Do you believe in miracles?

Rating: 9/10 (29 February 2004)

One of my earliest clear sports memory was the hockey game between the US and USSR. I don't remember their names from back then--I've been reminded from articles, stories, and ESPN's replays of the game--but I remember the game, the upset, the excitement on TV. It is the game that made me the hockey fan I am today. I was just shy of ten, so I didn't appreciate the bigger picture of the game.
Now that I'm older, I have a greater understanding of history, the Cold War, and hockey. So when Disney's 'Miracle' came out, I looked forward to seeing it. It is the story of how Herb Brooks assembled a team of college hockey players--almost all of whom were from Minnesota and Boston area colleges--to compete against the world's greatest teams from Northern and Eastern Europe, some of which had been playing together for a decade.
The movie opened with news clips from the turbulent 1970s, starting with the war in Vietnam through the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It was one of the darkest times in American history, and we needed something to be proud of.
Kirk Russell played Brooks, the coach of the young American team who was the last player cut from the 1960 Gold Medal Team. He recreated Brooks perfectly, from his clothes to his accent to his mannerisms. Oddly, as Brooks used amateur players, director Gavin O'Connor used mostly amateur actors for the movie. All but Eddie Cahill, who played goalie Jim Craig, had no acting experience at all. They were hockey players who learned how to act on the fly. Despite that, the acting was quite good. And Disney got Al Michaels and Ken Dryden to reprise their roles as themselves announcing the game.
In the titles after the movie, we learn where the players are and what they do now. Only a few of the twenty players made it to the NHL, and only two or three are still affiliated with organized hockey now. But for two precious weeks, these young men gave us something to be proud of.
Stay until the end. They dedicate the movie to Herb Brooks, who died in an auto accident last winter.