene. They had to tear them apart. I remember guys were holding both of them down. That locker room scene is still vivid in my mind. But it was another piece of the puzzle.”

McClanahan responded to Brooks’ challenge--thigh injury and all. He put his equipment back on, went out and scored some key goals. “He pretty much stuck it in Herb’s face,” Janaszak remembered. “It was, basically, us against the coach. It was important for us collectively to help the guy out, stick together. I think this really brought the team together.”

Jack O’Callahan, a defenseman who later played several years in the NHL, agreed that there was a “love-hate” relationship between the players and Brooks.

“They hated him because he was on them all the time, but they sort of liked him because he made them winners,” O’Callahan said.

Brooks held himself aloof from the team, he said, because “I didn’t want to get close to a couple of guys if I couldn’t get close to all of them.”

And though an atmosphere developed that pitted players against coach, in the end they all had what they wanted -- a winner.