Unblinded with Sean Callagy - The Making of a Miracle: Lessons from Mike Eruzione on Leadership, Legacy, and Belief

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

What if the greatest miracles aren’t accidents—but the result of vision, faith, and relentless work?In this powerful episode of Unblinded, host Sean Callagy sits down with Mike Eruzione, captain of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team and the man who scored the game-winning goal in the legendary “Miracle on Ice.”Together, Sean and Mike explore how belief, leadership, and perseverance create real-world miracles—and how ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when they choose belief over fear.Key Takeaways:Belief over fear: the mindset that turned underdogs into championsThe power of team and trust: leadership lessons from Coach Herb BrooksFrom rejection to redemption: how failure fuels destinyBeyond the ice: humility, family, and faith as guiding valuesCreating your own miracle: the spiritual and practical patterns that unlock possibilityMemorable Quote:“Miracles aren’t magic—they’re made by people who refuse to stop believing.”Listen if you’re:A leader or entrepreneur turning vision into victoryA coach, athlete, or parent teaching resilience and teamworkSomeone who believes faith and discipline can create real miraclesConnect:Guest: @MikeEruzioneHost: @SeanCallagyLearn more: unblindedmastery.com

Please join me out. Welcome to the back to the stage. Sean Callagy! I'm blinded. What is your profession? All right, let's take a quick seat. Get ready to go. It is that time. Please, Mr. Michael Johnson and Tink Nicole Miello. Let's hit it. Let's get to our feet, ladies gentlemen.

Mr. Michael, Hello everybody. Bye, bye. Thank you. You people were born when I played. Some of you. I told Mr. Micahruzioni that if we had the opportunity to have Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, or Beyonce, you guys would prefer him. Was I telling the truth if you say yes.

I'd rather see you in those three. So my day is such an honor and privilege to have you here today. But before we get started, we wanted to share a couple of thank you. You met Nicole Tink, my L.O., back there. So she's going to read a couple of thank you so we prepared for you, for being here, and for who and what you are in the world. Would that be okay with you? That's fine. Thank you very much.

Tink, are you ready? Absolutely. Mr. Ruzioting, on behalf of Unblinded or Certification Partners, unblindly, the entire unwinded ecosystem, my co-founders and leaders, Sean Cowdy, myself and all of our loved ones, we'd like to thank you for a few things. Thank you for being here. Thank you Mr. Arruzioni for making the trip to Long Beach Island, to be with us at this unblind immersion. Your very presence here is a privilege and a gift. Thank you and your team for your voice.

Thank you and your team for choosing not only to win that game, but to carry a message of belief and possibility into the world for decades then. Thank you for the ordinary becoming extraordinary. Thank you for reminding us that ordinary people through vision, courage, and relentless effort to do the most extraordinary things. Thank you for standing in the fire. Thank you and thank you to coach Arthur. for breaking the rivalries, the conflict, the pressure, and showing us all that greatness is born in the fire. Thank you for your team for carrying a nation. Thank you, Mr. Ruzioni and your entire 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team for carrying the sphere of America on your shoulders in the darkest hour.

Thank you for scoring the goal of the week. Thank you for putting that puck into the net against the soviets not just to win a game, but to ignite belief in a nation that had almost forgotten, hundred belief. Thank you and your brothers on the Iads for proving impossibility. Thank you for proving together that giants can fall, and that impossibility is an illusion, and that miracles are not fairy tales, but with reality.

Thank you for reshaping history. Thank you and your teammates for a victory that became more than a medal, a moment that shifted the psychology of America and helped open the door to a new future for America and the world. Thank you for embodying team. Thank you for showing the world that legacy isn't written by one hero alone, but by a band of brothers who believed in each other when no one else did. Thank you for your humility.

Thank you for staying grounded, blue collar, integrists, and humble, when the world put you on its grand stage. that humility is more powerful than any goal ever could be. Thank you for your legacy. Thank you for a legacy that lives not only in the record books, but in the hearts of every child who laces up feet, every parent who whispers you can do it, and every human who chooses belief will bridge it there.

Thank you for miracles. And finally, thank you for reminding us all that miracles are not once in a lifetime. They are possible every day and every life, in every moment we should believe. Let's hear one more time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for me. I think we could use in 1980 now.

Yeah, we really could, for sure. And it feels very difficult for me to call you Mike. Yeah. When we spoke on the phone, you asked me to do that a couple times. I didn't get my last name until I was in the fourth grade, so Mike's a lot easier. Yeah. So, you know, I come from a world very much like you did, Northeast. I played probably about 10 years under view,

but I had a lot of people that you were shaped by in high school was very much like my high school experiences. I would love to call Mr. Rosioni. I want to honor of his request to call Mike, but it feels like you should always be Mr. Rosioni. So thank you for that privilege to call you, Mike. So Mike, who were you in high school? Like what was growing up like in a small town?

Lots of family around. Lots of family. You know, I thought my life was like any other kid's life. I grew up in a three family house. We lived in the second floor. I have four sisters and a brother. This kind of gets a little crazy. Upstairs was my mother's brother who married my father's sister.

Told you was going to get crazy. And there were five kids in that family. And my father's other sister lived on the first floor. And they were four in that family. So I grew up in a house of about 15 kids. And understood the importance of hard work. Learned at a young age, how important it was to be a good person, be a good brother, be a good friend, be a good neighbor.

A values that my mother and father taught me as a kid growing up in this three family. I thought everybody lived in a three family. I didn't know. I didn't know people had their own homes. And as fast forward, my wife grew up four houses from me, and she's one of 13 kids. And I live next door to the house I grew up in, and my son lives directly behind me,

my daughter lives down the street, and my other son, he moved to Connecticut a few years ago because she wanted to be near her family. And I said to her, who moves to be with their family? So as we talked about earlier, and I have seven grandkids now, which is kind of. of fun watching them play hockey football lacrosse they all at the oldest is 12 the youngest is 18 months but again back to in my childhood growing up as you you worked i caddied as a kid my dad worked three jobs

my mother stayed home and took care of six kids there wasn't a lot of money in the house but there was a lot of love there was a lot of support and that's kind of how i grew up sports was your vehicle i played football i played baseball probably played more baseball than anything and hockey was something he did in the wintertime. It got cold, you went and played hockey because your friends played. I remember wanting to play hockey because my friends played, but I didn't have any ice skates. My parents didn't have enough money to go buy me ice skates

if it wasn't something I wanted to show them I wanted to do. And they used to freeze the tennis courts down the street from where I lived. And in those days, you could go down the tennis courts by yourself, so you didn't have to have a police escort. Not everybody had got a trophy, you just showed up. And I remember I wanted to play hockey because my friends played, but I didn't have any ice skates, but my sister had these white figure skates. And I'd fit into her white figure skates, and I'd get the white figure skates and down the hill I'd go on the tennis courts and learn to skate or try to skate.

Hockey's a macho kind of game. Not only was I in white figure skates, but she had these blue pom-poms on her. And that's how I started to play ice hockey. And in those days, you could say some people might remember, maybe not, you could say, S&H Greensnance. And I came home one day, and there was a... pair of hide ice skates on the table and my mom saved up enough stamps to get me a pair of ice skates and that's how I started playing hockey at nine years old never knowing it was going to lead

to the Olympics obviously but it was something I wanted to do and like all great parents you support your kids and what they want to do so that's kind of how hockey started from me but like I said I probably played more baseball and and actually you know I was an all-state football hockey and baseball player so sports were was my life as a kid and might be that was you know how much of that was baseball football hockey was genetic how much do you think you worked harder you know had better coaching like what do you yeah i i think it's it's it's it's a little of both but but you know without hard work you don't accomplish anything so i you know nobody steps on the field nobody makes major league baseball or football or nchl players by

just skill there's a lot of work there's a lot of time there's a lot of effort there's a lot of sacrifices that go into people becoming successful and again I think of sacrifices like I said my dad worked three jobs you know he had a supportive family so the sacrifices he made for giving me a chance to play a game not knowing it was going to lead like I said to an Olympic Games but as a parent you support your children and what they want to do and I was fortunate to have a dad that understood that my love was sports and he found a way to make sure that I was able to do that and you know I look back on my coaches by high school football coach is a big influence in my life. Obviously my college hockey coach, Jack Parker,

at Boston University, where I played and can work right now. I'm going to tell you, this is a crazy story. But I always talk about opportunity. To me, life is about opportunities. It's what you do with that opportunity in that Johnson. I was given an opportunity to play a game, never knowing, thinking, or believing or dreaming would get to or get to, but it did. But I remember graduating from high school I wanted to go to University of New Hampshire and my grades were really good in school one thing I kind of messed up was when I was eligible I was happy so I wanted to go to the University of Hampshire I said I went to prep school for a year up in Maine with the hope of going to UNH you play in football

hockey and baseball that's what I wanted to do well the hockey coach didn't think I was a Division 1 hockey player so I had no school to go to wow I was you know 17 years old with no college and nobody interested so once school that was interested was a school called Merrimack College. And Merrimack College was Division III. They were in Division I. They were Division III school. And they offered me a full scholarship. And for all you parents out there, it was $3,500 my freshman year. I think Boston University's, I think 80-something thousand out, but that's, that God I'm not around now. So I wanted to go to college at UNH, but I ended up going to go to Merrimack. Well, in the summer, I played

baseball in the summer. I played hockey in the summer. So a friend of mine called me and he said, We have a summer league game, and we need some guys to play. A bunch of guys went away for the weekend. Do you want to play? I said, well, you need a player. I'll play. So I played in the game. And it turned out the referee of the game was this guy named Jack Parker,

who I didn't know who he was. He was just the referee. And when the game was over, Jack Parker pulled me aside. He says, hey, I'm Jack Parker. I'm the assistant coach at Boston University. We have a kid from Canada that decided not to come. Would you like to come to Boston University? And I'm like, yeah.

I mean, BU's coming off back-to-back national championships at the time. And I said to him, it has to be a full scholarship because my dad can't afford $3,500. He goes, no, it's a full scholarship. So I went to Boston University, and Jack Parker was the assistant coach. A guy named Leon Abbott was the head coach. And Leon Abbott didn't know me from Adam. But I made the varsity my freshman year, and I was playing a few games here and there. And Leon Abbott got fired for recruiting violations.

