The Making of a Miracle: Lessons from Mike Eruzione on Leadership, Legacy, and Belief

Please join me out. Welcome back to the stage. We'll be going through on a... ...Cali-Gee! Thank you. I'm getting it. I'm getting it. I'm getting it. I'm getting it. I'm lying dead. What is your profession? Oh! Oh! All right, let's take a quick seat. Get ready to go. Um, it is that time. Please, Mr. Michael Johnson and take it in the cold. My L.O. Uh, let's hit it. Let's get to our feelings out. It's a great video, hey! Hello, everybody. Hi, bye. Hi. Hello. Thank you. I just want to... I don't... I don't know. I... Wow, you people were born, I played. Some of you. I told Mr. Michael Rusion that if we had the opportunity to have Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, or Beyoncé, you guys would prefer him, as I tell him the truth, if the SIS... Yes! I'm proud of seeing you in those streets. That's right. Um, so Michael is such an honor and privilege to have you here today. Um, but before we get started, we wanted to share a couple of thank yous and you met Nicole Tink, my L.O. back there. So she's going to read a couple of thank yous that we prepared for you, for being here, and for who and what you are in the world. Would that be okay with you? Good time. Thank you very much. Uh, Tink, are you ready? Absolutely. Mr. Rusion, on behalf of Unblinded or Certification Partners, Unblinded Lead, be entire Unblinded Lead, be go system, by co-founders and leaders, Sean Howie, Mike Sell, and all our loved ones would like to thank you for everything. Thank you for being here. Thank you Mr. Rusion, for making this trip to Long Beach Island, to be with us at this Unblinded University. Your very presence here is a privilege and a gift. Thank you, and your team for your voice. Thank you and your teaming for choosing not only to win that game, but to carry a message of belief and possibility into the world for decades then. Thank you for the ordinary becoming extraordinary. Thank you for reminding us that ordinary people through vision, courage, and relentless effort, you do those extraordinary things. Thank you for standing in the fire. Thank you, and thank you to Coach Sharp, for bringing the right or you, the conflict, the pressure, and showing us all that greatness is born in the fire. Thank you, and your team for having a nation. Thank you Mr. Rusion, and your entire 18-year-old woman to copy me. For having this fear of a miracle on your shoulders in the darkness hour. Thank you for scoring the goal of belief. Thank you for putting that cup into the net against the Soviets not just to win a game, but to make a leap in a nation that had almost forgotten how to believe. Thank you and your brothers, Mommy, I used to approve of any possibility. Thank you for putting together that giant can fall, and then possibility is an illusion, and that miracles are not fairy tales, but with reality. Thank you for reshaping history. Thank you and your teammates for a victory that became more than a medal, a moment that shifted this psychology of America and helped open the door to a new future for America and the world. Thank you for providing a team. Thank you for showing the world that legacy is written by one girl alone, but by a band of brothers who leap in each other when they're one else did. Thank you for your humility. Thank you for staying grounded, blue collar, integrity and humble when the wrong put you on its grandest stage. That humility is more powerful than any goal ever could be. Thank you for your legacy. Thank you for a legacy that lives not only in the record books, but in the hearts of every child who is a king, every character who is first you can do it, and every human who chooses to be a part of their. Thank you for your course. And finally, thank you for reminding us all that the miracles are not once in a lifetime. They are possible every day and every life and every moment we choose. Let's hear one more time. Thank you. I think we could use the 1980 now. We're really good for sure. And it feels very difficult for me to call you Mike. Yeah. You always spoke in the phone. You asked me to do that. You know, come on. I didn't get my last name until I was in the 4th grade. So it's much a little easier. Yeah. So, you know, I come from a world very much like you did Northeast. I played probably about 10 years under the new. But I had a lot of people that you were shaped by in high school was very much like my high school experiences. I loved to call it Mr. Rosie. It was the only animal in our history class at home. It feels like you should always be Mr. Rosie on. So thank you for that privilege to call you Mike. So Mike, who were you in high school? Like what was going on play in a small town? Like lots of family around. Lots of family. You know, I thought my life was like any other kids like you like who up in it. I grew up in a three family house. We lived in the second floor. I have four sisters and a brother. This kind of gets a little crazy. Upstairs was my mother's brother who married my father's sister. Told you it was going to get crazy. And there were five kids in that family. And my father's other sister lived on the first floor. And they were four in that family. So I grew up in a house of about 15 kids. And I understood the importance of hard work. I learned a young age. I'm important it was to be a good person. Be a good brother. Be a good friend. Be a good neighbor. A values that my mother and father taught me. As a kid growing up in this three. I thought everybody lived in a three family. I didn't know people had their own homes. And as we move fast forward, my wife grew up four houses for me. And she's one of 13 kids. And I lived next door to the house I grew up in. And my son lives directly behind me. My daughter lives down the street. And my other son, he moved to Connecticut a few years ago. Because she wanted to be near her family. And I said to her, who moves to be with their family? So as we talked about early and I have seven, seven great kids now. Which is kind of fun. Watching them play hockey football. Look across it all. At the oldest is 12. The youngest is 18 months. But again, back to my childhood growing up. Because you worked. I can't eat as a kid. My dad worked three jobs. My mother stayed home and took care of six kids. There wasn't a lot of money in the house. But there was a lot of love. There was a lot of support. And that's kind of how I grew up. Support was your vehicle. I played football. I played baseball. I don't