Mike Eruzione: USA Wins Gold, the Miracle on Ice, and the Mindset of a Champion

17:53Mike Eruzione:What's there for that? Which is I think the ultimate honor you know it's not a sports award it's not an ESPN award this is this 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 I said earlier that, that touched the lives of a lot of people. In 1979, 1980, we were looking for something to feel good about, the hostages, the gas lines, inflation. And all of a sudden we come along and, and I've said this, and 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 a USA Jersey 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 rallied people that was we didn't go to Lake Placid to rally a whole country we didn't even know they think about it there was no Facebook or Twitter there's three TV stations that you know that the social media didn't exist and yet when we won when we got out into the country and realized that this thing was pretty big.

19:03Mike Eruzione: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 do. Not me, 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 that. Herb Brooks, our coach, used to call us a lunch pail, hard hat group of guys. Because that's who 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 hockey.

19:43Sean Callagy:So, Mike, a couple quick things. So some of the things I love to think about are things, and it's exciting for me that you hadn'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 you know so when you ended up being asked by a friend hey would you like to come play in this game that was an incredible blessing and you seize that opportunity hearing you loudly and 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.

20:26Sean Callagy:But if I could, do you think that at that time, because today I know that you know, this is part of your world, there's all these showcases and club teams and 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 going to 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 you, or they just never even knew you existed because there's no social media, no showcases?

21:12Mike Eruzione:No, there were no showcases. You played in your hometown. I played in where I live now. I played in Winthrop. I played peewee hockey. I played youth hockey. I played high school hockey. I played bantam hockey. there were no all-star teams there were no travel teams today it's it's crazy today the cost you know I get these kids they're on 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 right in 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 Winthrop 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 got 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 You know, to me, there's only a few that are going to make it.

22:23Mike Eruzione:I personally think this kid spent 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 today. I'm glad it wasn't like that when I played because he just played. And there weren't pressures.

22:43Sean Callagy:So when you were at Winthrop then, did you have coaches? did you have one, two, five, ten college coaches come see? How many overlooked you? Was it just a small number or was it a lot of coaches that were coming to your high school years?

22:57Mike Eruzione:I would say they were probably a small number because there weren't many colleges playing hockey at that time. The game has grown. When I was a kid, you were from Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, maybe Maine, upstate New York, places like that who are hockey players. Now, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida. Look at how many players played. Not just men, our women. Our women's program, 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're probably going to get seen a lot more now than you would have when I played because there were just a handful of schools that had Division I programs.

23:42Mike Eruzione:Absolutely.

23:43Sean Callagy:So when you were then in high school, you're loving baseball, football, hockey, did you ever think about the Olympics in hockey in high school before college, or that wasn't even a thought in your head?

23:53Mike Eruzione:No, I just played. I wasn't that smart to think ahead other than just I'm going to be a senior next year, and hopefully my senior year will go well athletically, academically, or whatever. It always went well athletically. but 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 know one thing my parents wouldn't have had the money for me to play the travel that the kids

24:25Sean Callagy:play today so then once you get to 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

24:47Mike Eruzione:flat out better already no I think the practices continue I mean you put you want to play at Boston University you better be ready to play every year because there's new recruits coming in next year and new players challenging you but it was again it was it was a different thing I watch our players today, I mean, when 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. You know, we have a sensory room now. The kids, they go in this room and they just sit there and just kind of, I don't know what they do in a sensory room.

25:26Mike Eruzione:We didn't have any of that shit. You just played. And when the season ended, you know, the summertime, you know, I'd maybe play a little once in a while at the end of the summer to get ready for hockey, but I played baseball in the summer. These kids, after practice, they go into the weight room. I'm going to tell you the truth. We went to the dugout, was the bar on campus. Practice was over. Hey guys, let's go now. We have a few bears and we'll go to school classes tomorrow and then we'll get up and go to hockey practice and after practice we'll go to the dugout for a little while. it's now it's it's a different different whole scenario and good for them I think it's great for the for the players because these guys have aspirations of playing the National Hockey League I wanted to go to Boston University to play at Boston University and if it happened that it may be 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 the first round draft picks second round draft picks then you 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 gonna be the first pick in the draft next year he was coming it was coming to Boston University he's going to Penn State because Penn State's given them eight hundred thousand dollars wow that's name image and likeness that we do you follow any sports quarterback at Michigan this year is that couldn't make about nine million you know she does 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 to making money yeah for me my scholarship was plenty but now it's it's a different environment in this the college sports for men and women you know this is the girl I think I'm UCLA the gymnast that's making like stupid money but that's just that that's the arena or in now that was never there when I played when I played you just

27:21Sean Callagy:played yeah so when you're just playing and you're at BU and you're obviously just standing out scoring goals leading a team on the way to breaking the scoring record at any point did you I mean you're just playing you're focusing do you remember when the first time you ever thought or heard of the Olympics Olympics in hockey? Like when did that come into your mind?

27:45Mike Eruzione:Okay, again, crazy story. I got asked to play in the 1976 team, 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 was in 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 US team came in fourth or fifth. So I missed that and passed that opportunity up.

28:23Mike Eruzione: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. They drafted me. I was a second round draft pick of the New York Rangers. So when the season ended, BU 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 I had a really good camp and a guy named John Ferguson was the general manager of the New York Rangers and Fergie called me in his office says Mikey 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 Duguay who had a great career with the Rangers and we have a bunch of older players and we're not shelling 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 yes that that's where I was you played for the team from Slapshot that was the league oh okay wow Ogie Gogol thought remember him yes he was on our team in Toledo for a week and then he got traded but anyway so I go to camp I got sent to Toledo, the New York Rangers number two farm team, but I didn't have an NHL contract.

29:39Mike Eruzione: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 of the year. I'm going to sign with the New York Rangers. John Ferguson got fired. A guy named Fred Shero, who used to be with the Philadelphia Flyers, He becomes the general manager of the New York Rangers and he calls my agent and says look at Mike's free to do what he wants to do We're not signing Mike. We know he had a great year, but we're going in a different direction Wow So here I am in limbo. What am I going to do? So I go back to Toledo To stay an amateur hoping to get invited to try out for the 80 Olympic team 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 kept four thousand dollar raise But I still got ever paid every two weeks.