Jack Parker became the head coach. So I went from centering the fourth line to playing left wing on the second line and led my team in scoring my freshman year. Wow, let's hear for that. I tell you this story because if I had never played in that Summer League game, I never would have gone to Boston University.

And if I had never gone to Boston University, I never would have ended up playing on the US Olympic team because that would have come out of Merrimack versus a national championship contending BU team. So again, life is about opportunities. And then I was given that opportunity to play on an 80 Olympic team and There I am today. So it's kind of funny how life works. That sure is. So going back for a second though, I didn't know that part of the story that you're coming out of high school

You don't have division one offers fun footnote by the way my daughter Courtney went to the University of New Hampshire for starting her college career just as a quick fun footnote and you had a division three opportunity and were you coming up high school thinking and hoping about playing college baseball or football or hockey like what was that what was going on there that was in your mind or you weren't thinking that so what was happening as you were leading up to going to college where you're hoping to play a different sport in college or hockey in college i wanted to play all three i want to play football hockey and baseball even if aust university uh ended up playing in and baseball, they wouldn't let me play football because it was kind of the beginning of the hockey season. But yeah, my mind was to play all three sports at college, but ended up just

doing two at Boston University, although the next, my junior senior, I didn't play because I made the U.S. national team, and it went over to Europe for the world championships. So, and just I think it's important for the audience, how often we could just be overlooked. So obviously, Mike Ruizioni was incredibly talented. He goes out and ends up starting NBA winning scores in his first year at Boston University, but yet nobody's, and this is a defending national championship team, but nobody else is even offering you Division I to come play. Like, why do you think that was?

Was it just you didn't have opportunities to be exposed to college coaches? Like, why weren't you getting those opportunities, do you think? Because they weren't smart enough to realize how good it was. I mean, Sean, you and I know, Sean, you and I know each other a little, but I'm not a real deep thinker. I'm not that in depth on things. I just do things. And I never thought about why they didn't like me. I thought I was pretty damn good.

Yeah. I mean, you guys. You think he was pretty damn and good to say yes. No, but you guys missed that. I look at the college coaches and I played against these teams and say, you missed the boat. And, you know, Boston University, four years. I graduated as the all-time leading scorer, which has since been passed because players today are a lot better than when I played.

But, you know, I've always been, the one thing I've always been is very confident in myself as an athlete and as a person. You know, I was talking a group of people the other day. I'm kind of old school. I believe in a lot of old-fashioned values, some things that my dad taught me about pride and commitment and respect. I talked to you really about respect. I tell kids today, you know, it's easy to be a nice person. You've got to go out of your way to be an asshole.

No, you really, pardon my language, but... These people have heard a few F-bombs and say, so we're okay. But it's easy to be nice. It's easy to be a good teammate, a good neighbor, a good friend. And those are things that I always believed and always taught, even at a young age. And I think those are values that carried with me. that carried with me to this day, but I think carried me through my athletic career too.

I don't care what other people think. I know what I think and what I care about and what's important to me. And I'm not going to listen to somebody saying, no, you can't do that. If they do, then it drives me even more that I want to say, really? Let me show you what I can do.

And not everybody's a great day. I've had challenges over 70 years of my life. I haven't been the greatest. I've made stupid mistakes, and that's part of life. That's part of being the world that we live in. But I think, you know, when the smoke clears, I can look back on my athletic career. And what I've been doing for the last, you know,

45 years since 1980s take great pride in knowing that I've done a good job at the opportunities I've been given and that I think people look at me and respect me, clearly respect my teammates. You know, what we did was 45 years ago, and I can talk about it earlier, I don't know if you follow anything, but we just found out that our team is going to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.

Which is the ultimate honor, you know, it's not a sports award, it's on an ESPN award. This is from your country. This is, if you look at the recipients of it, it's, you know, something my teammates and I take incredible, incredible pride in. Because our game was more than a hockey game. We didn't know it at the time, but realized that it was a moment that that's why. said earlier that that touched the lives of a lot of people in 1979 1980 we were we were looking for something to feel good about the hostages the gas lights inflation and all of a sudden we come along and i said this i'll say this till the day i die other than being a police officer or a firefighter

or somebody in the military there's no greater feeling than putting on the u.s agers and i'm not playing for chicago or boston you're playing for your country and i think in 1980 people saw that in us and rally people that was we didn't go to Lake Placent to rally a whole country we didn't even know think about it there was no Facebook or Twitter there's three TV stations you know the social media didn't exist and yet when we won when we got out into the country and realized that this thing was wow pretty big and I think again we take even 45 years later take great pride in knowing that people came together because of what our team was able to to meet what our team

was able to do and showed the world that if you believe in something and you're willing to work hard you can't accomplish it and our team was at her Brooks our coach used to call us a lunch pale hard hat group of guys because that's what we were if you follow the backgrounds of my teammates we all came from working class families and we're all taught about the important values in life and not just values in the sport of ice so um mike as you a couple quick things. So some things I would think about are things and it's excited for me

that you haven't thought about that before because one of the things that we, about why coaches weren't seeing you is one of the things we talk about here is how do we create the opportunities to be seen. So when you ended up being asked by a friend, hey, would you like to come play in this game? That was an incredible work.

lesson and you seize that opportunity hearing you out of way clearly. And but sometimes you don't get that phone call and have the same opportunity. You didn't know it was an opportunity, but you were seizing all the opportunity. But if I could, do you think that, you know, at that time, because today, I know that you know, this is part of your world, there's all these showcases and club teams in every sport imaginable. It was a different world then, right? in the 1970s, was there anything out there? Was it just like your college coach,

I'm sorry, your high school coach was gonna be talking to college coaches or were there any showcases? How broken was the talent assessment system of high school hockey at that time that you weren't seeing? I mean, do you think it was just all these college coaches making bad choices about not seeing it? Or they just never even knew you existed because there's no social media, no showcases.

You know. There were no showcases that you played in your hometown. You know, I played in, and where I live now, I played in Winthrop. I played Peabee Hockey, I played youth hockey, played high school hockey, played Bantam Hockey. There were no All-Star teams. There were no travel teams.

Today it's crazy today. That cost, you know, these kids, they run these select teams, these travel teams, and mom and dad are paying thousands of dollars chasing something that might not be there. But the problem now is if you're not on one of these teams, they think you get no chance of being seen. In my day, you know, you were seen because coaches went to your high school games. There were no showcases, so you want to see the best players play?

Go to Lynn Arena and watch Winter High School play Danvers High School. So, I mean, that's basically what it was. We live in a whole different. You know, again, I work at Boston University. You know, we got three kids from Sweden. We got two from Finland. We get one from Russia. We're recruiting all over the world.

Wow. And our coaches are out there at these showcases. But all these kids are paying a lot of money to play. And, you know, to me, there's only a few that are going to make it. I personally think this kids spend too much money spending, searching, trying, traveling. But that's the culture. You know, you want to play Division I baseball? You've got to be on the AAU team.

That's what it is to me. I'm glad it wasn't like that. that when I played because he just played. And then pressures. And did you have, so when you're Winthrop then, did you have coaches, did you have one, two, five, ten college coaches come to see? Like, how many overlooked you? Was there just a small number or was it a lot of coaches that were coming to

your high school? No, I would say they were probably a small number because there weren't many colleges playing hockey at that time. You know, the game is grown. It's, you know, when I was a kid, you were from Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, maybe Maine, upstate New York, places like that for hockey players. Now, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, look at how many players play. Not just men, our women.

Our women's proverbs. You can't believe how good the women are now than they were 10 years ago. So the game has grown. The sport of hockey has grown, and more and more kids are playing. So, you know, you're probably going to get seen a lot more now than you would have when I play it. there were just a handful of schools that had Division I programs. Absolutely. So when you weren't then in high school you're loving baseball, football, hockey, did you ever think about the Olympics and hockey in high school before college or

that wasn't even a thought you had? No, I just I just played. I wasn't that smart to think ahead other than just I'm going to be a senior next year and let's hopefully my senior year will go well athletically academically whatever it always went I always went well athletically but I you know I again it was a different era and a different time I don't know how I would be in today's era you know because I I know one thing my parents wouldn't have had the money for me to play the travel with the kids play today so then when once you get the college and all of a sudden you become this standout like your mastery is rising at that point were you doing

things differently than the other kids, like we're doing extra things, or you practice in more intensely than the people on your team, or you were just flat out better already. No, I think the practices continue. I mean, if you want to play at Boston University, you better be ready to play every year. There's new recruits coming in next year, new players challenging you. But it was, again, it was a different thing. I watch our players today. I mean, the practice is over.

These guys are in the weight room. We have a nutritionist. We have a sports psychologist. My sports psychologist was my father. My nutritionist was my mother. We have a sensory room now. Kids have, they go in this room and they just sit there. I don't know what they do.

We didn't have any of that shit. You just played. And when the season ended, the summertime, you know, I'd maybe play a little once in a while at the end of the summer to get ready for it. but I play baseball with the summer. Wow. These kids have to practice, they go into the wait room.

I'm going to tell you the truth, we went to the dugout, was the bar on campus. Practice is all right, guys, let's go now, we have a few bears, and we'll go to school classes tomorrow, and we'll go to hockey practice, and after practice, we'll go to the dugout for a little while. Now it's a different, different whole scenario, and good for them. I think it's great for the players, because these guys have aspirations playing the national hockey room. I wanted to go to Boston University, to play at Boston University. And if it happened that maybe, maybe

I could play a pro hockey after then that was something. But I didn't go, you know, we have freshmen that come in now, first round practice, second round practice. Then you've got the name, image, and likeness, kids getting paid money. You know, we lost, the number one recruit in the country this year

was coming to Boston University. He's going to be the first pick in the draft next year. He was coming to Boston University. He's going to Penn State because Penn State's given me $800. That's name, image, and likeness. That's the only follow any sports. Quarterback at Michigan this year is going to make about $9 million.