play more baseball than anything. And hockey was something that didn't win a time. You got cold. You went and played hockey because your friends played. I remember wanting to play hockey because my friends played. But I didn't have any ice skates. My parents didn't have enough money to go by me. Ice skates. If there wasn't something I wanted to show them, I wanted to do. And they used to freeze the tennis courts down the street from where I lived. And in those days, you could go down the tennis courts by yourself. So you didn't have to have a police escort. Not everybody got a trophy. You just showed up. And I remember wanting to play hockey because my friends played. But I didn't have any ice skates. But my sister had these white figure skates. And I sit and fit into her white figure skates. And I'd get the white figure skates and down the hill I'd go on the tennis courts and learn the skate of try to skate. And hockey's a macho kind of game. Not only was I in white figure skates, but she had these blue pom-poms on her. And that's how I started to play ice hockey. And in those days, you could say some people might remember. Maybe not. You could say this in H. Meens' dance. And I came home one day. There was a pair of high ice skates on the table. And my mom saved up enough stamps to get me a pair of ice skates. And that's how I started playing hockey at nine years old. Never knowing it was going to lead to the Olympics, obviously. But it was something I wanted to do with all great parents. You support your kids in what they want to do. So that's kind of how hockey started to leave me. Like I said, I probably played more baseball. And I actually, you know, I was in all state football hockey and baseball players. So, what was my life as a kid? And I might think that was, you know, how much of that was baseball football on the Lujanete. How much do you think you worked harder in better coaching? Like what do you think? I think it's a little above. But, you know, but how hard work? You don't accomplish anything. So, I can, you know, nobody steps on the field. Nobody makes major league baseball or football or NHL players by just skilled. There's a lot of work. There's a lot of time. There's a lot of effort. There's a lot of sacrifices that can win to people becoming successful. And, again, I think it's sacrifices. Like I said, my dad worked three jobs. You know, he had a supportive family. So, sacrifices he made. That forgive me a chance to play a game. Never knowing it was going to lead. Like I said, to Olympic Games. But as a parent, you support your children and what they want to do. And I was fortunate to have a dad that understood that my love was sports. And he found a way to make sure I was able to do that. And, you know, I look back on my coaches, my high school football coach, there's a big influence in my life. Obviously, my college hockey coach, Jack Parker at Boston University, where I played and can work right now. I'm going to tell you this is, you know, a crazy story. But I always talk about opportunity. To me, life is about opportunities. It's what you do with that opportunity, the Johnson. I was given an opportunity to play a game. Never knowing, thinking, or believing, or dreaming, would get to it, but it did. But I remember graduating from high school. I wanted to go to University of New Hampshire. And my grades were really good in school. One thing I kind of messed up was, because I was eligible, I was happy. So, I wanted to go to University of Hampshire. I went to prep school for a year, up in Maine, with the hope of going to UNH, you play in football hockey and baseball. That's what I wanted to do. Well, the hockey coach didn't think I was a division one hockey player. So, I had no school to go. Wow. I was, you know, 17 years old with no college, and nobody interested. So, one school that was interested was a school called Maromat College. And Maromat College was a division three. They were in division one. They were in division three school. And they offered me a full scholarship. For a new parents out there, it was $3,500. My freshman year, at Boston University, it's, I think, 80 something thousand. That's, that's, that's going to mud around now. So, I wanted to go, to college at UNH, but I'm going to go, I'm going to go to Maromat College. Well, in the summer, I played baseball in the summer. I played hockey in the summer. So, a friend of mine called me and said, look, we have a summer league game. And we need some guys to play. A bunch of guys went away for the weekend. Do you want to play? I said, well, you need to play it out play. I played in the game. And it turned out the referee in the game was this guy named Jack Parker, who I didn't know who he was. He was just the referee. And when the game was over, Jack Parker pulled me aside. He says, hey, I'm Jack Parker. I'm the assistant coach at Boston University. We have a kid from Canada that decided not to come. Would you like to come to Boston University? And I'm like, yeah, I mean, be used coming off back to back national championships at the time. And I said to him, it has to be a full scholarship, because my dad came to Fort, you know, $3,500. He was, oh, it's a full scholarship. So I went to Boston University. And Jack Parker was the assistant coach. I mean, Leon Abbott was the head coach. And Leon Abbott didn't know me from Adam. But I made the varsity my freshman year. And I was playing a few games here and there. And Leon Abbott got fired. We were recruiting violations. Jack Parker became the head coach. So I went from centering the fourth line to playing left wing on the second line. And led my team and scoring my freshman year. Wow. I'm going to give you a big round of applause for that. I tell you this story because if I had never played in that summer league game, I never would have gone to Boston University. And if I had never gone to Boston University, I never would have ended up playing on the US Olympic team. Because that would have come out of Marumac versus a national championship contending beauty. So, wow. Again, life is about opportunities. And then I was given that opportunity to play on an 80 Olympic team. And, uh, are you up to date? It's kind of funny how life works. It sure is. So, going back for a sec though, I didn't know that part of the story. That you're coming out of high school. You don't have a division or an offers. A fun footnote, by the way, I do what according once in the University of New Hampshire for starting her college