30:39I could get traded tomorrow

30:40Mike Eruzione: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 her Brooks inviting me to try out for the 80 olympic team So I go to the eight 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 I had the best decision that ever happened.

31:27Mike Eruzione:Wow. And then the Olympic Games, and then, you know, we win, and then a couple of NHL teams wanted to sign me 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.

32:03Mike Eruzione:And then IBM, this was in February, and then IBM called my agent advisor and they wanted me to do 10 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 got into broadcasting, then I got 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 got a good gig at BU but it's just funny how you know your life works never knowing what you're gonna do what what is available but like I said after the Olympics I was gonna coach and teach that's that's what I was gonna do and then next thing you know wow this thing was pretty big and your life kind of turned or changed.

33:16Mike Eruzione:My life changed to a degree. I haven't changed. It drives my wife absolutely nuts. We've been together for 50 years. It's not like 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 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 have more than three kids because I'd have been home more so Mike so for everybody we had these conversations

33:57Sean Callagy:over the last couple days about these dark moments and the hero's journey so Mike's this phenomenal player has nothing going on with colleges besides a division three opportunity 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 make mike correct me if i'm wrong most second round draft picks end up on the team isn't that isn't that relatively normal or yeah 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 gonna be on the team and all of a sudden he's not and that could have been something I mean I'm you know we're getting a sense of Mike and Mike seems like a 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 he kind of like shrugged and said all right on we go because of the values that he was raised with.

35:07Sean Callagy:And that's an incredible strength 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 I'm 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 happen, 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 for Mike because he has such an incredibly strong level of self-mastery right with self-mastery is our language for 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 into the right thing am I hearing that correctly Mike that's how

35:59Mike Eruzione:Yeah, I mean dad always said to me is even as a kid is more to life than athletics And 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 You know just because I didn't play you know if let's just say this 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 in I'm 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.

36:40Mike Eruzione:But my life took a different turn and my life went this way, but it shouldn't change, as I said earlier, 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 I think 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 yeah so this is and

37:21Sean Callagy:and for everybody here, I want to really lock in on this, the lack of attachment that Mike has to the outcome. He shows up, he gives everything he's got, and then what happens, happens. And I'm inspired. I'm not only inspired, it's a really, we talk about the difference between inspiration and tools. You know, like, right, a hockey stick's a tool. How you use the hockey stick is, you know, part of your tool. And then you have psychology. and for me, what I'm clear about is I get more attached than Mike does. And I invite you to consider the same for yourself. So thank you, Mike, already for helping me be a mirror for me.

38:00Sean Callagy:I'm like, yeah, I took things a lot harder than you did. And that, I had a strong psychology, not as strong as yours. As a high school athlete, as a college athlete, I must play my way out of college baseball my sophomore year, pouting. I was, you know, runner for Ivy League rookie of the year my freshman year at Columbia, and the coach tried to change a few things, and I was quiet. I wasn't ever mouthy. I was very respectful, but I would pout more. I would take things more personally. I would be more upset about things, and what 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?

38:40Sean Callagy:Should you go have a few beers? Should you call somebody? You're like, hey, F it. Like, here I go, or is it, like, week you're upset at all and if so for how long?

38:47Mike Eruzione:I was pissed off. What do you mean you don't want a sign made? Look what I just did. But then again hey that's that's that's your decision I'll go in a different direction. Let's hear how strong is that?

39:03Mike Eruzione: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 gonna do? Pout? Quit? No.

39:12Sean Callagy:I mean most people do you don't know why if you pout and quit sometimes say yes yes so thank you it's yeah no I that that's not in my that was never in my vocabulary and I think part

39:25Mike Eruzione: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 as and again that's that's my wife and I get into these discussions all the time. Why are you such a in such a good mood all the time? I said because I don't want to be miserable. I don't want to I don't want to live a life of wondering. I'm just gonna do what I want to do and I'm gonna go ahead and do it despite the challenges and like I said not every day is a great day.

40:05Mike Eruzione:Sometimes things don't work out the way you want it to work out. I missed a two-footer yesterday for$20. I was so pissed off. Like this. Next time I have that two-footer, I better make it. So, again, I'm not that deep a guy. I'm not that smart a 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.

40:33Sean Callagy:Yeah. And, Mike, thank you. And just so we're level set. I failed freshman high school geometry for the year as a freshman in high school. I had a lower GPA in high school than I did in law school. So I went to Columbia because of baseball. So it wasn't that I was thinking about things quite the same way then as I am now. And one of the things that I think for these guys, these are people who are trained. This is not a sales program. These are people trained to think about how do you succeed and how do you master things? And so what we're hearing, what they're hearing from you is we have the saying that Einstein said, make it as simple as possible, but not simpler.

41:17Sean Callagy: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 just 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 Mike Arrizioni to be Mike Arrizioni, and that's present for me. That's here. That's just clear to me. And while you're saying it, as yeah, it's easy. 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 we're going to have the self-mastery according to Mike Arrizioni, which is very simply, don't get attached, just get everything you got, like the micro-resempler from his dad formula, and your identity doesn't change.

42:10Sean Callagy:We talk a lot 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?

42:23Mike Eruzione: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 point in your life, you'll be successful. And it might not be today or tomorrow or next month, but when you're the best at what you do, I guarantee it's the time and effort and work that you put in. And those are the values that are important. Whatever 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 worked hard at everything that I've done, whether as an athlete or if I happened to go in a different direction.

42:59Mike Eruzione:you know if sports ended and I went which it did I went into a new direction I'm working hard at 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 Mike so I live with that and it and if

43:19Sean Callagy:you feel that from Mike say yes yeah if you feel his authenticity say yes yeah And his mastery, yes? Yeah. So, Mike, you go and these BUNs, the draft with the Rangers, playing hockey in Toledo, and now Herb Brooks calls you up. And what happens from there? Do you then – was there – the movie, right? These guys have seen the movie lots. We show clips all the time. So in the movie, there's this shortened version of the tryout. Like, could you please take us through what happens?