You know, Shadaw Sanders, the football player, he took a pay cut to play for the Cleveland Browns, the money he was making in Colorado. So you're dealing with a whole different mindset now. This money, these kids are making money. For me, my scholarship was plenty. But now it's a different. environment in the college sports for men and women. You know, there's the girl I think out in UCLA, the gymnast is making like stupid money.

But that's just, that's the arena were in now that was never there. When I played, when I played, you just played. So when you're just playing and you're BU and you're obviously just standing out, scoring goals, leaving a team on the way of breaking the scoring record, at any point, did you, I mean, you're just playing, you're focusing? saying, do you remember when the first time you ever thought or heard of the Olympics and hockey? Like when did that come into your mind? Okay.

Again, crazy story. I got asked to play in the 1970-60, the Olympic team. Wow. And I did not want to leave Boston University. In those days, you'd leave your school right before the Olympics and you'd go play. In our case, we trained for six months. It was a whole different mindset in 1980 than it wasn't 76. So I had a chance to play in 76, and that was the year I thought we were going to win the national championship.

I was a junior at Boston University and decided I was going to stay at BU. The games were in Innsbruck. And I think the U.S. team came in fourth or fifth. So I missed that and passed that opportunity yet. So again, I talk about how my life turned and things in your life that happened. So I graduated from Boston University in 1977. And the New York Rangers, they owned my rights. drafted me I was a second round draft pick of the New York Rangers so when the

season ended B you ended that summer I was getting ready to go to camp with the New York Rangers so I went to camp with the New York Rangers and had a really good camp and a guy named John Ferguson was the general manager of the New York Rangers and Fergie called me and it was off he says Mike you had a great camp we really like you we think you're gonna be a really good player but we don't we're not signing any new players we have our first pick which a kid named Ron Dugay who had a career with the Rangers and we have a bunch of older players and we're not shunning out any money for any more players but we want to keep you in our system so they sent me to Toledo Ohio

and I played for a team called the Toledo Gold Diggers. Anybody seen the movie Slapshot? That's where I was. You played for the team from Slapshot? That was the league. Oh, okay, wow. Ogie Gogol talk, remember him? Yes. He was on our team in Toledo for a week and then he get traded. But anyway, so I go to camp, I go to, I get sent to Toledo, the New York Rangers number two farm team, but I didn't have an NHL contract. It was a minor league contract. So I got paid every two weeks by the gold diggers. I made $4,000 my first year in Toledo. I led our team in scoring. I was rookie in the year. I'm going to sign with the New York Rangers. John Ferguson did fight. A guy named Fred Sherro, who used to be with the New York,

with the Philadelphia Flyers, he becomes the general manager of the New York Rangers. And he calls my agent and says, look, Mike's free to do what he wants to do. We're not signing Mike. We know he had a great idea, but we're going in a different direction. So, here I am in limbo. What am I going to do?

So I go back to Toledo to stay in the amateur, hoping to get invited to try out for the 80 Olympics. So I go back to Toledo. They gave me $8,000. and a van because I didn't have a vehicle when I played there so I had a van

and I got $4,000 raise but I still got paid every two weeks I can get traded tomorrow no NHL contract which kept me as an amateur which gave me the opportunity if I did get to try out for the 80 Olympic team

so I go back to Toledo that summer I got a call from Herb Brooks inviting me to try out for the 80 Olympics so I go to the tryouts I make the team, and here I am today. If John Ferguson never got fired, I would have signed with the New York Rangers

and I would have been considered a pro and not given an opportunity to play on the 80 Olympic team. So there are two moments in my life about opportunity. One in high school, and second, when the Rangers decided to let me go and do what I wanted to do, and the best decision had ever happened. And then the Olympic Games,

and then, you know, we win. Then a couple of NHL teams wanted to sign you to pro contracts, and I decided it was time to move on and do something else in my life, and I was going to coach and teach, and then found out that this moment, this event, was bigger than we could have imagined. Wow. And I remember I was talking to my phys ed,

the school administrator in my high school asking if there might be a phys ed job open next year because I want to teach. And then I was thinking, about maybe coaching at Boston University because they might be looking for an assistant coach. And then IBM, this was in February. And then IBM called my agent, advisor, and they wanted me to do ten appearances. Five at the fountain blue in Florida and five at the Drake in San Francisco. I'd never been to California and I'd never been to Florida.

And they were going to give me $3,000 just to walk out on the stage and wave. I didn't even have to do anything. I made more in those 10 appearances than my dad made in one year. So I thought, this is a pretty good deal. Maybe I'll do some of these again. And then I get into broadcasting, then I get into obviously speaking and doing things that I do now 45 years later, although, as you well know, I work at Boston University.

I've been there 30 years. Although if you counted all the days, I've been there, probably been there five. I've got a good gig at BU. But it's just funny how your life works, never knowing what you're going to do, what is available. But like I said, after the Olympics, I was going to coach and teach. That's what I was going to do. And the next thing you know, wow, this thing was pretty big. And your life kind of turned or changed.

My life changed to a degree. I haven't changed. It tried my wife absolutely nuts. And we've been together for 50 years. So it's not like, you know, I always, again, I tell my kids all the time the same thing about, I was very happy with who I was before the Olympics. Why should your life change because of an athletic event?

It clearly changed a lot of things in my life, but it hasn't. It shouldn't change who you are. You know, my friends are my friends, my family's my family, and I still live where I belong and stay where I am because if we didn't win, I'd be living in that town, I'd be probably had more than three kids because I'd have been home more. So for everybody, we have these conversations for the last couple of days about these dark moments and the hero's journey.

So Mike's is phenomenal player, has nothing going on with colleges besides a division three opportunity. We talked about my opportunities where nobody's looking at me and all of a sudden there's 100 schools looking at me and how God makes all things work together for good or the universe or whatever you believe. and same thing. I mean, it's really amazing that Mike comes out, second round draft pick. Mike, correct me if I'm wrong, most second round draft picks end up on the team.

Isn't that relatively normal? Yeah. So Mike doesn't, this is normal course, like you're a second round draft pick from a professional team in sports, you're going to be on the team, and all of a sudden he's not. And that could have been something,

I mean, you know, we're getting a sense of Mike, and Mike seems like a proof. pretty incredibly grounded person and he just goes forward. So something that happens that for most people would have been emotionally devastating. What I'm hearing from you, Mike, is it kind of like shrug and said, all right, on we go. Because the values that he was raised with

and that's an incredible strain for this man, that he's not taking things and trying to analyze, why did God do this to me and why is the universe against me? He's just like, hey, this is the hand on dealt, let's go. And we do see that things work together for good. As Mike said, maybe he gets on the Rangers. Maybe he gets hurt.

Maybe he plays a little bit, and there's a couple of things that happened, and all of a sudden, he's not eligible for the Olympics. He's not in the NHL, and Mike's life looks completely differently. So these two events that would have been incredibly upsetting and frustrating for most people, maybe not from Mike, because he has such an incredibly strong level of self-mastery. Right, self-masters in our language with psychology that he's just like, hey, let's go. And he knows that he's going to make whatever happens in his life turn it to the right thing. Am I hearing that correctly, Mike?

That's how you operate. Yeah, my dad always said to me, even his more to life than athletics. At some point the game ends. You know, Michael Jordan had to stop playing someday. You know, these great athletes eventually it ends, but your life doesn't end. Just because I didn't play, you know, let's just say this. And if I didn't go to Boston University, I'd still be happy with my life, whatever that was, because that's the direction I was going to go on.

I'm always very positive and very upbeat. You know, there's so much out there for me to do if I didn't play hockey, if I didn't play football, I'd have done something else, and I'd have been happy with what I did and what I was doing. But my life took a different turn, and my life went this way, but it shouldn't change, as I said, early who I am. Absolutely. And why should I be different? Just because I won a gold medal

doesn't make me better than people in this room. There are certain things that you can do that I sure as hell can't do. So everybody brings something to the table. I happen to bring something to the table in terms of my athletic ability. And then it turned out to be what it's become today. But for me, like I said, if we didn't win, I'd be living in my hometown. I'd be married to the same girl. I'd be coaching and teaching and that's just the way it was going to be.

That's the way it was going to be. So this is, and if I were here, we're really locking this, the lack of attachment that Mike has the outcome. He shows up, he gets everything he's got, and then what happens happens. And I'm inspired, I'm not only inspired, it's a really, we talk with the difference between inspiration tools, you know, like break hockey sticks, a tool, how you use the hotty stick, you know part of your tool and then you have psychology and for me what I'm

clear about is I get I get more attached and Mike does and I invite you to consider the same for yourself so thank you Mike already for help them meet like be a mirror for me I'm like yeah I took things a lot harder than you did you know and that you know I'm I had a strong psychology not a strong as yours as a high school athlete as a college athlete I must play my way out of college baseball my sophomore year I was, you know, runner up Friday, we'd run a rookie of year by freshman at Columbia. And coach tried to change a few things. And I was quiet.

I wasn't ever mouth. It was very respectful. But I would pout more. I would take things more personally. I would be more upset about things. And when I'm hearing from you is it sounds like you didn't. And if I could ask when the Rangers didn't sign you, did you spend, if you remember, did you spend, you know, the night getting upset? You'd go out a few beers.

Call somebody. You're like, hey, F it. Like, here I go. was it like a week you're upset at all and if so for how long when i was pissed off yeah what do you mean you don't want a sign make look what i just did but then again hey that's that's that's that's your decision i'll go in a different direction yeah um let's hear how how strong is that but it's look look not not every day is a great day like i said sometimes things don't go the way you want them to go what are you going to do pout quit no i'll i mean most people do

you know why if you quit sometimes say yes so thank you yeah no I that's not in my that was never in my vocabulary and I think part of it is the way I grew up you know like I said I saw my dad get up every morning go to work come home and go to work come home go to work I saw my mother take care of six kids with no money so quit isn't isn't something that I've ever even thought about doing I know I'm gonna be successful at what I do whatever it was I was going to do So my mindset was, and again, that's my wife and I get into these discussions all the time. Why are you in such a good mood all the time?