career, just as it could, fun footnote. And you had a division three, opportunity. And, were you coming out of high school thinking and hoping about playing college baseball or football or hockey? Like, what was that? What was going on there that was in your mind? Or you weren't thinking that? So, what was happening as you were leading up to going to college? Were you hoping to play a different sport college or hockey in college? I wanted to play all three. I wanted to play football hockey in baseball. Even if I was University, I ended up putting in hockey in baseball. They wouldn't let me play football, because it was kind of the beginning of the hockey season. But, yeah, my mind was to play all three sports at college. And I've just gone to at Boston University, although the next, my junior senior, I didn't play because I made the US national team. And it would open to Europe for the World Championship. So, I think it's important for the audience. How often we can feel overlooked. So, obviously, my career as a young age was incredibly talented. He goes out and is a starting and the one winning scores in his first year at Boston University. But, yeah, nobody's a... And this is a defending national championship team. But nobody else is even offering you Division I to come play. But, why do you think that was? Was it just you have opportunities to be exposed to college coaches? Like, why weren't you getting those opportunities, do you think? Because they weren't smart enough to realize how good it was. I mean, yeah. I'm... I'm getting, you know, Sean, you and I know each other a little. But, I'm not a real deep thinker. I'm not that in depth on things. I just do things. And, I never thought about why they didn't like me. I thought I was pretty damn good. You guys were thinking it was pretty damn good to say, yes, yes. No, but you guys missed that. I look at the college coaches and I play against these teams. They say, you missed the vote. And, you know, Boston University, four years, I graduated as the all-time leading scorer. Which has been passed because players today are one better than when I played. But, you know, I've always been... The one thing I've always been is very confident in myself as an athlete and as a person. You know, I was talking to a group of people the other day. I'm kind of old school. I believe in a lot of old fashioned values. Things like that taught me about pride and commitment and respect. I talked to you really about respect and... I tell kids today, you know, it's easy to be a nice person. You've got to go out of your way to be an asshole. No, you really depart in my language. But, you know, like these people first. If you have f-bosses. But, it's easy to be nice. It's easy to be a good teammate, a good neighbor, a good friend. And those are things that I always believed in and always taught, even at a young age. And I think those are values that carry me to this day. But I've been carried me through my athletic career too. I don't care what other people think. I know what I think and what I care about and what's important to me. And I'm not going to listen to somebody say, no, you can't do that. If they do, then it drives me even more. That I want to say, really? Let me show you what I can do. And not every basic great day. I've had challenges over 70 years of my life. I haven't lived the greatest, you know, a big stoop of the stakes. And that's part of life. That's part of being a, you know, the world that we live in. But I think, you know, when I, when the, when the smoke clears, I can look back on my athletic career. And what I've been doing for the last, you know, 45 years since 1980s. Take great pride in knowing that I've done a good job at the opportunities I've been given. And that I think people look at me and respect me clearly respect my teammates. You know, what we did was 45 years ago. And like we talked about it earlier, I don't know if you follow anything. But we just found out that our team is going to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. Which is the outcome. I think the ultimate honor, you know, it's not a sports award. It's on an ESPN award. This is from your country. And I think it's, if you look at the recipients of it, it's, you know, something my teammates and I take incredible and credible pride in. Because our game was more than a hockey game. We didn't know it at the time. But realize 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 I said this, and I'll say this till the day I die. Other than being a police officer or firefighter or somebody in the military, there's no greater feeling than putting on the US ages. 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. We didn't go to like, placards in rally, a whole country. We didn't even know. We think about it. There was no Facebook or Twitter. There was three TV stations. The social media didn't exist. And yet, when we won, when we got out into the country and realized that this thing was quite pretty big. And I think again, we take even 45 years later to take great pride in knowing that people came together because of what our team was able to do. To 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 accomplish it. And our team was at her place. Our coach used to call us a lunch, pay-off, hard-hired-half group of guys. Because that's what we were. If you follow the backgrounds of my teammates, we all came from working class families. And we're all taught about the important values in life. And not just in the others in the support of I saw them. So, like, as you, a couple of quick things. So, some things I don't think about are things. And I'm, 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 to create the opportunities to be seen. So, when you ended up being asked by a friend, hey, would you like to come play in this game? And you're an incredible lesson and you seize that opportunity here in your own ladder. And clearly, and but sometimes you don't get that phone call and have the same opportunity. You don't know what's an opportunity, but you're a seasoned holiday opportunity. But if I could, do you think that, you know, at that time, because today, I know that, you know, this is part of your world as all these showcases, and club teams, and every sport imaginable, it was a different world then, right? And in the 1970s, was there anything out there? Was it just like your college coach, your college, or I'm sorry, your high school coach, was going to be talking 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 