43:55Mike Eruzione: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 Herb Brooks. So I went to the tryout. 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 Olympic team. I shouldn't say that. Hundreds tried out.

44:30Mike Eruzione:68 got selected. 68 of us went to Colorado Springs, competed against each other in kind of a mini tournament, and tryouts were over. 26 players made up the AD Olympic team, but only 20 were going to Lake Placid. Six guys were going to get cut.

44:47Sean Callagy:Can I just slow you down for a second? Is that okay? So in Colorado Springs, when this happens, what's that two weeks like? And I'm just going to give you a couple of multiple choice. Were there fistfights? Were people getting along? Were people kind of in the same boat of being friends, buddies? Were there rivalries from college? How was all that? What was Colorado Springs like?

45:11Mike Eruzione:Well, it was a tournament. It was competitive. And there was a team from Massachusetts, which I was not on. I was on the 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.

45:26Sean Callagy:And that had players from Coach Brooks' college team, right?

45:30Mike Eruzione:A lot of the kids played under Herb at the University of Minnesota.

45:34Sean Callagy:Because 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?

45:47Mike Eruzione:Well, we had the year before the Olympic tryouts in the national championship, Minnesota and Boston University got into a bench-clearing brawl.

45:56Sean Callagy:I would call that a big rivalry. Yeah.

45:59Mike Eruzione:Four minutes into the game. It was 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 a player. They ended up beating us in the game. And who was the player you guys lost? We lost Terry Mehar, who was our leading goal scorer at the time.

46:14Sean Callagy:Right.

46:14Mike Eruzione:And they lost one of their guys who wasn't quite their leading player. And the guy, Terry Mahara?

46:19Sean Callagy:Yes. Did he make the 80 Olympic team?

46:21Mike Eruzione:No, Terry was from Canada. Got it. He was the captain of our team in 1976.

46:26Sean Callagy:And Jack O 'Callaghan, he played for?

46:28Mike Eruzione: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 Duluth. But of the 20 guys, 12 of the 20 players were from Minnesota. Wow.

46:51Sean Callagy:And 13 of the players then, if I'm counting correctly, nine from Minnesota, four from BU. So 13 of the players were from this big rivalry with nine from Minnesota and only four from Boston University.

47:01Mike Eruzione:Well, and Wisconsin and Minnesota had a huge rivalry because the national championship battles for years. So there was a lot of animosity between the two programs. So we're in the room, and 68 players tried out. Herb came up to the stage, and he said, if I call your name, please stay. And if I don't, thanks for coming.

47:24Sean Callagy:Okay, it's this. Forgive me for interrupting. I just want to really let these guys get it, because they've seen so many clips of things. Right, right, right. So do you think in that moment, A, I know I made the team, B, I think I made the team, C, I hope I made the team?

47:39Mike Eruzione:Probably B, because 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. Oh, wow. And I led 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. 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.

48:16Mike Eruzione:Ken, he was a great defenseman from Michigan. He went for the Islanders later. He won four Stanley Cups right after the Olympics. That's a pretty good run. And I'm sitting there thinking, I hope this isn't alphabetical. My name's not going to get called. And then 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, 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.

48:52Mike Eruzione:The Team USA is going to have 26 players, 25 players. They carry more now than they did then. 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. Was this 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.

49:19Sean Callagy:Wow.

49:20Mike Eruzione: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 captaincy 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 it was a great group of leaders and people So the captaincy was it 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 travel and training six we're gonna get cut and up until the last week I still

50:11Sean Callagy:wondered if I was gonna be one of the 20 now okay take it back for a second okay during so during Colorado Springs that time was her Brooks quiet and just watching and scouting or was he already starting to be coach her Brooks towards

50:29Mike Eruzione:everybody you know he was coach Brooks and that's the way it was gonna be we were gonna travel play I think we played 60 some odd games all around the country went to Europe for a month played overseas and then throughout the course of the six months he evaluated all the players and you know he threatened to cut me two weeks before the Olympics he said look at you just not doing it I just don't know what I'm gonna do and I'm like wait a minute I'm the captain and I'm thinking well he's the coach and you know and 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 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 gonna 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 but he was a he was a incredible mind kind of guy he loved to 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

51:39Sean Callagy:he's crazy enough to do it so when in the 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 play for Team USA but there was a night of crazy skating so oh yeah can you take us through that night and 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 does that fit into the skating the division was what they

52:22Mike Eruzione: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's 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 defenseman 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 gonna be out on the power play not everybody's gonna be out killing penalties everybody's got a job in 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 gold medal, but we knew in order for us to be successful We have to believe in ourself, but we had to believe in each other and that's a great place to be That's all go to practice every day knowing everybody's willing to sacrifice to be the best and that's that was our mindset from the beginning So the teams picked 26 guys, then right before the Olympic Games, he cuts the last two players.

53:54Sean Callagy:Can I, the again-again, the skating.

53:57Mike Eruzione:The skating, yeah. Right, we played Norway, and the game ended in a 3-3 tie, and Herb wasn't very happy with the way we played.

54:03Sean Callagy:And Norway was not like a world power in hockey, correct?

54:05Mike Eruzione: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. that look at her look at her that 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 waves of five guys at a time and only 15 of us dressed that night the other 10 guys were in the stands watching.

54:42Mike Eruzione: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 till you die. Let's 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.

55:02Sean Callagy:That is called Zeus energy, ladies and gentlemen. Yes.

55:05Mike Eruzione:And then they shut the lights off in the building, just had the electrical lights on, We finished the skate and he brought us in the locker This way again tomorrow. You're gonna skate again. Well, we beat Norway eight to nothing the next day I'm gonna tell you why we I tell the story about why we skated things It wasn't because we were looking at the girls in the stands To me. This is the message from herb was this there. There are a lot of important values in life and the most important one is respect and 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 people that you associate yourself with you will not be successful And if you don't respect your competition You will not be successful.