I said, because I don't want to be miserable. I don't want to live a life of wondering. I'm just going to do what I want to do and I'm going to go ahead and do it despite the challenges. And like I said, not every day is a great day. Sometimes things don't work out the way you want to work out. I missed a two-foot a yesterday for $20. I was so pissed off. The next time I have that two footer, I better make it.

So again, I'm not that deeper guy. I'm not that smarter guy. I just live my life the way I want to live it with total respect for my family and my kids and my wife. Usually things are going to work out well. And if they don't, there's another day and I'll figure that out. And Mike, thank you. And just so we're like level set, I failed freshman high school geometry for the year

as a freshman high school. I had a lower GPA in high school that I did in law school. So I wasn't, I went to Columbia because of baseball. So it wasn't that I was thinking about things quite the same way that as I am now. And one of the things that I think for these guys, like these are people who are trained,

like this is not a sales program. These are people training to think about how do you, how do you succeed, how do you master things? And so what we're hearing, And what they're hearing from you is we have the saying that Einstein said make it as simple as possible, but not simpler. And honest to God, what I'm taking away from you is that it is so simple for you because you just give everything you have. You take the outcome result and you should go forward.

And that is that because my job, the way I look at people is I try to find out like what's the simple formula that causes Microsionia to be Microsioni. and that's present for me like that's here that just cleared me and while you're saying it as yeah just like it's easy it's if you think it's not easy for you yet say yes yeah it's not easy for me either but because you do it what they're trained to do what I'm trained to do is like we're going to have the self-mastery according to Microsioni which is very simply don't get attached get everything you got like the micro is going on word from his dad formula and your identity doesn't change we'll talk about about that but just go do your thing what happens you know it's going to work for good in any way because you're just going to do the next thing you're going to use it as fuel and go forward

so does that sound like a fair very simple encapsulation of you i've never met a person that's successful because they're lucky people are successful because they understand the values of work and again i'll go back to my dad always said if you understand the value of work at some in your life you'll be successful. And it might not be today or tomorrow or next month, but when you're the best of what you do, I guarantee it's the time and effort and work that you put in. And those are values that are important.

Whatever a field you're in, whatever challenges you have, if you're not willing to work hard at it, you're not going to be successful. So I work hard on everything that I've done, whether as an athlete or if I happen to go in a different direction. If sports ended and I went, which it did, I went into a new direction, I'm working.

damn hard what I do in order to be successful at what I do and I think that's to me it's pretty simple it's like I said earlier it's easy to be nice it's really hard to be an asshole so like so I lived with that and if you feel that from Mike say yes if you feel this authenticity say yes and his mastery yes so Mike you go and these B-U-Ns the draft with the Rangers playing hockey in Toledo and now her books calls you up and what happens from there do you then was there in the movie right these guys have seen the movie lots we show clips all the time so in the movie there's the shortened version of the tryout like could you please take us through what happens well in the movie the team was picked in one day trust me it was

two weeks and in the movie they had a bunch of people picking the team there was only one person picking this team and it was going to be Herbrooks. So I went to the trial. I got invited. I was on the Great Lakes team. They divided all these players into four teams and we competed against each other over two weeks. And Herb Brooks sat in the stands, evaluated the players, and we were in a room maybe kind of like this, maybe a little bigger. And the 68 players tried out for the AD Olympiad team. I shouldn't say that. Hundreds tried out. Sixty-eight got selected. Sixty-eight of us went to Colorado Springs, competed against each other in a kind of a mini tournament. And tryouts were over 26 players made up the 80 Olympic team, but only 20 were

going to Lake Placin. Six guys are going to get cut. I could just slow you down for a second though, okay? So in Colorado Springs, when this happens, what's that two weeks like? and I'm just going to give a couple of like multiple choice where where there are fist fights where people getting along where people like you know kind of in the same boat of being friends, buddies, where they're rival who was from college? So like how was all that? What was Colorado Springs like? Well, it was a tournament.

It was competitive. And there was a team from Massachusetts, which I wasn't on. I was on an at large team. So my team was guys from Michigan, Minnesota, New York. Then there was the Minnesota team. And then there was another at large team. And that had been players from her coach Brooks's college team. A lot of the kids played under Herb at the University of Minnesota.

Because it for everybody. So coach Herb Brooks coached the University of Minnesota. They were a top program in the country. Mike played at Boston University, a top program in the country. And correct me if I'm wrong, there's a big rivalry, yes? Well, we had the year before, the Olympic tryouts in the national championship, Minnesota and Boston University got into a bench clearing brawl. I would call that a big rivalry.

Four minutes into the game. This is the national championship? Yes, both teams should have been thrown out of the tournament because you can't fight in college. So we ended up losing a player, they lost the player, they ended up beating us in the game, and who was the player you guys lost? We lost Terry Mahar, who was our leading goal scorer at the time.

Right. And they lost one of their guys who wasn't caught. And the guy, Terry Mahar? Yes. Did he make the E115? No, Terry was from Canada. Got it. He was the captain of our team in 19,

And Jack O'Callaghan, he played four. Jack was a freshman at Boston University at that time. Got it, on that team. Right, there were four guys. When the smoke cleared at the end, there were four guys from Boston University, nine from the University of Minnesota, two from Wisconsin, two from Bowling Green, one from North Dakota and two from Minnesota. Of the 20 guys, 12 of the 20 players were from Minnesota. Wow. And 13 of the players then, I'm counting correctly, nine from Minnesota, four from the beginning.

Minnesota 4th in the BU so 13 of the players were from this big rivalry was nine from Minnesota and four for Boston University well in Wisconsin and Minnesota had a huge rivalry because it's national championship battles for years so there was a lot of animosity between the two programs but so we're in the room and 68 players try it out and hurt came up to the to the stage and he said if I call your name please stay and if I don't thanks for coming and take us that's a I'm trying to forget for interrupting just what I'm really let these guys get it because they've seen somebody's clips right right right so do you think in that moment a i know i made a team b i think i made a team c i hope i made a team you know probably b because i i was on the great lakes team

and i was elected captain of the great lakes team and then we the great lakes team won the tournament and i lived our team in scoring so i thought i'm going to be on this team but the concern i had was Minnesota coach, Western players, Eastern coach, Eastern players. That's how it always was years before. It was an Eastern coach, and he was going to pick most of the guys going to be from the East because he knew them. So my concern was, is Herb going to take an Eastern guy? So we're all in the room, and I remember the first name he called was Ken Morrow. Kenny was a great defenseman from Michigan.

He won for the Islanders. He won four Stanley Cups right after the Olympics. That's a pretty good run. And I'm sitting there thinking, I hope this is an alphabetical. My name's not going to get called. And my name was called. So there were 26 players in the room. You were the second name called?

No, I was called later on down the road. I forget who was called. Were you starting to get concerned? Yeah, we all antsy, wondering, you know, kind of listening. Is it going to be me? Is it going to be me? And it's interesting because now we have the Winter Olympics coming up in February. The team USA is going to have 26 players, 25 players.

They carry more now than they did that. Then they could only carry 20. So 26 players make up the team, and then we're going to embark on six months of training, and six guys are going to get cut throughout the course of the season. And you're still up until, I was elected captain in October. By the players? By the players.

But I don't think I was voted by the players. There's no way nine guys from Minnesota voted for a guy from Boston. And as our assistant coach said, we voted, but Herb counted the ballots. I think Billy Baker was probably named captain by the team because the nine kids played with him at the university. And Billy actually was the assistant captain of the 80 team. But for whatever reason they gave me the captain's team, which was not a big deal to me. I think my dad was more excited than I was because I've always said I was a captain amongst captains.

We had a team of captains. Everybody in that team was a captain of their high school team. Eight guys were captains of their college team. So it was a great group of leaders and people. So the captaincy was nice, but it wasn't that, oh, my God, I'm the captain. So 26 players made up the team, and throughout the course of six months of travel and training, six were going to get cut. And up until the last week, I still wondered if I was going to be one of the 20.

Can I take it back for a second? So during Colorado Springs, that time was Herb Brooks quiet and just, watching and scouting or was he already starting to be coach her brooks towards everybody you know he was coach brooks and that's the way it was going to be we were going to travel played i think we played 60 somewhat games all around the country went to york for a month played overseas and then throughout the course of the six months he evaluated all the players and uh you know he threatened to cut me two weeks before the olympics uh he said look he just not doing it i just don't know what I'm going to do and I'm like wait a minute I'm the captain and I'm thinking well

he's the coach you know always and it's even funny years later herb would call my house and this was before cell phones and my wife would answer the phone and she'd go out it's coach Brooks and I'm like oh shit here I am I got three kids at home and I'm worried he's going to yell at me he was always in charge even when he threatened to cut me I thought he would and It was just the last kind of jab at me to get me going. For whatever reason, I don't know. He was an incredibly mind kind of guy. He loved to get into people's heads and players' heads.

And part of me said, he can't cut me on the captain. And the other part said, you know, he just might. He's crazy enough to do it. So when you guys get together, like the movie depicts a moment that, Mike told me actually didn't happen. He didn't say who do you play for. I played for Teen USA. But there was a night of crazy skating.

So can you take us through that night? And if that was, was there a time the team was the movie Miracle shows great division between the players. Was there that kind of division or is that a little exaggerated or what was it really like? and then how is that fit to the next game? The division was what they thought was going to happen once the team was picked. Everybody can the Minnesota and the Massachusetts guys get along? Can the Wisconsin, Minnesota guys get along?

And we bonded right from the beginning. And I tell you that because anybody who's played hockey, you realize at a young age how important your teammates are. Hockey is the ultimate team sport. And you know how important. Like I've said many times, Mark Johnson, who was from Wisconsin, was our best player. We don't win without Mark Johnson

But how good would Mark be if the right wing and the left wing And the defensemen and the coaches weren't doing their job So we understood everybody had a job, everybody had a role Understand what your job is Understand what your role is And we as a team have an opportunity to be successful That was the mindset from the beginning Not everybody's going to be out on the power play

Not everybody's going to be out killing penalties Everybody's got a job and a role We do that, we'll be fine to me, I've always said this. There's no better place to be, whether it's on a team or in business, when everybody that you're with has the same goals and objectives that you have. And our goals and objectives as a team was to be the best, never knowing it was going to lead to a goal medal,

but we knew it for us to be successful. We had to believe in ourselves, but we had to believe in each other. And that's a great place to be. That's awesome. To go to practice every day, you know, and everybody's willing to sacrifice to be the best. And that was our mindset. in the beginning. So the teams picked

26 guys. Then right before the Olympic Games, he cuts the last two players. Could I, the again again, like, the skating. We played Norway, and the game ended in a 3-3 tie. And Perk wasn't very happy with the way...