should never even do you exist in, because there's no social media, no showcases, you know. No, there were no showcases that you played in your hometown. I played in, where I lived now, played in Winthrop, I played Pee Me Hockey, I played Youth Hockey, I played High School Hockey, I played Banta Mockey. They were no all-star teams, they were no travel teams. Today, it's crazy today. A cost, you know, these kids, they were on these select teams, and Mum and Dad have paid thousands of dollars chasing something that might not be here. But the problem now is, if you're not on one of these teams, they think you get no chance of being seen. In my day, you know, you were seen because coaches went to your high school games. There were no showcases, so you want to see the best players play? Go to Linerina and watch Winter Pyschule play Danderse High School. So, I mean, that's basically what a lot of us. We live in a whole different, you know, again, I work at Boston University. We got three kids from Sweden, we got two from Finland, we got one from Russia. We're recruiting them all over the world. And our coaches are out there at these showcases, but all these kids are paying a lot of money to play. And, you know, to me, there's only a few that are going to make it. I personally think this kid spent too much money spending searching, trying to travel. But that's the culture, you know, you want to play Division I baseball, you got to be on the AAU team. That's what it is today. You're glad it wasn't like that when I played because you just played. And then, what are the pressures? And did you have, so when you were in front of them, did you have coaches, did you have one, two, five, ten college coaches come see? Like how many overworked you? Was it a small number or was it a lot of coaches that would come into your house? I would say they were probably a small number because they weren't many colleges playing hockey at that time. You know, the name is grown. You know, when I was a kid, you were from Manchester, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota. Maybe Maine, I've stayed in New York, places like that, go hockey players. Now, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida. Look at how many players play. Not just men, our women. Our women's program, you can't believe how good the women are now. And they were at 10 years old. So the game has grown. The sport of hockey has grown. And more and more kids are playing. So, you know, you're probably going to get seen a lot more now. And you would have, when I played, because there were just a handful of schools that had, usually, one programs. Absolutely. So when you were then in high school, you're a baseball football hockey. Did you ever think about the Olympics in hockey in high school before college, or that wasn't even thought ahead? No, I just played. I never thought I wasn't that smart to think ahead other than just, I'm going to be a senior next year. And let's hopefully see me able to go well, athletically, academically, whatever. I always went well athletically. But, you know, again, it was a different era and a different time. I don't know how I would be into the easier era, because I know one thing. My parents wouldn't have had the money for me to play the traveling with the kids playing today. So when 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 were you extra things, or you practice more tensely than the people on your team, or you were just flat out better already? No, I think the practices continue. If you want to play a Boston University, you better be ready to play every year. This new recruits coming in next year, new players challenging you. But it was, again, it was a different thing. I watch our players today. I mean, the practices 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. Kids have, they go in this room and they just sit there and just kind of, I don't know what they do it. We didn't have any of that shit. We just played. And on the season ended, you know, the summertime, you know, I maybe played a little once in a while at the end of the summer and you're ready to hockey. But I played baseball and some of that. These kids have to practice. They go into the weight room. I'm going to tell you the truth. We went to the dugout, was the fire on campus. Practice is over. Guys, let's go now. We have a few bears. We'll go to school classes tomorrow. We'll go to hockey practice and after practice, we'll go to the dugout for a little while. It's a different, different whole scenario. And good for them. I think it's great for the players. These guys have aspirations playing the national hockey. I wanted to go to Boston University to play a Boston University. And if it happened that maybe, maybe I could play a pro hockey actor, then that was something. But I didn't go, you know, we have freshmen that come in now, the first round practice. Second round practice. Then you got the name, image, image, and likeness. Kids getting paid money. You know, we lost the number one recruit in the country this year was coming to Boston University. He's going to be the first pick in the draft next year. He was coming to Boston University. He's going to Penn State. Because Penn State's given him $100,000. That's the name, image, and likeness that we do only follow any sports. Quarterback admission in this year is like, doesn't make about $9 million. You know, Shadaw Sanders, the football player, he took a pay cut to play for the Cleveland Browns. The money he was making and Colorado. So you're dealing with a whole different mindset now. This money, these kids are making money. For me, my scholarship was pointed. But now it's a different environment than the college sports for men and women. You know, this is the girl I think up in UCLA, the gymnast is making like stupid money. But that's just what that's. You're in a arena right now. It was never the year when I played, when I played, you just played. on the way to breaking the scoring record. At any point, did you, you're just playing your focusing. Do you remember when the first time you ever thought or heard of DeLondon and hockey? And when did that happen? Oh, that's in your mind. Okay, again, crazy story. I asked the play in the 1970s, 1960, Olympic team. Wow. And I did not want to leave Boston University. And those days you could leave your school right before the Olympics and you'd go play. In our case, we trained for six months. A whole different mindset in 1980, but it wasn't 76. So I had a chance to play in 76. And that was the year I thought we were going to win the National Championship. I thought it was a junior at Boston University and decided I was going to stay at BU. The games were at Innsbruck. And I think the US team came in fourth or fifth. So I missed that. I passed that opportunity up. 