55:53Mike Eruzione: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 room It is bedlam bedlam in the locker room all our parents are in the locker room You couldn't go anywhere in Lake Placid without your badge with your name tag To this day how our parents got in the locker room. We have no idea How my dad get in with a six pack of beer? I have no idea. My dad was sitting waving at me like it was a high school game and the locker room was the size of this Here was so tiny all of a sudden Herb calls me into the back area And he says Mike.

56:38I just got a call from President Carter and they are sending Air Force One

56:43Mike Eruzione:Tomorrow morning at 630 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 I looked at her and I said who's gonna watch me?

56:58Mike Eruzione:I got to tell you the truth, we stayed out all night. But why I tell you that story was Herb never wavered 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 Herb 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 what we talked about a little earlier.

57:36Mike Eruzione:I think that's what we've lost sight of in our countries. People just don't respect people anymore. And, you know, I can mention it. We just got awarded our team's going to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, which is, did I say that earlier?

57:53Sean Callagy:You did, yeah. I did.

57:53Mike Eruzione:Well, I repeated myself.

57:55Sean Callagy:That's okay.

57:55Mike Eruzione:But that is an ultimate honor for our team. And I think that's what makes our team and separates our team from other athletic achievements is that it was a U.S. story and not...

58:11Mike Eruzione:And Mike Eruzione is a great guy to keep and maintain those values that are so important in life. And 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.

58:26Sean Callagy:And Mike, so now we're 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 Herb wanted to play that game? Was it just, hey, this is part of the schedule? Was there any deeper thought, you think, by Coach Herb Brooks and the game did not go well for you guys and how did that all fit into what would happen at the Olympics, if at all? It was just like a game and like, hey, you watched it all.

58:59Mike Eruzione:Well, for me, it was the last. And why we scheduled the game, I have no idea other than maybe Herb wanted us to play 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 them 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 Square Garden.

59:30Sean Callagy:So you guys understand this? So the 1980 team that Mike is on, they're playing against college teams, minor league teams. 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, are professional hockey players, essentially, where their life is paid for, their world is paid for. and these are much older players, much more seasoned players, like they would be NHL players. And I repeat, they were beating NHL teams and NHL all-star teams. But Mike, back to you and going into Madison Square Garden.

1:00:11Mike Eruzione:Yeah, so we step on the ice. You've got to remember one thing, too. Some of the Soviet players were going for their 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 know if anybody here follows college hockey, but our Olympic team in 1980 would be the youngest team in college hockey today. Wow. And I was 25 at the time, and Buzzy Schneider was 25. Neil Broughton was 18, Mike Ramsey was 18, Davey Christian was 19. So we step out on the ice in Madison Square Garden, the building sold out.

1:00:47Mike Eruzione: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.

1:01:24Mike Eruzione:So the next morning I pick up the New York Post, wrong newspaper to pick up, and the article talks about how the US 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 US. It 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 Yakachev, there's Kutov, these great players we heard so much about.

1:02:00Herb was a great speaker, great

1:02:03Mike Eruzione:motivator. We go in the locker room to get ready to go to Lake Placid, 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 come in second in our division to even get a chance to play them. 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 them when you guys were 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.

1:02:44Mike Eruzione: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 off 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 gonna play him 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.

1:03:19Mike Eruzione:Even when we got to play him the second time in Lake Placid, the day before practice Herb never said, 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.

1:04:07Mike Eruzione: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.

1:04:16Sean Callagy:And I wouldn't have expected 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, am I right? Okay, Okay, 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, medal rounds, or the team culture was more like just play the game in front of you? Didn't guys talk about things? How was that psychology?

1:04:51Mike Eruzione:Well, we got to Lake Placid, and the first thing you do is you go into the room where they're going to give you the clothing that you're going to 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 gonna 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 Illustrated's and you go over And you're picking 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 And the Czechs had the three Stasny brothers who were great players.

1:05:33Mike Eruzione:They might, might give 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, the ability, or experience to compete at that level. And I remember seeing it the second time. Reminding me of 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.

1:06:11Mike Eruzione: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.

1:06:45Mike Eruzione:And there were maybe 2 ,000, 3 ,000 people in the stands. Billy Baker scores arguably the biggest goal of the Olympics with 28 seconds left to go. We tie Sweden 2-2. And it was a huge point because nobody thought we could beat Sweden.

1:06:58Sean Callagy:At the end of the game, 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.

1:07:12Mike Eruzione: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 them 7-3. Now everybody's talking about the US 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.

1:07:45Mike Eruzione: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 with the Soviets and they they were averaging seven goals a game They beat Japan 16 to nothing two nights earlier Wow and we're gonna play them. That's the deal. You're in the tournament, the next game is the Soviets and now we'll play them.

1:08:23Sean Callagy: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 Herbrook says in the movie in the Soviet pregame speech, he said in practice the day before, is that right?

1:08:39Mike Eruzione:Right. The speech, when I saw the movie for the first time and I heard his speech and my holy 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 beaten if anybody can beat him you guys can beat him and we know and on and on and on about that so I think they incorporated what he said the day before into the speech before the game.

1:09:12Sean Callagy:And they show the wall in the game? How did that build? Was that a real thing?

1:09:19Mike Eruzione: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. Swear to God, 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 and put it up on the wall.

1:09:57Mike Eruzione:So we're walking out of the locker room onto the ice and that wall of telegrams were there. So we knew people were watching from afar, but nowhere did we have an idea 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 4-3. And two days later, we had to play Finland.

1:10:18Sean Callagy:Would it be okay if we watched a couple clips from the movie? Yeah. Hey, Tink, so maybe let's show the pregame talk, which is a combined talk from the day before in practice. And then, you know, leading up to going on the ice. and we're ready to play that quickly or does it take a minute?

1:10:35Sean Callagy:Just go in the mic tank, just how long?

1:10:41Sean Callagy:Yep, perfect.

1:11:12Great moments are born from great opportunity.

1:11:20Sean Callagy:And that's what you have here tonight, boys. That's what you've earned here tonight.

1:11:33Sean Callagy:One game. If we played them ten times, they might win nine.

1:11:42Sean Callagy:But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them. and we shut them down because we can.

1:12:07Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world.