Norway was not like a world power. No, we should be able to handle the Norwegians. They're not known for its hockey. And it ended in a 3-3 tie. And in the movie Miracle, they have the guys on the bench looking at the girls in the stands. Look at her. look at her and look at her and trust me that didn't happen I told my wife that didn't happen I said the guys from Minnesota were looking at the girls I was not but we did skate we skated

for an hour and a half they shut the lights off in the building we didn't go 20 at a time we only went wait it was of five guys at a time and only 15 of us dressed that night the other 10 guys who understands watching so we did the herbies for about an hour and a half the game ended The drill ended when Mark Johnson smashed a stick against the glass. And Herb said, if I hear another stick smash against the glass, you'll skate through you die. I say that one more time. What did Coach Brooks say? If I hear another stick smash against the glass, you'll skate till you die.

That is called Zeus Energy. Then they shut the lights off in the building, just had the electrical lights on and we finished the skate. And he brought us in the locker and he said, if you play this way again tomorrow, you're going to skate again. we beat Norway 8 to nothing the next day. I'm going to tell you why I tell the story about why we skated. It wasn't because we were looking at the girls in the stands. To me, this is the message from where was this.

There are a lot of important values in life, and the most important one is respect. And we skated that night because of three things. He said to us, if you don't respect yourself, you won't be successful. If you don't respect your teammates, people that you work with us, people that you associate yourself with,

you will not be successful. And if you don't respect your competition, you will not be successful. We never made that mistake again. And now, I'll fast forward, we win the Olympic gold medal. We beat Finland. A lot of people don't know this. If we lose to Finland, we could have won no medal.

There was a chance we could have come in fourth place. We beat Finland, we win the gold medal, we go back in the locker. It is Bedlam. bedlam in the locker room. All our parents are in the locker room. You couldn't go anywhere in Lake Placid, whatever your badge, with your name to tag. To this day, how our parents got in the locker room,

we have no idea. How my dad did in with a six pack of beer. My dad was sitting waving at me like it was a high school game. And the locker room was the size of this year. It was so tiny. All of a sudden, Herb calls me into the back area. And he says, Mike, I just got a call from President Carter and they're sending Air Force One.

tomorrow morning at 6.30 in the morning to take you guys to the White House. I want you to make sure that everybody's in bed early and nobody acts up tonight. And I looked at Herb and I said, who's going to watch me? I got to tell you the truth, we stand out all night. But why I tell you that story

was Herb never waved from that value. Respect your success. Respect your accomplishments. Respect the time, the effort, the work, and the sacrifices we put in collectively and you put in individually. So even though we had won this incredible moment, although Herman and like I said earlier, our team didn't know it was that big a deal, he never wavered from that fact. Respect your success.

And that's an important value that you have to have in life, not just sports. And I think that's, and we talked about a little earlier, I think that's what we've lost sight of it in our countries. People just don't respect people anymore. And, you know, we, like you mentioned, we just got awarded, our team's going to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, which is, I think, did I say that earlier? You did, yeah, I did, well, I repeated myself.

That's up. But that is an ultimate honor for our team. And I think that's, you know, what makes our team and separates our team from other athletic achievements is that it was a U.S. story and not Boston or Chicago. So I think Herb was the right guy to keep and maintain those values that are so important in life. He was an old school guy.

You know, he was, you know, lunch pail, hard hat. That was our team. That's the way he coached us. That's the way he was. And like, so now getting towards the Olympics and there's the game against the Soviets at Madison Square Garden. And do you think that why do you think her? wanted to play that game? Was it just, hey, this is part of the schedule? Was there, you know, any deeper thought you think by, you know, Coach Herbrooks and the game did not go will for you guys?

And how did that all fit into what would happen at the Olympics, if at all? It's just like a game. And like, hey, you watched it all. Well, for me, it was the last, and why we scheduled a game, I have no idea other than maybe Herbana and I played the Soviets just to see what the competition was going to be like. Because during our season, we played 68, games against colleges, minor league teams. We had a great series with the Canadian Olympic team. We played it eight times. We had a great series with the Soviet B team, not the A team. The A team was playing the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders, the NHL teams as they prepared. So the last game was in Madison.

So you guys understand this? So they're the 1980 team that Mike is on, they're playing against college teams, minor league teams, the Soviets, the Soviets, are playing against the NHL teams and beating them. And the NHL All-Stars, Mike and the team, these are college players. The Soviets, because of communism versus capitalism, or professional hockey players, essentially, where their life is paid for, their role is paid for, and these are much older players, much more seasoned players,

like they would be NHL players. And they repeat, they were beating NHL teams and NHL All-Star teams. But Mike, back to you and going to be. in that as a sport. Yeah, so we step on the ice. You've got to remember one thing, too. Some of the Soviet players were going for the third consecutive gold medal. That's playing together for 12 years, some of these guys.

The average age of our Olympic team in 1980 was 21 and a half, 22 years old. Matter of fact, I don't anybody here follows college hockey, but our Olympic team in 1980 would be the youngest team of college hockey today. Wow. And I was 25 at the time, and Buzzy Schneider was 25. Neil Broughton was 18, Mike Ramsey was 18, baby Christian was 19. So we step out in the ice in Madison Square Garden. The building sold out.

This is two days before the Olympic Games, and we lose 10 to 3. Totally embarrassed, totally humiliated. God, we thought we were good, and all of a sudden we got welcome to the world moment. So we lose 10 to 3, the game's over. The last two guys get cut from the team. Now 20 of us are going to get on the bus the next day and go to Lake Placid for the Olympic games. And when the game ended, Herb didn't say anything to us. He said, go back to the hotel, get a good night's sleep, come back to the rink in the morning, we'll pack our bags, and we'll go

to Lake Placid. Never mentioned talked about the game. So the next morning, I pick up the New York Post. Wrong newspaper to pick up. And the article talks about how the U.S. team has no chance in the upcoming Olympic Games, the Soviets are the best team in the world. They will win. They will win the gold medal in the U.S. has no chance. And it said we didn't have the talent, we didn't have the ability, we didn't have experience to compete at that level. And then there was a quote from Herb Brooks, and Herb said, I knew our team was in trouble. When the Soviet players were being introduced, my players were applauding them. And it was like, there's Kalimov, there's Yakashev, there's Kutov,

these great players we heard so much about. Herb was a great speaker, great motivator. we go in the locker room to get ready to go to Lake Placett. He said, gentlemen, if you ever get a chance to play the Soviets again, and we don't know if we are because they're in the other division. We had to win our own division or coming second in our division to even get a chance to play that. He says, remember how you played in the second and third period, not the first period.

We were losing six to nothing after one period. And I tell you that because he turned a negative into a positive right away. He said, look how even you played with him. when you guys are ready to play. So instead of screaming and yelling at us, saying how much we sucked or how bad we were, we walked away thinking, wow, we played even with the best team in the world.

And I tell that story, because when things don't go well, and there are times things don't always go well, find something positive and build up of that because if you think negative things, guess what, nothing but negative thoughts will stay in your head. So we get on the bus clearly excited about what just happened. We played even,

and we don't know if we're even going to play them again. So our mindset going into Lake Placid was totally different than if he had screamed and yelled at us. So we get to Lake Placid and the tournament starts. But that game that we lost 10 to 3 was never ever talked about again. Even when we got to play in the second time in Lake Placid, the day before a practice, Herb never shed. Remember what happened last time. That game didn't. It was like it didn't even exist.

All he talked about was positive. Do the things we need to do in order to win. We were never concerned about other teams. Herb said it in the movie. I think a lot. I haven't seen the movie in years, but play your game. Play your game. That was constant on our bench.

We were never concerned about what other teams were doing. We needed to control the things we needed to control and do the things that we needed to do in order to be successful. So play your game. Play your game. Throughout the Soviet game, that's what he talked about. Never once. Did he bring up anything negative about what had happened before?

So your mindset's different. Your mindset's totally different. This game didn't. It was like it didn't even exist. It was something in the past. And I wouldn't expect it to hear that. That's extraordinary, right? I mean, would you guys have expected to hear that?

Yeah, extraordinary. So now you're at the Olympics and as it starts, and I think you play Sweden game one, right? Yeah. So going into the Sweden game as you're there, was there any talk in the team about how you guys would do, gold medal, metal rounds, or the team culture was more like just play the game in front of you.

Didn't guys talk about things? How is that psychological? Well, we got to Lake Placid, and the first thing you do is you go into the room where they're gonna give you the clothing that you're gonna wear for the opening ceremonies. In our case, it was sheepskin jacket, jeans, cowboy boots, cowboy hat.

I live in Boston. That's the last time I'm going to wear a cowboy hat and boots and jeans. But anyway, that was the, you know. So you get all your clothing. And then I remember there was a stack of Sports Illustrateds. And you go over and you pick them up because they get predictions, speed skating, bobsled, luge. And you read, it's got ice hockey.

And it says, the Soviets will win the gold medal. They're the best team in the world. Czechoslovakia because of the rivalry between the two countries from a political standpoint at the time. And the Czechs had the three stars. brothers who were great players, they might, might kill the Soviets a game. Then it said Sweden, Finland, Canada, and West Germany will fight for the bronze. United States will be anywhere from seventh to tenth place. And I think it was the same guy who wrote the article in the New York Post because

it said we didn't have the talent, ability, or experience to compete at that level. And I remember seeing it the second time, it reminded me my high school football coach. My high school football coach told me that ability in a dime gets you a cup of coffee. and you think about it in your life how many times we've all been around people with great ability and great talent and can't get the job done right it's like no I can take you all

outside I can measure how far you can run how high you can jump I can measure how much weight you can lift but I can't measure heart and I can't measure pride and I can't measure commitment and those are intangibles I've said this

little things separate good teams from great teams and little things separate good business from great business intangibles hard work, qualities that our team had. So we open up the Olympic Games against Sweden, and there's nobody in the building at that time because the opening ceremonies were the next day.