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 had a really good camp. And a guy named John Ferguson was the general manager of the New York Rangers. And Fergie called me and it was off. He says, Mike, you had a great camp. We really like you. We think you're going to 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 Duque, who had a great career with the Rangers. And we have a bunch of older players and we're not shulling 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 Goldegers. Anybody seen the movie Slap Shot? That's where I was. You played for the team from Slap Shot? That was the lead. Oh, okay. Wow. Oh, he's a local talk member of 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 get sent to Toledo. I got Rangers number two farm team, but I didn't have an NHL contract. It was a minor league contract. So I got paid every two weeks by the Goldegers. I made $4,000. My first year in Toledo. I led our team in scoring. I was rookie in the year. I'm going to sign with the New York Rangers. John Ferguson did fire. I got named Fred Sherrill, who used to be with the New York, with the Philadelphia Flyers. He becomes the general manager of the New York Rangers. And he calls my agent and says, look, Mike's free to do what he wants to do. We're not signing Mike. We know he had a great 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 in amateur, hoping to get invited to try out for the 80th 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 get $4,000 raised, but I still got paid every two weeks. I can get traded tomorrow, no NHL contract, which kept me as an amateur, which gave me the opportunity, if I did, get to try out for the 80th Olympic team. So I go back to Toledo. That summer, I got a call from her Brooks inviting me to try out for the 80th Olympic team. So I go to the tryouts, I make the team, and here I am today. If John Ferguson never got fired, I would have signed with the New York Rangers. And I would have been considered a pro, and not given an opportunity to play on the 80th 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. The best decision that ever happened. And then the Olympic Games, and then we win. Then a couple of NHL teams wanted to sign me to pro-contracts. 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. And I remember I was talking to my school administrator in my high school, asking if there might be a visit, and I would open next year because I wanted to teach. And then I was thinking about maybe coaching at Boston University because they might be looking for an assistant coach. And then IBM, this was in February. And then IBM called my agent, advisor, and they wanted me to do 10 appearances. Five at the Falun Blue in Florida, and five at the Drape 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 have to do anything. I made more, and those 10 appearances, than my dad made in one year. So I thought, this is a pretty good deal. Maybe I'll do some of these again. And then I get into broadcasting, then I get into obviously speaking, and doing things that I do now 45 years later. And as you all know, I worked at Boston University. I've been there 30 years. I love to count it all the days. I've been there, probably been there five. I got a good gig, it'd be you. But it's just funny how, you know, your life works. Never knowing what you're going to do, what is available. But then when I said after the Olympics, I was going to coach and teach. That's what I was going to do. And the next thing you know, wow, this thing was pretty big. And your life kind of turned or changed. And then my life changed to a degree. I haven't changed, tried my wife absolutely nuts. Then we've been together for 50 years. So it's not like, you know, I always tell my kids all the time the same thing about. I was very happy with who I was before the Olympics. Why should your life change? Because of an athletic event. It clearly changed a lot of things in my life, but it hasn't. It shouldn't change who you are. You know, my friends and my friends, my families, my family, and I still live where I belong. Stay where I am because we didn't win. I'd be living in that town. I mean, probably have more than three kids because I'd have been home more. So like, so for everybody, we have these conversations the last couple days about these dark moments and the hero's journey. So Mike's phenomenal player has nothing to do with colleges besides the Division 3 opportunity. We talked about my opportunities where nobody's looking to meet on the sudden those 100 schools will be in 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, that might correct me from wrong. Most second round draft picks end up on the team. Isn't that relatively normal or? Yeah. So Mike doesn't, this is normal course like your second round draft from a professional team in sports. You're going to be on the team and all of a sudden he's not. And that could have been something. I mean, 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 kind of like shrugged and said, all right, on the go. Because the values that he was raised with 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 on the belt. Let's go. And we do see that things work together for good, as Mike said. Maybe he gets on a 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 it's not eligible for you. What fix? He's not in the NHL and Mike's life looks completely different. So these two events that would have been incredibly upsetting and frustrating for most people maybe not from life. Because he has such an incredibly strong level of self mastery, right? Self masters in 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 correct? That's how you go. Yeah, and Mike died. Dan always said to me, even his mortal life and athletics. At some point the game ends. You know, Michael Jordan had to stop playing someday. You know, these great athletes eventually it ends, but the life doesn't end. Just because I didn't play, you know, let's just say this and I didn't go to Bosch University. I'd still be happy with my life, whatever that was, because that's the direction I was going to go. I'm always very positive and very upbeat. You know, this is so much out there for me to do if I didn't