NOTES : Craig Knows How Hockey Victory Feels

Jim Craig, whose plaintive search for his father after the 1980 U.S. hockey team’s victory at Lake Placid, N.Y., made him a folk hero, hasn’t seen much of these Games, but he wishes his successors well.

Now 34 and the father of two, Craig works for a company that produces advertising flyers that are inserted into newspapers. He has been too busy to watch much of the U.S. hockey team, but he has a pretty good idea of what the American players are experiencing.

“I don’t know how they feel, no one can, but I bet they’re feeling the best part of it now,” he told the Boston Globe from his home in Easton, Mass. “They’re winning, and now they’ll know how it feels to wear the blue American sweater. They deserve that. Before, maybe they had to wonder if it was all worth it. . . . I’m glad it’s happening. They deserve it.”

Craig, who still receives about 50 letters and cards a month from those who remember his exploits at Lake Placid, has only fond memories of his experience.

“I don’t think you can ever compare yesterday to today, whether it’s hockey or anything else,” said Craig, who retired in 1984 after spending parts of five NHL seasons with Atlanta, Boston and Minnesota. “I try to dwell on the positive things that happened, and the biggest thing I think was the boost it gave to hockey in the U.S.”

Among Craig’s hockey memorabilia is an American flag he believes was the one draped around his shoulders when he skated toward the stands to search for his father at Lake Placid. He gave that flag to Pelle Lindbergh, the Swedish goalie with whom he became friendly while playing video games at the athletes’ village. After Lindbergh’s death in a car accident seven years ago, a package containing the flag was mailed to Craig’s house, with a note from a woman saying Lindbergh had told her that the flag belonged to Craig.

Canadian center Eric Lindros, who played every other shift during the third period of his team’s 5-4 loss to the Unified Team on Sunday, exchanged heated words with Unified Team Coach Viktor Tikhonov as he skated past the bench during the third period. Earlier in the game, Tikhonov had gestured to referee Don Adam that Lindros had slashed one of Tikhonov’s players, but Adam did not call a penalty.

The encounter occurred as Lindros prepared to take a faceoff 6:22 into the third period. Lindros accompanied his words by pointing to his shoulder, as if to say he, too, had taken a hit.

Asked later what Tikhonov had said, Lindros replied: “I don’t know. I don’t speak Russian.”

Asked what he said to Tikhonov, Lindros said: “Oh, the regular four-letter words, the universal language.”

The French team canceled its hockey practice Monday because, according to an official statement, too many players were out too late Sunday night celebrating having clinched fourth place in Pool B.