So the games hadn't officially started. And there were maybe 2,000,000 people in the stands. Billy Baker scores arguably the biggest goal of the Olympics with 28 seconds left to go. We tie Sweden two to two. And it was a huge point because nobody thought we could beat Sweden. And at the end of the game, sorry. So they're losing by a goal into the final minute, correct?

28 seconds. 28 seconds left. They're losing. If they lose this game, then basically there's no way you're going to make the medal round. Yeah, it would have been really hard because that was a big point for us to get. So we tie Sweden. We get a point. Next day is the opening ceremonies, which was incredible.

Next day is Czechoslovakia, the only team that anybody thought could beat the Soviets. And we blow them out. We beat him seven to three. now everybody's talking about the U.S. hockey team. You can't go anywhere, you can't talk to anybody. The good thing was there was no media. There was no Facebook and stuff like I told you earlier. So we didn't know what was being written.

And we were in a little village in Lake Placid, which is about the size of this church. And, you know, we beat them, then we beat Norway, then we beat Romania, then we beat West Germany, and now we're in the medal round. That was our goal. Get to the medal round. And as it turned out, we were second in our division

because Sweden had a better goals for and goals against. So it's a crossover. Number two plays number one. Obviously, number one on the other side was the Soviets. Italy. They were averaging seven goals a game. They beat Japan 16th and nothing two nights earlier. And we're going to play.

That's the deal. You're in the tournament where you get the next game is the Soviets. And now we'll play them. And so the movie shows the pregame speech, I think when we had spoken a few months ago, you had mentioned, I think, that more of what Herbert says in the movie in the Soviet pregame speech,

he said in practice the day before, is that right? Right. When I saw the movie for the first time and I heard his speech, I'm like, oh shit, that's long. I don't remember him saying that. But I remember him saying, you were born to be a player,

you are meant to be here, this moment is yours. Tonight is your night. But in the movie, they lengthened it because of what he talked about in practice the day before. They're ripe. They're ready to be beating.

If anybody can beat him, you guys can beat. And we went on and on and on about that. So I think they incorporated what he said the day before into the speech before the game. And they show the wall in the game? How did that build over the, was that a real thing, but the wall in the weather? Yeah, we got telegrams.

I mean, every day you'd get bags of telegrams from people all across the country. That's the only kind of way that we knew people were watching. But I remember we got a telegram from a lady in Texas. And I live in Boston. And all the telegram said was, beat those commie bastards.

That's all it said. And I was like, wow, that's cool. So that went up on the wall. And a lot of telegrams would come to individual players, family, friends, and some just to the team in general. And it was a great way to spend, you know, you come to practice and it'd be telegrams. You'd open up and read it,

put it up on the wall. So we're walking out of the locker room onto the ice and the wall of telegrams were there. So we knew people watching from afar, but knowing nowhere did we have an idea of the world was watching the way they were. So that was kind of motivating for us as a team. And then we went out and obviously beat the Soviets four to three

and two days later we had to play Finland. How, what does that bring up, bring back, if anything for you? Just the emotion in the locker room. See how quiet it was? It was deadly quiet. Our locker room was never quiet. Guys would be eating hot dogs before the game. You know, Neil Brought, like I said,

Neil Broughton, 18 years old, he'd have a slice of pizza before you go on the ice. And I'm sitting there, how can he eat and anything like that? But this game here, just I remember how walking in the locker room, how deadly quiet it was. And I'm thinking, wow, we are just, we have focused and we are ready. Although I thought we were ready for every game we played,

but never in the locker room was it quiet like that. And then I think the speech, as I said to you, a lot of that stuff he talked about the day before, that I'm sick and tired of the Soviets, everybody talking about them. And I thought they did a great job of combining everything. And I think the music adds a little to it too. And Kurt Russell was, I told you, he was amazing as Hurd Brooks,

although friendlier in the movie. Well, let's hold it. That guy, this is something Mike said to me just a little while ago. Kurt Russell playing Her Brooks, he said, was much softer and friendlier. that when he saw the movie. Like Herb's wife's in the movie, and I don't think I saw her once all year. I didn't even know what she looked like.

But there's a couple of scenes in the movie that he smiles, and I'm like, that's not the guy that coached me. So did you ever see Herb Brooks smile? Yeah, years later. Because I was a broadcaster for the New York Rangers when Herb was the head coach. So I got to see a little, another side of her. Herb

made a choice to coach our team that way. He was going to be it was good cop, bad cop. Craig Patrick, our assistant coach, was huge, how important he was. Because Herb stayed away. He was an SOB.

That's the way he was going to be. Partly because, again, all the Minnesota guys on the team, if Herb favored the Minnesota guys, it would have created an unpleasant locker room. But the fact that he was a bitch to all of us and was a hard demanding coach

bonded us even more together because it was always us against him. We'll prove you wrong. You're going to yell at Buzzy, then you're yelling at me. And we understood that he says, he said many times, there's a method to my madness.

But he did say after the Olympic Games, he would have loved to have been closer to that team. but choose not to be. Wow. And so he was sacrificing what he wanted emotionally for himself for some greater outcome. Yes? Any, and we'll get to,

we're ready for the come out to the game take? Okay. So we'll go down on one side. And so just in a little bit of fun, were there any moments where he just did something totally crazy and insane or what were some of the more ridiculous moments? They didn't even felt ridiculous then,

but as you look back, any unique, crazy, interesting moments between the team and him or things he said that come up for you, Mike? No, he was just a prick to play for her. John Harrington used to write down, we called them Brooksisms. Herb would come up with these statements,

and Harrington would write them all down, and we kept them, a book of them. You know, one time he said, weave, weave, weave, but don't weave for the sake of weaving. And weaving was intercrimin across crish-gras. That's the style of hockey that we were going to play. So weaving was the international thing. And I remember sitting there going, weave, weave, weave, but don't weave for the sake of weaving. And he told Ken Morrow one day in practice that he was skating like he had a 10-pound fart on his head.

And Kenny's skating around going, what's it look like? So there were some stupid things that he said that kind of made you laugh a little. But for the most part, he stayed pretty true to form as far as being, this is the way it's going to be. And like I said, we got it, we understood it. But we as a team kind of had fun with it sometimes without him knowing it. And there's a scene in the movie with an interaction after the Soviet came between Jim, Herb Brooks and Jim Craig. did that happen? How did he relate to Jim Craig, you know, Coach Brooks? I don't know that. That must have been something with separate. You know,

goaltenders, you usually just leave him alone. We had a goaltender coach who could probably maybe deal with Jimmy. But for the most part, you know, whatever they said, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have remembered a thought about. And it is correct, by the way. The team has never been back to it. Did the whole team make it on to Air Force One that next day? or they did not just Jim Craig did not he went he went to Atlanta because he signed with the Atlanta coffee tube so it is true that not even after the White House the next day has the team ever been back together again since they were all on the podium together is that correct is that crazy I remember sitting on the plane going back to Boston

after we go to the White House and then found out that this thing was huge and I remember getting on the plane of Eastern Airlines that's how long ago that was and I'm sitting next to Dave Silken Silkie's kind of got tears in his eyes and I said Silky what's the matter and he just looked at and he went it's over we're never going to play together again and it was like fuck you're right and we all went our separate ways you know Neil Broughton signed Mark Johnson signed all these guys you know signed pro contracts and I remember going home and we wanted to gold medal on a Sunday and Monday night my mother's making me dinner.

And I'm like, what the hell just happened to me? And I had to get up early the next morning to go to New York to do Good Morning America. And I slept in my own bed. My mother made breakfast the next morning. I had a car out of limousine taking me to the airport to take me to New York. And I got on the Eastern Airlines shuttle and everybody on the plane started applauding. And I turned around. I didn't know who got on the plane.

I swear to God, I went, what the... You people watched. And the pilot, and he just wrote a book, the pilot, in the book he mentions, he told me to get out of my seat and come and sit behind him on the plane because people wanted to come up and talk to me and get autographs and pictures. And he said, don't tell anybody you're here because you're not allowed to be here. You're not a member of Eastern Airlines. And I remember getting off the plane.

And New York line with people. They were all clapping and patting me on the back. I'm like, healthy. You know, what happened here? You people watched. It was, it was crazy, you know, to go from having no idea to, oh, my God. My God, I was 10 years old. I was not a hockey player.

I did like the Islander's that time, but I was much more of a baseball, football, basketball, fan and player. And nobody in my family was a hockey person at all. I remember fighting with my mom to help Rush get me home so we could listen to the game on the radio. I don't, if I recall correctly, I was in New Jersey. It wasn't being broadcast on television. That was taped delay, the Soviet game.

So I had listened to it on the radio, and I was a huge USA person. So I love the Olympics. I watched everything, so I didn't necessarily just love hockey, but I loved all of it, and I sat by myself in the basement of parents' house, small house on a main road.

We weren't three families, two family, and listened to this go on, and as a 10-year-old somehow, I mean, couldn't stand the Soviet Union, commie bastards. I was in a commie bastard household for sure, and it meant everything.

And I sat there as a 10-year-old by myself, crying. when you guys won. And what all those people did and they were sharing, it just couldn't be more real. And I thank you for that with all my heart because what you guys did was life-changing for me. And every time along the way that I faced challenge

I couldn't find out I was going to go blind to high school sports challenges and everything that would come in my life. Things to this day, your signature or a fraudulent version of it, but I hope it's yours, is on a jersey. in my library and my house along with the hockey skates.