play hockey, if I didn't play football, I did something else. And I'd have been happy with what I did and what I was doing. But my life took a different turn and my life went this way. But it shouldn't change as I said earlier, who I am. I'm slowing in. Why should I be different? Just because I want to go metal doesn't make me better than people in this room. There are certain things that you can do that I sure as hell can't do. So everybody brings something to the table. I happen to bring something to the table in terms of my athletic ability. And then it turned out to be what it's become today. But for me, like I said, if we didn't win, I'd be living in my hometown. I'd be married to the same girl. I'd be coaching and teaching and I'd just the way it was going to be. That's what it was going to be. So this is, in February of the year, when I'm really lucky enough, the lack of attachment that my cast, the outcome, it shows up. He has everything he's got. And then what happens happens. And I'm inspired. I'm not inspired. We talk about the difference between inspiration tools. Like brain, artistic, so tool. How you use the artistic is part of your tool. And then you have psychology. And for me, what I'm clear about is I get more attached and like does. And I invite you to consider the same for yourself. So thank you, Mike, already for having me, like being a mirror for me. I'm like, yeah, I took things a lot harder than you did. And that, you know, I had a strong psychology and not a strong major. As a high school athlete, as a college athlete, I was played my way out of college baseball and my sophomore year of power. I was in front of a Friday, working a year, my freshman at Columbia. And I could try to change a few things. And I was quiet. I wasn't ever not this very respectful. But I would power more. I would take things more personally. I would be more upset about things than what I'm hearing from you. Because 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 get upsets, go out a few beers, call somebody, you're like, hey, effort, like here I go, or is it a week you're upset at all? And if so, for how long? I was pissed off. What do you mean you don't want to sign me? Look what I just did. But then again, hey, that's your decision. I'll go in a different direction. Yeah. Let's hear it. How strong is that? I didn't say that. Look, look. It's not every day is a great day. I guess it's sometimes things don't go the way you want them to go. What do you mean you put? Quit? No, I'll put this down. Oh, I mean most people do. You know. No, why? I haven't quit sometimes. I say yes. Yes. So thank you. No, that's not in my, that was never in my vocabulary. And I think part of it is the way I grew up. You know, like I said, I saw my dad get up every morning and go to work, come home and go to work, come home and go to work. I saw my mother take care of six kids with no money. So quit isn't something that I've never even thought about doing. I know I'm going to be successful at what I do, whatever it was that was going to do. So my mindset was, and again, that's my wife and I get into these discussions all the time. Why are you 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 going to do what I want to do and I'm going to go ahead and do it. Despite the challenges. And like I said, not every day is a great day. Sometimes things don't work out. But what you want to work out. I missed the two foot of yesterday for $20. I was so pissed off. The next time I have that two footer, I better make it. So again, I'm not that 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. And usually things are going to work out well. And if they don't, there's another day and I'll figure that out. And Mike, thank you. And just so we're like level set. I failed freshman high school geometry for the year as a freshman high school. I had a lower GPA in high school and did law school. So I wasn't, I went to Columbia because of baseball. And so it wasn't that I was thinking about things quite the same way that as I am now. And one of the things that I think for these guys, like these are people who are trained, like this is not a sales program. These are people training to think about how do you how do you succeed and how do you master things. And so what we're hearing, what they're hearing from you is we have to say that Einstein said make it as simple as possible. But not simpler and honest to God what I'm taking away from you is that it is so simple for you. Because you just get everything you have. You take the outcome result and you go forward. And that is that because my job, my way I look at people is I try to find out what's the simple formula that causes micro-easy-only to be micro-easy-only. And that's present for me. That's here. That's just clear to me. And while you're saying it, as yet, it's easy. If you think it's not easy for you, yet, say yes. It's not easy for me there. 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 micro-easy-only, which is very simply don't get attached. Everything you got, like the micro-easy-only, or from his dad formula. And your identity isn't changed. We'll talk 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 a fuel and go forward. So that sounds a fair, very simple encapsulation. I've never met a person that's successful because they're one. People are successful because they understand the values of work. And again, I'll go back to my dad. I always said to be, 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 of what you do, I guarantee it's the time and effort and work that you put in. And those are values that are important. Whatever you feel you're in, whatever challenges you have. If you're not willing to work hard at it, you're not going to be successful. So I work hard at everything that I've done, whether it as an athlete, or if I happen to go in a different direction. If sports ended and I went, which it did, I went into a new direction, I'm working 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 athlete. So I lived with that. And if you feel that from my say, yes. If you feel this authenticity, say, yes. And it's mastery, yes. So I might go and these BUNs, the draft of the Rangers, playing hockey in Toledo, and now her brook's called her up. And what happens from there, do you, then, was there, the movie, right, basically guys, I've seen the movie, last week, show clips all the time. So in the movie, there's the short version of the tryout. Like please take us to what happens. Well, in the movie, the team was picked in one day. It was two weeks. And in the movie, they had a bunch of people pick in the team. There was only one person pick in the team, and it was going to be her brook. So I went to the trial, I got invited. I was on the Great Lakes team. They've divided all these players into four teams. And we competed against each other over two weeks. And her brook sat in stands, he evaluated the players. And we were in a room, maybe kind of like this, a little bigger. And the 68 players tried out the 80 Olympic team. I shouldn't say that. Hundreds tried out. 68 got selected. 