Case 113.3 1950 US. Olympic Hockey Team The 1933 US. ice hockey team pulled off one ofthe greatest upsets in Olympic history, defeating the Soviet Union's team 43 before defeating Finland 42to win the gold medal. It was only the second Olympic gold medal for the United States in ice hockey since the sport was introduced to the games in 1920. Winning the Olympic medal was sweet, but what made this such an upset was the US. victory over the Soviet team. The Soviet Union had long dominated Olympic ice hockey, having won seven gold medals since 1955 and not losing an Olympic hockey game since 1953. There were stark differences between the two teams. Nicknamed the \"Red Machine,\" the Soviet team was made up of professional athletes who had played together for years as the Soviet national team. Despite this being common knowledge, team members had been bogusly designated as students, engineers, or soldiers to maintain the amateur status then required of Olympic athletes. The Soviets were coached by 'v'iktor Tikhonov, a former KGB officer who used a Soviet military style ofcoaching and leadership that demanded strict obedience and total commitment from all of his players [Shevchenko, 2013]. All ofthe Soviet players lived together for 11 months in a training camp and were not allowed to leave for any reason. The team's total commitment to ice hockey and upholding the Soviet ice hockeytradition was evident in its success, and many saw it as a testimony to the effectiveness of communist leadership and Tikhonov's ability to create effective teams {Lapin, 2315}. Coached by Herb Brooks, the US. team was made up of college and amateur hockey players with an average age of 3.. Before being tapped to coach the 1980 Olympic team, Brooks was the coach at the University of Minnesota, where he had taken a last-place team and transformed it, amassing one of the most impressive winning records in Division | hockey {lTlDZGI), including three NCAA champions hips in 19M, 19%, and 19?9. Brooks was no stranger to Olympic hockey, either. Although he had been cut from the 1950 Olympic team days before the games started, Brooks went on to play on eight US. national and Olympic teams, including the 1964 and 1955 Olympic teams [Bernstein, EDDIE]. But Brooks wasn't an automatic choice forthe Olympic coaching job; he applied to be the coach in 19m, and afterthe committee's first choice declined, they met with Brooks. He came prepared with binders outlining his plan for player selection, staffing, conditioning, pre-Olympic scheduling, and his proposed style of play. The last was the most surprising: Brooks wanted to abandon the traditional dump-and-chase, reactive style of North American hockey that had been so successful for his Minnesota teams, and retrain the athletes to play a hybrid style that imitated the Soviets' physical game, phenomenal conditioning, and stickhandling prowess. He got the job {Coffey, 2005]. From the outset, Broolo- was determined to find the rig ht players for the team. "My recruiting keyl looked for PEOPLE first, athletes second,\" he said. \"I wanted people with a sound value system as you cannot buy values. You're only as good as your values. I learned early on that you do not put greatness into people . . . but somehow try to pull it out" [Herb Brooks Foundation, n.d.]. Brooks looked for players at the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs in June l9?9. He didn't look forthe most talented players, opting for those who could skate hard and fast, who exhibited a work ethic and willingness to embrace his new hybrid style of hockey, and who would t together as a whole. He punished EB hopefuls with continuous drills on ice and a EDD-question survey to assess their psychological makeup. Most ofthe prospects ultimately selected forthe team were from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New Englandand long-standing regional rivalries often resulted in onice brawls during the drills. In order to unify them, Brooks set out to make himself the enemy. IIA shared disdain for his ceaselessly demanding and Machiavellian ways would be the rallying cry, the reason guys would want to go out on the ice and bust theirtails, just to show him . . . he kept nearly evenfone anxious about their prospects for making the team, almost to the end\" (Coffey, 2005, p. 9). As a result, the players commiserated with one another, creating bonds that erased their regional borders. Brooks knew, however, that the distance and wall he put up between himself and the team would need to be countered by someone with a softer touch. For that he chose It'Zraig Patrick as the team's assistant coach, telling him "I'm going to be tough on them, and you are going to have to be the one who keeps everyone together\" {Coffey 2005, p. 11]. Patrick fulfilled his role as a sounding board, advocate, and nurturer for the team's players. Brooks was relentless, and one of his favorite expressions to use was \"prepare to grow through pain\" [Brown, 2014; Timetoast, n.d.]