It has the 80, Blue Jersey, all you guys signed it, and the skates. And that is the core of everything for me is what you guys did. And it is so unbelievable and it is totally believable. And how I relate to what you guys did personally and what we talk about here is it was totally possible. It was almost impossible, but obviously it was. totally possible and because of the process the system that was put in place we call that the math the math the numbers the dynamics and the heart coach Herbrooks put that together you was captain such an incredible leader amongst

leaders as you always say all these leaders and you really did do something that was virtually impossible that changed the course of human history and it's so unbelievable and remember you know mr. Michael Arizioni isn't on television. He's not in movies. He's not on social media. But he's at the seashell today. And what happened?

And then what happened? Then they wanted to take pictures. Then they wanted autographs. Then they started chanting USA, USA. And I'm like, I just wanted a drink. Who's gonna recognize me here? And you know, so I finished my drink You can pick some pictures and sign some photographs and left my drink at the bar.

I was still pissed off. We'll get you a few drinks. Oh, I'm going to get a few later. So fairly accurate, not failure accurate, and how were you so focused that you don't even remember hearing USA? Were you at all aware of the moment and the magnitude or were you just like, I'm focused and we're going to go play this game. Yeah.

You know, when you're on the ice, you don't hear anything. You hear a teammate asking for a pass or Herbie Ellen, change up the lines or whatever. So you don't hear any chance that you're on the bench. You could hear the crowd a little, but you're still, you know, you're just so geared to what you're doing, what you're watching, that you don't, everything's kind of blocked out. And it's funny because I'm not that smart a person, but it's amazing the focus that you can have in a situation like that,

We are just, the mindset is just on the ice and, you know, what's happening in front of you. Awesome. Do you miss playing at all? Oh, no. I skate. I help out with my high school team. I've been, you know, 45 years of volunteer coach. I skate with my grandkids.

They play. So we were talking earlier, I got a little rink I put in my backyard. So the kids, the grandkids come over and we'll skate and things like that. But, yeah. Detach them. I don't want it because I may fall and miss them. I'm a golfer, so I'd much rather do that than skate around the ice. I don't need the aggravation.

Plus, they just can't do things. I try to lift the puck and my shoulder hurts. I'm like, so quick fun fact, and we're going to take then go to the next spot. The game is tied three to three. And I don't know, some guy scores a goal that puts the USA up four to three. So maybe we'll go there next. but not that long ago Mike was a golfer

and he ends up at this place and there's a shared experience and some people around the table and I think it was Tiger Woods Jack Nicholas who was considered to be the greatest golfer in history by many

Jack Nicholas's son and oh the President United States President Trump and President Trump's like come on over and so Mike is sitting there And I think you reminded the president of a very important fact that he might not have been aware of what Tiger Woods and Jack Nicholas and some difference between you guys. Well, you know what?

And I'm not going to get into politics because I've known President Trump a long time. He used to play celebrity golf with us. And while he was the president, I played a couple of rounds with him because I remember at his club. So I was going to play that day, but Jack Nicholas' son ended up playing. I was going to be the fourth in the group. So they'd done golfing and I was sitting at a table and the president called me over and sit down. And we're just talking back and forth about this and that. And I looked at the president and I said, hey boss, I said, there's a lot of majors between these two guys,

but I'm the only gold medalist at the table. And he looked, he just, he went, he went, that's funny. Just give me a heads up when we are. So games going. Okay, one sec. Games going. You're playing. and is it

what I'm hearing is it's for you you're so focused in team it's like just another hockey game but I think I think and correct it from wrong but what I'm also hearing is because you treat it like just another hockey game you no longer were elef you guys weren't elevating the Soviets you're playing hockey

and the game is now three to three in the third period correct not correct or was any time in the game when it kind of changed where you guys became clear which is just a hockey game we could beat these guys. Did you come into the game just as a game or did your confidence as a team do you think build over the game?

First of all, you go into the game thinking you can win. If you think you're going to lose, you probably will. So, I mean, we knew it was going to be difficult. We knew we had to play well. We had to be smart. We had to be disciplined. We couldn't take penalties. We couldn't get into a shootout.

Because if, you know, we weren't scoring five goals. We got four. Because if they scored five, we weren't. getting five. But again, that's the way the game kind of went. But as a player, you just focus on what you're doing. Doing your job. Do the things that you're asked to do. Go out there every shift, play hard, play smart, be disciplined. And, you know, the game just kind of goes the way it does. And, you know, obviously, Mark Johnson scores a goal with no time left on the clock to tie the game. At the end of the first period. The end of the first period was a huge goal because we didn't play

really well in the first. We weren't terrible, but we didn't play well in the first. Jimmy played great. So it's 2-2. You know, then it's 3-2 them and it's 3-3-us. And like I said, if it got to be 4-2-them, the game's over. Because now we're going to chase them. Now we've got to change the way we want to play. The fact that the game stayed the way it was going. Because you were never down two goals in the game.

No. No. We were never down. You know, I'll give you a statistic that I didn't know about until a couple of years ago. In the third period of the Olympics, the third period, we outscored our opponent 16 to 3. That is unheard of. We gave up three goals in the third period, all tournament long.

We didn't give up any to Finland. We didn't give up any to Sweden. And we didn't give up any to Soviets in the third period. Condition. Condition. Condition. I think condition was a big part of our success. We played four lines.

We didn't just play one and two. We rolled four lines. Everybody played. Everybody contributed. Do you ever watch the movie and think it might not go in? but I mean and Mike I know that you're a humble man and listen I'm not that deep do you feel anything when you watched that or no I feel happy that it goes in you know yeah obviously it brings a smile to your face you know for me knowing I was able to

help out our team at a time when we needed something to happen like I said earlier though if Mark Johnson doesn't score his two goals who knows my goal doesn't mean anything but the fact that I scored at a team when I did it there was still 10 minutes left to go in the game that was a long 10 minutes but in the movie like I said I haven't seen it in years but in the movie they have like at the end after I scored like the Soviets they just save Craig save Craig save Craig and when you watch the actual footage I scored with 10 minutes left to go in the game and the Soviets only had five shots on goal in the last 10 minutes we totally we totally shut them down in the third period and especially the last 10 minutes but again you know i look at it

yeah it's nice it went in i got the winning goal and uh we win four to three and so what that means is and take let's get ready to watch the last very end of the game okay so for everybody that means that they just kept playing the game and as the soviets became more desperate and urgent And it sounds to me like what Mike Rosione is saying is that they were taking that momentum as a team and they were shutting down the Soviets. They weren't just playing great defense. They were still playing offense. They were outplaying them at every level because the Soviets only had five more shots on

goal the rest of the game. Am I hearing that correctly? Yeah. Yeah. They started doing things they normally don't do. You know, and we just continued to play the way we were playing. continue to do the things that made us successful throughout the tournament. Mike, what was it like standing at podium and bring the team up when that was all complete?

Oh, that was pretty special. You know, to stand and hear the whole building, the whole building singing the Star Spangled Banner and see our flag being risen just a little higher than everybody else's was pretty special. And, you know, I was standing there and I ended up obviously calling all my teammates up onto the podium because one person shouldn't be there should be everybody and the next olympic games and since then it's a long platform where all the players stand and that's the way it should be he changed that yes you can see we we all fit i don't know if we'd all fit now but we all although there's only unfortunately three of my teammates have passed uh since 1980 but uh we we we'll actually we'll all be together

next week in Minnesota doing one of those memorabilia signing things we sign up this company hires our team for i think every three years we do we sign like five or six hundred prints and then they use them for charities or whatever so we'll get we'll get together and uh we'll have some fun and they have a netflix netflix special uh should be coming out in january or february uh they finished they finished that they interviewed all of us of all of us went back to lake placid which was kind of fun. And it's kind of typical Hollywood or whatever. So Netflix comes to my hometown,

and they kind of walked around with me and talked to people, and I don't know what's going to end up on the editing floor or not the editing floor, but they interviewed my wife, and my wife doesn't say anything. She's very quiet and very shy. So they said, can we talk to her?

I said, yeah, you can talk to her. You're not going to get much out of her. So she was sitting there, and the guy looked at my wife, and he said, when Mike was elected captain of the team, And he called you and told you, what did you think? What did he say? And she looks and goes, call me?

You think he called me? He didn't call me. He called his friends and his father. I'm the last person he called. And I said, God, I hope that makes it onto the show because that's pretty funny. So I'm curious what Netflix is going to do. But they usually do some good stuff, so I think that'll be fun. I think, you know, after the Netflix and then the commemorative Netflix,

blood, that's got to be it. What else can they give us? It's over. It's never over. But, well, yeah, right. Do you think it's over? No, I get that, but still it's like, you know, okay. What else can we have?

So, legacy. Do you think about those things? Do you think about, you know, I know, a simple person, do you think about what you'd want people 100 years ago when you leave this world, 100 years from now when you leave this world, what you want to be remembered for? Has that ever come across your mind, your heart? No, I guess I think it's what I talked about earlier.

You know, like my teammates and I had to be remembered as a good group of guys who worked hard to accomplish their dream. And that we were good people. And like I said, if you spent time with my teammates, you'd get a total understanding of how we were successful. You know, not only were we good, we were the type, you know, we were the guys that you wanted as a neighbor, as a friend. And I think I'd like our team to be remembered. It's just a bunch of good guys who worked hard and had incredible values who loved our country. We took great pride in putting a USA jersey on. And I think we, you know, represented our country the way that I think people in this country were proud of and our team wanted to be remembered for that.

Being, you know, a good group of guys that you would want to hang with and sit with and talk with and you could trust and who you respected. and I guess things that my dad always told me about. It's easy to be a good person, and I think our team was that. Amen. It's okay if we're getting down to it, final couple minutes. Okay, if we ask two or three quick questions? Sure. Okay.