68 of us went to Colorado Springs, competed against each other in kind of a mini tournament. And trial to rover, 26 players made up the 80 Olympic team. But only 20 were going to lay plus six guys were going to get cut. I could have just slowed down for a second. So in Colorado Springs, when this happens, what's that two weeks late, and I was going to give you a couple of multiple choice where their fist fights were people getting along, where people were kind of in the same boat of being friends, buddies, where they arrived at a room in college. So how was all that? What was Colorado Springs like? Well, it was a tournament. It was competitive. There was a team from Massachusetts, which I wasn't on on. I was on a large team. So my team was guys from Michigan, Minnesota, New York. And there was the Minnesota team. And then there was another at-large team. And that had been placed. Her coach Brooks is college team. A lot of the kids played under her at the University of Minnesota. Because they played for everybody. So coach Brooks, coach the University of Minnesota, they were top program in the country, might play the Boston University, a top program in the country, and Craig Smith from Wrong, does a big rivalry. Yes. Well, we had the year before the Olympic triage in the National Championship, Minnesota and Boston University got into a bench clearing brawl. I would call that a big rivalry. Four minutes into the game. 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 they were- Who was the player you guys lost? We lost Terry Mahar, who was a leading goal scorer at the time. And they lost one of their guys who wasn't quite. They were leading the guy. Terry Mahar. Yes. Did he make the 81-15? No, Terry was from Canada. Got it. He was a captain of our team in 1976. And Jack of Cali Andy, he played as a world. Jack was a freshman at Boston University yet 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 Boling Green, one from North Dakota, and two from Minnesota Duluth. Wow. And so, the two of the 20 guys, 12 of the 20 players were from Minnesota. Wow. And so, 13 players, then, that's a kind of correctly, nine from Minnesota, four from the U. So, 13 players were from this big rivalry. It was nine from Minnesota, right, four from Boston University. 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 progiers. But, so we're in the Roman, and 68 players tried out, and so, I heard him up to the stage, and he said, if I call your name, please stay. And I don't actually come in. And try to, and try to, and I'll forget it for, interrupt them, so I don't really let these guys get it, because they've seen some of these clips. Right, right, right. So, do you think in that moment, A, I know I made a team, B, I think I made a team, C, I hope I made a team. 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 the 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. Here's before. It was an Eastern coach, and he was going to pick most of the guys going to be from the East, because he knew them. So, my concern was, it's heard going to take, an Eastern guy. So, we're all in the room, and I remember the first name, he called was Ken Morrell. Ken, he was a great defenseman from Michigan. He went from the Islanders. He played, he went for Stanley Cups right after he looked. That's a pretty good run. And I'm sitting there thinking, I hope this is an alphabetical. I'm not getting you a call. And my name was called it. So, there were 26 players in the room. And then, you were the second name. Oh, no, I was called later on down the road. I think I knew which car was coming from. We started to get concerned. Yeah, you hear, we all antsy. You know, kind of listening. Is it going to be me? Is it going to be me? And it's interesting, because not we have the Olympic coming up in February. The TV USA is going to have 26 players, 25 players. They carry more now than they did. Then they could only carry 20. So, 26 players make up the team, and then we're going to embark on six months of training, and six guys are going to get cut throughout the course of the season. And you're still up until, I was elected captain in October, by the end of this is 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 Guadalm Lossman. And as our assistant coach said, we voted, but her count of the balance. 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, 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 great group of leaders than people. So the captaincy was, was nice, but it wasn't that, oh my god, I'm the captain. So 26 players made up the team and throughout the course of six months of travel and training, six were going to get cut. And up until the last week, I still wondered if I was going to be one of the 20 players. Okay, take it back for a second. Okay. So during, during color spains, that time was her Brooks quiet and just watching and scouting. Or was he already starting to be coach her Brooks towards everybody? No, he was coach Brooks. And that's the way it was going to be. We're going to travel. I think we played 60 somewhat 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, he's just not doing it. I just don't know what I'm going to do. And I'm like, wait a minute, I'm like, I'm like, captain. And I'm thinking, well, he's the coach. And, you know, always, and it's even funny. He has laid a herb. We call my house. And this is before cell phones. And my wife would answer the phone and she'd go out. It's coach Brooks. And I'm like, oh, shit. And I got three kids at home, and I'm worried he's going to yell at me. He was always in charge. Even when he threatened to cut me, I thought he would. And it was just the last kind of jab at me to get me going. For whatever reason, I don't know. He was a incredible, mind kind of guy. He loved to get into people's heads and players' heads. And part of me said, he can't cut me on the captain. And the other part said, you know, he just