. As a run-up to the Olympics, the team began a series ofexhibition games. Afterthe US. team tied in a game against Norway, a team Brooks thought the United States should have easily trounced, he kept his team on the ice making them skate wind sprints the lengths of the rink [infamously called 'Herbies'}. He kept them at it even after the custodians had shut off lights to the rink and the team physician urged him to stop. It wasn't just physical stamina that Brooks drilled into his athletes. As Brooks got to know his players, he learned what buttons to push and when to push them for every one ofthem. He would pick at them, provoke them, verbally berate them, or not talk to them at all. \"Trau matic is the best way to describe playing for him," IGoalie Steve Janaszak said, noting that he once went three months without hearing so much as a hello from Brooks [Coffey 2005, p. 102]. Brooks engaged in mind games with his players, fostering fear into them that they could be cut from the team at anytime. Bro-old- believed that uncertainty made the players more motivated and pushed them to work harder. During the seven months the team played in exhibition games, Brooks would often bring in outside players to audition for spots on the tea m, making it clear to the current roster of players that they were expendable. In most cases, these mind games triggered renewed determination and skill from his current players. In one case, however, the team fought back. Mike Eruzione was the team captain, and a unifying force on the team. But during the exhibition games, the usual high scorer was experiencing a scoring slump. Brooks, seeking to cut Eruzione, brought in two outside players to skate with the team as a tryout, which infuriated the team. \"They'd been through Brooks's boot camp grind for six months. Eruzione had become a widely admired captain, an emotional Iynchpin' (Coffey, 2005, p. 30}. 1ll'vl'ith less than three weeks before the Ilympi, the team confronted Brooks and told him to stop his revolving door of new players to audition. It was unfair not only to those who were auditioning, but also to those who had been working and sacricing for months. The players told Brooks that they were a family and the final roster for the lOlympic team needed to come from that family. Brooks backed off. That unity was something Brooks respected and protected. During the Olympics, he angered not only the international press, but Dlym pic lGames organizers, when he refused to make his players available for press intenriews after games. While some saw that as Brooks wanting all the attention for himself, the truth was that Brooks had spent months building the spirit and substance of the team and didn't want the players' bonds injured by one or two ofthe players getting all the media attention {Co''ey 2005, p. 100]. He maintained his no-press stance even after the United States' searing Dlym pic victory over the USSR, when the world's media was clamoring for interviews. But when the team clinched the gold medal against Finland, 3; the arena empted in bedlam with celebration, and the players were swamped by fans, family, and journalists. Brooks was not there, however, to bask in the limelight; right after the final buzer, he went directly to the team's locker room. "They were really mentally tough and goal-oriented,\" said Brooks of his squad. \"They came from all different walks of life, many having competed against one another, but they came together and grew to be a real close team. I pushed this team really hard, I mean I really pushed them! But they had the ability to answer the bell . . . The players took to it like ducks to water, and they really had a lot of fun playing it. We were a fast, creative team that played extremely disciplined without the puck. Throughout the Glyrn pics, they had a great resiliency about them. I mean they came from behind six or seven times to win. Theyjust kept on moving and working and digging\" {Herb Brooks Foundation, n.d.}l. Four months after the lE.'lem pic Games, Brooks wrote every player on the team a personal, eight- paragraph letter: Under separate cover, you will be receiving a laminated team picture from Craig [Patrick] and myself. This reflects our complete respect we have foryou as an athlete and as a person. I feel respect is the greatest reward in the world of sport. You have earned that from the coaching staff. Personally, this year was not only my most enjoyable year in coaching, but also my toughest. Toughest because it involved making so many difficult decisions regarding the makeup of our final team. Because of that, and because I wanted to be as objective as possible, I stayed away from close personal contacts with you. I did not want the LLB. Hockey lCommunityto say that regionalism andfor favoritism entered into my final selections. This year was a challenge for all of us. A challenge to: Live and work as a unit. Play a positive gamea creative way. Make the most out ofour dreams. You met those challenges and conquered them. lfthere was any team I ever wanted to identify with on a personal basis, this was the team. Hopefully that day will come. Respectfully, Herb Brooks Coach Herb Brooks {195E} US Olympic Hockeyteam]; [Coffey, 2055, p. 263]; Coffey, W. [2005). The boys ofwinter: The untold story of a coach, a dream and the 1980 LLS. lOlympic hocloey team. New \"fork, NY: Crown. Herb Brooks died in a car accident in 2003, at the age of 66. Twentyfour years after he brought them togetherthe rst time, members of the 1950 US. Olympic team came together again at the funeral for their former coach. In his eulogy, Mike Eruzione likened Brooks "to a father you love deeply but don't always like because he pushed you so hard. 'I firmly believe he loved our hockey team, but we did n't know it,' he said\" [Coffey, EDDIE, p. 3}