1:12:19Mike Eruzione:You were born to be hockey players. To every one of you.

1:12:28And you were meant to be here tonight.

1:12:36Mike Eruzione:This is your time.

1:12:42Their time is done.

1:12:46Sean Callagy:It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Soviets have. Screw them! This is your time. Now go out there and take it.

1:13:09Sean Callagy:Oh, what does that bring up, bring back, if anything, for you?

1:13:12Mike Eruzione: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, like I said, Neil Broughton, 18 years old, he'd have a slice of pizza before we go on the ice and I'm sitting there, how can he eat anything like that but this game here I remember how walking in the locker room, how deadly quiet it was and I'm thinking wow we are just, we are 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 sick and tired of the Soviets and 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 yeah and Kurt Russell was I was I told you he was amazing as Herb Brooks

1:14:04Sean Callagy: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 Herb Brooks he said was much softer and friendlier than what you saw in the movie like Herb's wife's in the movie and I don't think I saw her

1:14:22Mike Eruzione: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 coaches.

1:14:33Sean Callagy:So did you ever see Herb Brooks smile?

1:14:36Mike Eruzione: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 Herb. Herb made a choice to coach our team that way. He was going to be the 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.

1:15:27Mike Eruzione:We'll prove you wrong. Really, you're going to yell at Buzzy, then you're yelling at me. And we understood that 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.

1:15:45Sean Callagy: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 tank So we'll go there in one sec 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've 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 he was just a

1:16:24Mike Eruzione:prick to play for John Harrington used to write down something we called them Brooks isms her would come up with these statements and Harrington would write them all down and we kept them a book of them you know one thing one time he said weave weave weave but don't weave for the sake of weaving and weaving was intercredit across crisscross that's the style of hockey that we were gonna 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 skating around going what's it look like so there were some things that he said that kind of made you laugh a little.

1:17:10Mike Eruzione: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.

1:17:25Sean Callagy:And there's a scene in the movie with an interaction after the Soviet game between Jim Herb Brooks and Jim Craig. Did that happen? How did he relate to Jim Craig, Coach Brooks?

1:17:36Mike Eruzione:I don't know that. That must have been something that was separate. You know, goaltenders, you usually just leave them 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 remembered. I thought about it.

1:17:53Sean Callagy:And it is correct, by the way. The team has never been back together. Did the whole team make it onto Air Force One the next day, or they didn't?

1:18:01Mike Eruzione:Jim Craig did not. He went to Atlanta because he signed with the Atlanta hockey team.

1:18:06Sean Callagy:So it is true that not even at 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, Mike? Is that crazy?

1:18:20Mike Eruzione: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 at Eastern Airlines. That's how long ago that was. and I'm sitting next to Dave Silicon silk he's kind of got tears in his eyes and I said Silky what's the matter and he just looked at me went it's over we're never gonna play together again and it was like 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 won the gold medal on Sunday and Monday night my mother's making me dinner and I'm like what the hell just happened to me?

1:19:05Mike Eruzione: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. You know, my mother made breakfast the next morning and had a car, a 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, what, 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.

1:19:45Mike Eruzione: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 in New York, lined with people. They were all clapping and patting me on the back. You know, what happened here? You people watched. It was crazy, you know, to go from having no idea to, oh, my God.

1:20:13Sean Callagy:My God, I was 10 years old. I was not a hockey player. I did like the Islanders at 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 because if I recall correctly, I was in New Jersey. It wasn't being broadcast on television. That was tape delay, the Soviet game. So I had to listen to it on the radio and I was a huge USA person. So I loved the Olympics. I watched everything. So I didn't necessarily just love hockey, but I loved all of it.

1:21:00And I sat by myself in the basement of my parents' house,

1:21:07Sean Callagy: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 a challenge, including if I was going to go blind, to high school sports challenges and everything that would come in my life, things to this day.

1:21:57Sean Callagy:Your signature, or a fraudulent version of it, but I hope it's yours, is on a jersey in my library in 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, than the heart coach herbrooks put that together you as captain was 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 rizzioni isn't um on television he's not in movies he's not on social media but he's at the seashell today and what happened somebody recognized me and

1:23:20Mike Eruzione:then what happened then they wanted to take pictures then they wanted autographs then they started chanting USA USA and I'm like I get my I just wanted a drink anyways who's gonna recognize me here and you know so I finished my drinking took some pictures and signed some photographs and left my drink at the bar. I'm still pissed off.

1:23:42Sean Callagy:We'll get you a few drinks. I'm going to get a few later. Tink, can we hit it? Let's hit it.

1:24:11Thank you.

1:24:52Mike Eruzione:Hold up here a second guys, we're gonna wait for the old gate. Alright, game. You got a lot set. You're a good enemy. Okay. Let's go.

1:25:02Sean Callagy:Let's go. Come on, buddy. Come on, buddy. Come on, buddy. Come on, man. Come on, Bryce.

1:25:13Mike Eruzione:Come on, Dave. Come on, buddy. Come on, buddy. Come on, buddy.

1:25:23Come on, buddy.

1:25:31Sean Callagy:the excitement the tension building 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 you just like I'm focused and we're gonna go play this game like how is it for you?

1:25:56Mike Eruzione:You know it's when you're on the ice you don't hear anything. You hear a teammate you know asking for a pass or Herbie Ellen change up the lines or whatever so you don't hear any chance you're on the bench you could hear the crowd a little but you're still you know it's you're just so geared to what you're doing what you're watching how 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 where you're just, the mindset is just on the ice and, you know, what's happening in front of you.

1:26:32Sean Callagy:Awesome. Do you miss playing at all?

1:26:34Mike Eruzione:Oh, no. I skate. I help out with my high school team. I've been, you know, 45 years a 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 uh you check them i don't want it because i may fall and miss them i i i'm a golfer so i'd much rather do that than than skate around the ice uh i don't need the aggravation plus like you just can't do things you know i try to lift the puck and my shoulder hurts so my gosh so so quick fun fact

1:27:11Sean Callagy:and we're going to think then go to the next spot. The game is tied 3-3 and I don't know, some guy scores a goal that puts the USA up 4-3. So maybe we'll go there next. But not that long ago, Mike was his 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 Nicklaus, who is considered to be the greatest golfer in history by many. Jack Nicklaus' son, and oh, the president of the 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 with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus and some difference between you guys.

