A MIRACLE REMEMBERED

Bill Beaney knows all about the Miracle on Ice that defined the 1980 Winter Olympics. Now he has his own version.

Searching for something positive in a difficult season, the hockey coach at Middlebury College in Vermont brought his Panthers here for a daylong practice and getaway during midterm break last February.

“We were struggling and guys were looking for something to grab onto,” said Beaney, who grew up in Lake Placid. “They were thrilled and excited because most had never been.”

The players explored every nook and cranny of the rink where 25 years ago coach Herb Brooks guided the U.S. hockey team to stunning victories over the Soviet Union and Finland to win the gold. They went outside and played a pickup game on the speedskating oval where Eric Heiden won five gold medals.

“Our guys left town with a great feeling,” Beaney said. “They had just been to a place that is very, very special in sporting history.”

Refreshed and inspired by the exploits of a team of fuzzy-faced college players that some feel provided the greatest sports moment of the 20th century, the Panthers went on to win the 2004 NCAA Division III title.

It was the sixth title for Beaney, whose team was motivated in some ways by the amazing accomplishment of that special bunch a quarter century ago.

“It was the weakest ability level of our championship teams,” said Beaney, who gave away his ticket to that memorable game but does have an autographed picture of Team USA above his office door. “It was the same as the 1980 U.S. team. They had an unbelievable belief in themselves. They knew they could count on each other. Our guys were sharing the same dreams the 1980 team did. It was our own little miracle.”

Lake Placid, which also hosted the 1932 Games, has capitalized on its Olympic heritage. Nearly a million visitors, including thousands of youth hockey teams, make a pilgrimage each year to this village of 2,600 tucked into upstate New York’s Adirondack Mountains. Beginning this weekend, many stars of the 1980 Games will return to kick off a two-week celebration.

Already, there is excitement in the air because nearly every member of the hockey team is coming back. The start of the village’s jubilee will feature goalie Jim Craig helping re-ignite the Olympic flame.

“I think everybody’s coming together as a community, the town, the village, volunteers,” said Ted Blazer, president of the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which oversees sports venues in the Lake Placid region. “It’s very special to have all this still together 25 years later.”

Nobody knows that better than Mike Eruzione, who scored the goal that beat the Soviet team en route to the Olympic title. He has relived that moment more times than he ever could have imagined.

“We talk about it all the time and we just kind of chuckle,” said Eruzione, who specializes in motivational speaking and will give 13 talks this month alone. “After the Olympics, we wondered how long it would last. We thought, well, maybe a couple of years. Then, after the Summer Games in 1984, well, maybe a couple more years. We just talked last week, and went, ‘Do you think it’ll last this year?’

“I guess at the time you don’t realize how special it is until you get out into the countryside and realize the impact that moment had on not only my life but so many people in this country,” said Eruzione, who was the team’s captain. “There aren’t many sporting events that do that.”

Everybody in this close-knit community seems to remember Eruzione’s 30-foot shot midway through the third period and the 4-3 win on Feb. 22 as if it happened yesterday.

“Section 59, Row A, Seat 2,” 54-year-old mayor Roby Politi said, describing his vantage point that night. “It was like being in a stadium that is busting out at the seams. Everyone was stomping their feet and patting each other on the back and cheering. The place was so loud you could hardly hear yourself talk to the person next to you.”

Brooks received much of the credit for the victory over a team that had won five of the previous six Olympic gold medals and had humiliated Team USA, 10-3, in an exhibition game in Madison Square Garden just a week before the start of the 1980 Games. Brooks had come up with homilies designed to encourage his players, and as they prepared to take the ice against the Soviets he offered one more.

“You were born to be a player,” he said. “You were meant to be here.”

Brooks died in a car crash in Minnesota in August 2003 at age 66. A moment of silence will be observed at the rink on the night of Feb. 23.

“I think it will be chilling when we get to the tribute for him,” said ORDA’s Sandy Caligiore, who still has a tape of the game that he broadcast for a local radio station.

“Anybody with a pulse knows that that was more than a hockey game that night,” he said. “It was our way against their way. As a country, we were kind of looking for something. We had Afghanistan, hostages in Iran, a down economy, a lot of stuff. It was easy to get down on yourself being an American.

“Just beating the team we beat had a transcendent effect. It was more than 60 minutes of hockey.”