Let's go cert partner questions. Any cert partners have a question for Mr. Michael is the only raise your hand real quick, and let's get them the microphone. And actually, I also did, I also would, if, Lance and then if Nathan had his hand up great is not fine but after what Nathan did today I think that would be earning a question and I'll try to get one of the women of cert as well but Lance you had your hand on Mike I just wanted to say Oh by the way Nathan is a retired lieutenant colonel the United States Air Force

Commercial airline pilot now and doing many of incredible things like my nephew are separate subject just retired as a full bird colonel in the Marine Corps He went to the Naval Academy and then he took the Marine end of it and works for the government now and he can't tell me what he does Outstanding I won't hold the Naval Academy part against him I just I never really knew your full story or you know this man here is responsible for my full knowledge of this and how a special is to everyone's audience First time I've ever met you were to speak and I just want to say that you were a national trade and not just because of the way you told the story, but for being a lunch pail and Bardat kind of got

and the value that you espouse and talk about and just oozes out you. So this is a question I just wanted to acknowledge you for that. And also, how you tell her Brooks' story, and I think the witness that you provide for what he did and who he was is the greatest gift that I believe you can give another human being,

being a witness for somebody's life. Right. And we don't believe in the miracles in this room. And as you said, you know, maybe we either another 1980, this day and age. And because of this man and the witness that he is for your team and your life, I think one of us, you know, has retired,

you know, firefighter myself. I've said this before, but I believe that the mission, that they're on now is more crucial to our nation to the furthering of that dream for what you thought or what you represent than a mission I served one of them to actually find all these guys and then in the country so I think you will leave the miracles and I think that the next miracle that happens will be created in this room so thank you for being here tonight thank you thank you thank you for thank you for having you thank you I I wrote a book a few years ago it's called The Making of a Miracle

and it's kind of my life story and I don't tell you to buy the book but you can if you want to but I wrote that I remember when they contacted me they wanted to write a book about our team this is simple Mike I'm buying a book for everybody in the room

I'm seriously order the book I don't know you can get Amazon whatever but I remember they wanted to write a book about our team and I called my teammates up and they said no no not interested and if you like I said if you move to my teammates they don't like any attention at all whatsoever.

They said, no, we're not interested in a book. I said, okay, so I called the guy back, and he goes, why don't you write one? I don't want to write a book. Then I got to talk about myself. Then I got to go to book signings, and you've got to see people. And then I thought about it, and I talked to my wife. I said, you know what, I'm going to do it.

I wrote the book, and I wrote the book for one reason. I want my grandkids to know that Papa's life wasn't one game or one goal or one moment and want my grandkids to know about their grandfather, their great grandfather, and their family, because family is very important to me. So I did write the book and it actually became a bestseller. And thank God COVID hit because I didn't have to go around do book signings. I did like two signings and that was enough for me.

Thank God for COVID. Thank God for COVID. It's amazing. Who's got the next question, team? Can't ask me any later. This is Mama's Soul Wisdom. She had her face on a Times Square Billboard. feed for like a month rotating incredible human view for this month so for you

thank you mr. mr. I mean what do you hope that miracle of science teaches future generation about what's possible for the human spirit and vision I'm always I think that the message is what I talked about if you believe in something and you're willing to work hard you can accomplish it so I think value of work I think of work I think hopefully our team will instill that in people you know miracle is a catchy phrase sounds great but it wasn't a miracle it was accomplishment by a group of people who believe we believe that i said this earlier and ourselves and we believed in each other and i think that's an important value to have about belief and faith and hope and don't ever quit uh despite despite the obstacles and the

challenges um and i guess that would probably be our message because nobody thought we could win. We believed that we had a hope and a dream, but let's go play and find out. So I think that would be a great legacy and message. I remember when we were named Sportsman of the year, Sports Illustrated, EM Swift wrote an article about our team, and it was entitled The Lesson and Message of What We Can Be. And the article didn't talk about goals that were scored or saves that were made. It talked about our values. It talked about our work ethic. And I think that's the key to our success. And I think that, you know, and then it was named the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. And a lot of it was because of those values. And that's where I hope people

take away from the movie or take away from our team is what we, the hope and belief that we had. Let's hear for that. And I'm going to think a final question. I was 10 years old, as I told you, and maybe I was too naive, or maybe I just hadn't been brainwashed. about why you can't do things. But when I went home that day to watch that game, I believe with every cell in my body that we, that's what you guys did, we, you made it a way

for everybody in America who actually could still not be conditioned to a negative headspace that we were going to win. And I thank you for that. And because of that, incredibly impossible dynamic of me being 10 years old it's the right age the right time that imprinted on me

just in all these circumstances in the dynamics in my life and lives of others yeah that it's surely possible and I mean it with every part of me thank you and I feel so blessed to have the miraculous timing of being 10 years old and that might happen so thank you

that's funny my grink has one of watch the movie sometimes and we never I've never sat with them and watched it at some point I'm going to but about a month ago my grandson wanted to watch the movie and I took the tape out and he looks at me goes what's that I says that's the movie what movie miracle what's that that's the tape it's the tape of the movie you know we spoil little brat that's not a CD it's not a disc for your VHS tape here watch it but I missed Brazilian and I have to say when I share this far be it for me to ever ever even give you any advice but would it be okay if I offer a thought really quickly yeah please watch it with them

because it would be it will be I am absolutely certain a remarkable experience for you and them forever and you have so earned what that will imprint on them forever no I'll I'll I'll I'll watch it. And I think someday I'll watch the Soviet game with them as well. Problem with the Soviet. I don't want to be watching the Soviet game, which is on VHS. I don't want to watch in the game, and all of a sudden one of my buddies shows up. Let it go, Mike.

It's over, you know. But I do have a VH tape of every game that we played, and maybe that would be something. Maybe when the 18-month-old is a little older, we can all watch it together. Let's hear for that. Final question. Tony Murielo. Listen, we talk about, like, you think you're not smart. I don't think I'm not smart.

This dude's a brain surgeon, literally, an actual brain surgeon. So yes. I'm glad he's not a dermatologist. We'll get to that in a second. So just watching the clips and hearing his story, there's a lot of similarities to medicine and the way you were trained. and would you say that Herb was the toughest coach that you played for him? No, my high school football coach and my college hockey coach were pretty intense.

But then again, you know, we were talking about it. That's how coach is coached in the 70s. You deal with it, you know? I mean, live in the house with my father for, you know, 40 years and see how tough it was, you know. I tell people, Herb was like your dad. You know you love your dad, but sometimes you hate it. your dad because he makes you do things you don't want to do, that was her. So that's the way it's

going to be. Okay, I can deal with it. You don't get to yell at me for two hours. Practice is over and I'm out of here. But he was demanding and he was challenging, but that's the way it was going to be. So if that's the way it's going to be, that's the way it's going to be. I'm not quitting. I want to be on this team. Yeah. Some of the positions here with me, we all train in the error where our attendees treating us like that and again and again and again. Right. And we just have our results were better because of that. We keep them in a special place in our heart because they made us who we are.

Makes you stronger. Yeah. And I wonder if someone that's missing today, you know, you're still here with the university now. You notice that. It's a lot different. Coaching kids today is, you don't coach them the way you used to coach. Don't yell at Johnny because, you know, you'll get in trouble. But, you know, I think.

The era that we grew up in was that kind of an era. Now they grew up in a different era. You've got to learn how to coach today differently than you could coach 20 years ago, 30 years ago. And the great coaches adjust that way. The great coaches understand, you know, things. They can still be firm and discipline and things like that, but you've got to find a way, a different way of doing it than I think the old coaches did. Thank you.

Thank you, Tony. So, Mike's got a great new doctor. Can you share that real quick? My wife's a fanatic about going to the doctors. Got to go to the doctors. My dermatologist retired. So she gets me this new dermatologist. This was about, I'm going to say, six, eight months ago.

So I go into the guy's office. He sent me to go to the room four. So I go to room four. I sit down and waiting for the doctor. The doctor comes in. Take your shirt off. So I take my shirt off and he's got the thing that he's looking. That's good.

That's spot's good. That's good. And I have, after the Olympics, my girlfriend, who's my wife, I had this replica of gold medal made for me. She worked in a jewelry business, and he looks at it, and he sees Lake Placid. He goes, Lake Placid. I went there last year.

You know, that's where the U.S. hockey team won the gold medals? Where to go? And I think he's messing with me, right? And they have the Oval with Eric Hayden won five gold medals right next to the arena, and they have a museum,

and they can watch ski jumpers, and there's a bobsled and a luge, have you ever been there? And I still think he's messing with me, right? I looked at him and I went, I was on that team. He goes, no, you weren't. I said, no, I was. I was on that team.

He goes, oh, my God. So I leave, and I go home, and I tell my wife the story. She goes, what do you think? I said, I think I need a new doctor. This guy had no idea who I was. He never looked at my wife. my chart. It's not like my name is Smith. My name is in the, if you go to Lake Placis,

in the arena, there's a big billboard of all our names all around the ring. It says, you know, Mike Yuzioni in the rink. And he was there. And he never looked at my chart. So I'm getting a new doctor. That's a true story. That actually happened. No idea. anything anything left that you want to accomplish that is unaccomplished yet I hear family

the congressional gold medal you obviously have an incredibly successful speaking. No like I said to you I take each day as it comes I look forward to going home tomorrow my grandson's got a football game I think tomorrow night and go watch him play and live every day and enjoy every day

and watch my kids my grandkids grow and hopefully live a little longer to see them have kids someday. I told my wife, and this is funny, I know you aren't going to agree with me, but when I first became a grandfather, I said to my wife, the worst thing about being a grandfather is I'm sleeping with a grandmother. And she didn't think that was funny. I thought it was hilarious. I slept on the couch.

Yeah, slept on the couch for the next month. But no, like I said, I just, you know, I cherish the things that I'm doing, continue to do opportunities that I still have. Working at Boston University is awesome. We're going to have another good hockey team this year. Three years in a row, we went to the Frozen Four, and final four, and maybe this year we can win it, which would be great for the kids themselves.

But, no, I just hope the plane lands on time tomorrow, and I'll make maybe nine holes in the afternoon with the boys. That's a beautiful thing. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done here. Thanks for having me. The appreciation knows no bounds. And what I think would be a wonderful way to have my... Call this an evening would be to give him a little USA, USA on our feet.

What do you guys think? Yes! So it's rise to our feet is Mr. Mike Arizioni. Heads off the stage. Let's first I'll give him a hand. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you, Chuck. I'm not here, everyone. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! Thank you.

USA! Thank you. USA! USA! USA! Mr. Micah Rizzioni, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.