1:28:00Mike Eruzione: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'm a member at his club. So I was going to play that day, but Jack Nicklaus' 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 said, 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.

1:28:29Mike Eruzione:Let's hear for that. And he went, he went, that's funny.

1:28:40Sean Callagy:Tink, we're ready.

1:28:44Sean Callagy:We ready, guys? Just give me a heads up when we are. So, game's going. Okay, one sec. Game's going. You're playing. And is it, what I'm hearing is it's, for you, you're so focused on the team, it's like just another hockey game, but I think Keith, I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, but what I'm also hearing is because you treat it like just another hockey game, you no longer were, you guys weren't elevating the Soviets, you're playing hockey. And the game is now 3-3 in the third period, correct, not correct, or is there any time in the game when it kind of changed where you guys became clear it was just a hockey game, we could beat these guys?

1:29:26Sean Callagy:Like, did you come into the game just as a game, or did your confidence as a team, do you think, build over the game?

1:29:32Mike Eruzione:Well, you know, first of all, you know, 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, you know, we weren't scoring five goals. You know, we got four because, you know, if they scored five, we weren't getting five. Right. But, again, that's the way the game kind of went. But, you know, as a player, you just focus on what you're doing. Doing your job. Do the things that you're asked to do.

1:30:05Mike Eruzione: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 you know it's 3-2 them and it's 3-3 us and like i said if it got if it got to be four to them the game's over because now we got to chase them now we got to change the way we want to play.

1:30:37Mike Eruzione:The fact that the game stayed the way it was going...

1:30:40Sean Callagy:Because you were never down two goals in the game. No.

1:30:46Mike Eruzione:I'll give you a statistic that I didn't know about until a couple years ago. In the third period of the Olympics, the third period, we outscored our opponent 16-3. 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 the Soviets. I think that was conditioning, mindset, conditioning. I think conditioning 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. And when I scored, there were 10 minutes left to go.

1:31:24Mike Eruzione:Can we see that for a sec?

1:31:26Sean Callagy:Is that okay? This part? Tink. Does it go in again? I hope so.

1:31:30Mike Eruzione:I don't know.

1:32:02He shoots. He shoots.

1:32:08Sean Callagy:Let's hear it for that.

1:32:19Sean Callagy: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. You're like, listen, I'm not that deep. Do you feel anything when you watch that or no?

1:32:33Mike Eruzione:I feel happy that it goes in. You know, yeah, obviously it brings a smile to your face. 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 and I did and there were 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 are 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 a goal in the last 10 minutes.

1:33:17Mike Eruzione:Wow. 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 we win 4-3.

1:33:28Sean Callagy:And so what that means is, and Tank, let's get ready to watch the last very end of the game. So for everybody, that means that they just kept playing the game and as the Soviets became more desperate and urgent, it sounds to me like what Mike Arrizioni 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?

1:34:07Mike Eruzione:Yeah, they started doing things they normally don't do. And we just continued to play the way we were playing, continue to do the things that made us successful throughout the tournament.

1:34:19Sean Callagy:Tink, please.

1:34:24Mike Eruzione:We've got Bedlam! Anyone who was at Madison Square Garden two weeks ago who's watching this game tonight has a shot to be shot. I love Brooks' reaction.

1:34:44Now we've resolved!

1:34:53Mike Eruzione:And the chain resumes. Mike Aluziani out of Boston University, the captain of this U.S. team, has just put the U.S. ahead for the first time. Exactly halfway through the third period.

1:35:10Mike Eruzione:This U.S.

1:35:11Sean Callagy:team was demoralized by the Soviets. Very tentative, very nervous, very much in awe of the Soviet team. And this is a U.S. team that tonight is not in awe of anyone. Come on, boys, here we go! Ten minutes left to play. The Fedros, Fedros to Harlem. Khrutov crossing the U.S. blue line now. Quick pass back to Morset. Shot, save, crazy. Khrutov at the point. A drive just wider than it. Kutow for the buck, right in front. NLU saved by Jim Craig. Play your game! Across to McClanahan. It's intercepted by Orloff. Take him watch, everyone! Take him watch! Leading the charge up the ice.

1:35:55Mike Eruzione:He fires his shot. Love save, Jim Craig. Great shot from Petrov.

1:36:02Sean Callagy:Craig again with the stop. Orloff. Back to Katsatana for the four. He shoots. Sticks save. Out of my way! Rebound on McClanahan. Can't clear it. Big play. McClanahan dives to clear the zone. Second time remaining in the third period. The U.S. leading 4-3. We're going to go with a short shift, boys. 30 to 40 seconds. Short shift. 30 to 40 seconds. Keep an eye on it, Doc. Final lock. With a long pass to Mikala. Over the blue line. Defendorf right in front. Shot. Sliding save by Crowe. Switch him up. Go, go, go, go, go.

1:36:43Sean Callagy:What course? Picked up by Patissa. Hit hard by Silva. Picked up and cleared by Morrow. And so he has to be back in their own end with five minutes to play in the third period. Kassitano leaves it for Mikhailov. Mikhailov moves it over to Harlebaugh. Slap shot! Knocked away by Craig! Ramsey moves it in to Padwitch. He moves through the neutral zone. Ooh, he's running on the boards. Five billion left him up, and the shorty is here with 350 to play in the game. It's intercepted by Marlebaugh. He moves it up to Khrutov. Khrutov with the puck through the neutral zone. Moving in on the net. Backstop by Craig.

1:37:35Sean Callagy:What are you doing, boys? Luskak in the corner, Kutok chasing it, Schneider right behind him, fighting for it.

1:37:48Sean Callagy:319 left of the play with Callahan moving out.

1:37:52Mike Eruzione:How are you doing, Doc? Change him up, change him up! Let's go!

1:37:57Sean Callagy:Kolokov moving up to center right. Leaves it for McConaug. Flair, saved by Craig. Police, push out. Push out, he's clear. Boys in control. McCladehan scrapping for it. Hard hit by Mike Ramsey.

1:38:14Mike Eruzione:2-17 remaining. The United States on top. No more changes until the next one. Come on, turn it. Police talk in the corner. I'm going to call Mizgen.

1:38:26Sean Callagy:I want Fred play. O.C.

1:38:40Sean Callagy:I'm really amazed how well conditioned this U.S. team is. I've never seen the Soviets outskated this late in the game. And that's exactly what the U.S. team is doing. We're here! We're here! Across the backdrop. Shot kicked away by Craig. Where did I go Jimmy? Over to Maltzer. Moving in on the net.

1:38:59Mike Eruzione:Backstopped by Craig. Chip it out! Chip it out! Come on boys, chip it out of there!

1:39:09They're not pulling this game.

1:39:12Mike Eruzione:On the market center right to Crouton. He doesn't know what to do!

1:39:19Sean Callagy:36 seconds. The car up over the blue line to Monser. Fight. Another save.

1:39:26Mike Eruzione:Fighting for possession. Oh! Trying to get it away from part of the world to the boards. Oh! Oh! Again, coming to you from the Olympic Games, the US huge underdogs, leading the Soviet Union. Johnson over to Ramsey. I think it's a big fight, Randy. McClanahan is there. The puck is still loose. 11 seconds. You've got 10 seconds. The count count going on right now. Tomorrow. Up to 12. Five seconds left in the game. You believe in miracles? Yes!

1:40:18You... Yeah, man!

1:40:25Pretty good! Yeah blackest, 괜찮아.

1:40:32Perfect! Yo, yo, yo. Yeah.

1:40:45Nice, come on there.

1:41:18optimized for Romanhood Philips Oh! scriptures,

1:41:47certification,

1:41:56Thank you.

1:42:28Two days later, the miracle was made complete.

1:42:33Sean Callagy:My boys defeated Finland to win the gold medal. Coming from behind once again. As I watched them out there celebrating on the ice, I realized that Patty had been right.

1:42:50Mike Eruzione:It was a lot more than a hockey game. Not only for those who watched it, but for those who played it.

1:43:05Mike Eruzione:I've often been asked in the years since Lake Placid, what was the best moment for me?

1:43:12Sean Callagy:It was here. The sight of 20 young men of such differing backgrounds, now standing as one. Young men willing to sacrifice so much of themselves, all for an unknown.

1:43:31Sean Callagy:A few years later, the US began using professional athletes at the games, dream teams. I always found that term ironic because now that we have dream teams, we seldom ever get to dream. But on one weekend, as America and the world watched, a group of remarkable young men gave the nation what it needed most, a chance for one night not only to dream, but a chance once again to believe.

1:44:14Sean Callagy:Mike, what was it like standing on that podium and bringing the team up when that was all complete?

1:44:19Mike Eruzione:That was pretty special. To stand and hear 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. I was standing there and I ended up obviously calling all my teammates up onto the podium because one person shouldn't be there. It 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.

1:44:47Sean Callagy:He changed that. Let's hear it for that. Thank you.

1:44:54Mike Eruzione:You can see we all fit. I don't know if we'd all fit now, but we all fit. Although there's only, unfortunately, three of my teammates have passed since 1980. But we'll all be together next week in Minnesota doing one of those memorabilia signing things. This company hires our team for, I think every three years we do, we sign like 500 or 600 prints. And then they use them for charities or whatever. So we'll get together and we'll have some fun.

1:45:25Sean Callagy:And they have a Netflix show. Netflix special.

1:45:30Mike Eruzione:should be coming out in January or February. They finished that. They interviewed all of us. 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?

1:46:10Mike Eruzione:What did he say? 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 Netflix and then the commemorative, that's got to be it. What else can they give us? It's over, you know?

1:46:41Sean Callagy:It's never over.

1:46:42Mike Eruzione:Do you think it's over? No, I get that, but still, it's like, you know, okay. What else can we have?

1:46:52Sean Callagy: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?

1:47:08Mike Eruzione: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. Not only were we good, we were the guys that you wanted as a neighbor, as a friend. And I think I'd like our team to be remembered as just a bunch of good guys who worked hard and had incredible values, who loved our country. We took pride in putting a USA jersey on. and I think we 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 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.

1:48:02Mike Eruzione: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.

1:48:10Sean Callagy: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 Rizzioni? Raise your hand real quick, and let's get them the microphone. And actually, if Lance and then if Nathan had his hand up, great. If not, fine. But after what Nathan did today, I think that would be earning a question. And let's try to get one of the women of CERT as well. But Lance, you had your hand up?

1:48:46Sean Callagy:Mike, I just wanted to say, I've never... By the way, Nathan is a retired lieutenant colonel, United States Air Force, commercial airline pilot now and doing many other incredible things.

1:49:00Mike Eruzione:Mike, my nephew, a 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. I'll stand out. I won't hold the Naval Academy part against him, but I'm sure he's a standout guy.

1:49:18Sean Callagy: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 special it is to everyone in this audience. First time I've ever met you or heard you speak.

1:49:31Mike Eruzione:And I just want to say, you are a national treasure. and not just because of the way you told this story, but for being a lunch pail and hard hat kind of guy

1:49:41Sean Callagy:and the values that you espouse and talk about and just oozes out of you. So this isn't a question. I just wanted to acknowledge you for that and also how you tell Herb Brooks' story

1:49:54Mike Eruzione: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 the way you are for him. And, yeah, we all believe in miracles in this room. And as you said, you know, maybe we meet another 1980 this day and age.

1:50:17Sean Callagy:And because of this man and the witness that he is for your team and your life, I think one of us, and, you know, as a retired, you know, fighter pilot myself, I've said this before, but I believe that the mission that we're on now is more crucial to our nation, to the furthering of that dream for what you fought for, what you represent, than the mission I served when I was actually flying over the skies and defending my country.

1:50:46Mike Eruzione:So I do believe in miracles, and I think that the next miracle that happens will be created in this room. So thank you for being here tonight to tell that story, and thank you for everything. Thank you for having me. Thank you.

1:51:04Sean Callagy:Amen, Nathan.

1:51:05Mike Eruzione: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, I remember when they contacted me, they wanted to write a book about our team.

1:51:21Sean Callagy:This is simple, Mike. I'm buying a book for everybody in the room. Done. Seriously, order the book. I don't know. You can get Amazon or whatever.

1:51:28Mike Eruzione: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 in a few 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 got to see people And then I thought about it and I talked to my wife. I said, you know what? I'm gonna do it I wrote I wrote the book and I wrote the book for one reason And I want my grandkids to know that Papa's life wasn't one game or one goal or one moment.

1:52:01Mike Eruzione: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 and do book signings and shit like that. I did like two signings, and that was enough for me. Thank God for COVID.

1:52:22Sean Callagy:Thank God for COVID. That's amazing.

1:52:24Mike Eruzione:but who's got the next question team can ask me any later here's a question for

1:52:37Sean Callagy:you this is mama so wisdom she had her face on a times square billboard 40 feet for like a month rotating which is an incredible human being please mama so

1:52:46Mike Eruzione:Thank you. Mr.

1:52:49Sean Callagy:Arruzziani, what do you hope the miracle on ice teaches future generations about what's possible for the human spirit when vision outweighs fear?

1:53:03Mike Eruzione: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 the value 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 an accomplishment by a group of people who believed we believed, and I said this earlier in 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 despite the obstacles and the challenges and I guess that would probably be our message because nobody thought we could win we believed it, we had a hope and a dream but let's go play and find out so I think that would be it 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 a lesson and message of what we can be and the article didn't talk about goals that were scored our saves that were made it talked about our values it talked about our work ethic and I think that's that's the the key to our success and I think that you know then it was named the greatest sports moment of the 20th century and a lot of it was because of those values and that that's what I hope people take away from the movie or take away from our team is what we the hope

1:54:24Sean Callagy:and belief that we had and let's hear for that thank you and like I'm gonna take 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 that I am in my life and the lives of others, yeah, that is truly possible.

1:55:25Sean Callagy: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 night happening. So thank you.

1:55:34Mike Eruzione:Thank you. It's funny, my grandkids want to watch the movie sometimes. And we've 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 and goes, what's that? I says, that's the movie. What movie? That's the movie miracle what's that that's a tape that's the tape of the movie you know we spoil little brat that's it's not it's not a CD it's not a VHS tape here watch

1:56:04Sean Callagy:it but mr. 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 offered a thought really quickly. 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.

1:56:34Mike Eruzione:I'll watch it. And I think someday I'll watch the Soviet game with them as well. The problem with the Soviet, I don't want to be watching the Soviet game, which is on VHS. I don't want watching the game and all of a sudden one of my buddies shows up you know let's let it go mike it's over you know but i but i do have a vh tape of every game that we played and maybe that would be something when maybe when the 18 month old is a little older we can all watch it together

1:57:01Sean Callagy:let's hear for that okay final final question final question

1:57:11Sean Callagy:Tony Mariello. Tony Mariello. Listen, we talk about like you think you're not smart, I don't think I'm that 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.

1:57:28Mike Eruzione:So just watching the clips and hearing the story, there's a lot of similarities to medicine and the way we were trained and would you say that Herb Brooks was the toughest coach that you played for? No my high school football coach and my college hockey coach were pretty intense but then again you know we're talking about earlier that's how coaches coached in the 70s yeah you deal with it you know you know live in the house of my father for you know 40 years and see how tough it was I tell people herb was like your dad you know you love your dad but sometimes you hate your dad because he makes you do things you don't want to do that was her so that's the way it's gonna be okay I can deal with it you only gonna 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 that's the way it was gonna be so if that's the way it's gonna be that's the way it's gonna be I'm not quitting I want to be on this team Yeah, some of the physicians here with me, we all trained in an era where our attendings treated us like that and again and again and again.

1:58:38Mike Eruzione:Right. And, you know, 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. It makes you stronger. Yeah. And I wonder if some of that's missing today. You know, you're still here with the university now. Do you notice that things have changed? It's a lot different. Coaching kids today, 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 that 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.

1:59:19Mike Eruzione:And the great coaches adjust that way. The great coaches understand, you know, things. They can still be firm and disciplined and things like that, but you got to find a way a different way of doing it then I think the old

1:59:30Sean Callagy:the old coaches did thank you thank you Tony so Mike's got a great new doctor can you just share that real quick my wife's a fanatic about going to the

1:59:42Mike Eruzione:doctors got to go to the doctors my dermatologist retired so she gets me this new dermatologist this was about I'm gonna say six eight months ago so I go into the guy's office he sent me to go to the room for so I go to room four I sit down and waiting for the doctor doctor comes in take your shirt off I take my shirt off and he's got the thing he's looking is that's good that spots good that's good and I have after the Olympics my girlfriend who's my wife I had this replica gold medal made for me she worked in the 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 US hockey team won the gold medal where to God and And I think he's messing with me, right?

2:00:27Mike Eruzione:And they have the oval where Eric Heiden 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, 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 chart. It's not like my name is Smith. My name is in the, if you go to Lake Placid, in the arena, there's a big billboard of all our names all around the rink.

2:01:16Mike Eruzione:It says, you know, Mike Ruggione in the rink. And he was there. And he never looked at my chart. So, I'm getting a new doctor.

2:01:31Mike Eruzione:That's a true story. That actually happened.

2:01:35Sean Callagy:No idea. 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-based document.

2:01:52Mike Eruzione: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.

2:02:25Mike Eruzione:And she didn't think that was funny. I thought it was hilarious. I 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, 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.

2:03:04Sean Callagy:That's a beautiful thing. 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 Mike call this an evening would be to give him a little USA USA on our feet what do you guys think so let's rise to our feet as Mr. Mike Arruzzioni heads off the stage let's first of all give him a hand thank you thank you very much thank you Thank you, sir. And let's hear a little USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA. Mr. Mike Arruzzioni, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you.