blighted. He's crazy. He's not the dude. So in the, you guys get together, like the movie depicts, a moment that might told me, actually, didn't happen. He didn't say who you played for. I played for Teen USA. But there was a night of crazy skating. So, can you take us through that night? And if that was, was there a time the team was the movie? Miracle shows great division between the players. Was there that kind of division? Or was that a little exaggerated? Or what was it really late? And then how does that fit into the skating? The division was what they thought was going to happen. Once the team was picked. Everybody kept getting the Minnesota or the Massachusetts guys get along. And we've won the right from the beginning. And I tell you that because anybody who's played hockey, you realize that a young age on the team is our. hockey is the ultimate team sport. And you know how important. Like I said, many times, Mark Johnson was from Wisconsin. It 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 defense and the coaches weren't doing their job? So we have to start. Everybody had a job. Everybody had a role on the team. Your role on the team, your job is on the team what your role is. And we as a team have an opportunity to be successful. That was the mindset from the beginning. Not everybody's going to be out on the power play. Not everybody's going to be out killing penalties. Everybody's going to jog in a row. We do that. We'll be fun. 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 the 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 low level. But we knew an honor for us to be successful. We have to believe in ourselves. But we have to believe in each other. And that's a great place to be. That's awesome. To 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 team's picked 26 guys. Then right before the Olympic Games, we he cuts the last two players. They get it. They skating skating. Right. We played Norway. And the game ended in a three three tie. And her friends are very happy with the way Norway was thought of the world power. No, we should be able to handle the Norwegians that not long for talking. And ended in three three tie. And in the movie Miracle, they have the guys on the bench looking at the girls and the stands. That look at her. Look at her. Trust me, that didn't happen. I told my wife that didn't happen. I said the guys from Minnesota were looking at the girls. I was not. But we did skate. We skated for an hour and a half. They shut the lights off in the building. We didn't go 20 at a time. We only went, wait, it was a five guys at a time. And only 15 of us dressed that night. The other 10 guys who understands watching. So we did the herbys for about an hour and a half. The game ended. And then drill ended when Mark Johnson smashed a stick against the glass. And herb said, if I hear another stick smashed against the glass, you'll skate till you die. I said one more time. What did Coach Brooks say? If I hear another stick smashed against the glass, you'll skate till you die. That is called zoo sanities. And then they shut the lights off in the building. Just had the electrical lights on it. We finished the skate. And he brought us in the locker room. And he said, if you played his way again tomorrow, you're going to skate again. Well, we beat Norway eight to nothing the next day. I'm going to tell you why I tell the story about why we skated. It wasn't because we were looking at the girls in the stands. To me, this is the message from herbys. There are a lot of important values in life. And the most important one is respect. And we skate in 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. 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 the Finland, we could win 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, where I'll be a badge with you. They take it. To this day, how our parents got in the locker room. We have no idea. How my dad did him with a six pack of beer. My dad was sitting waving at me like it was a high school game. And the locker room's size of this year was so tiny. All of a sudden, herb calls me into the back area. And he says, Mike, I just got a call from President Carter. And they are sending Air Force One to my father. And they are sending Air Force One tomorrow morning at 6.30 in the morning to take you guys to the White House. I want you to make sure that everybody's in bed early and nobody acts up tonight. And I looked at her and I said, who's going to watch me? I've got to tell you the truth. We stayed out all night. But why are you telling that story? It was herb never waving from that down. Respect your success. Respect your accomplishments. Respect the time. The effort, the work, the sacrifices. We put in collectively and you put it individually. So even though we had won this incredible moment, like I said earlier, our team didn't know it was that big a deal. He never waving from that back. Respect your success. And that's an important value that you have. In life, not just sports. And I think that's what we talked about a little earlier. I think that's what we've lost sight of in our countries. People just don't respect people anymore. And you know, we, I can mention it. But we just got awarded. Our team is going to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, which is, I think, I see that earlier. I did. Well, I repeated myself. But active 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 US story and not. Boston, I should have. So I think her was the right guy to keep and maintain those values that are so important in life. He was an old-school guy. He was, you know, a lunch-pale hardhead. That was our team. That's the way he coached us. That's the way he was. And so now getting towards the Olympics. And there's the game against the Soviets and Madison Square Garden. And do you think that why do you think her want to play that game? Was it just, hey, this is part of the schedule? Was there, you know, any deeper thought you think by, you know, Coach Herb Brooks? And the game did back a little through you guys. And how did that all fit into what would happen at the Olympics, if at all? It's just like a game. And like, hey, you watched on it. Well, for me, it was the last, why we scheduled a game? I have no idea. I'm going to maybe hear about it. I'm going 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 it eight times. We had a great series with the Soviet B team, not the 18. The 18 was playing in New York Rangers, the New York Islanders, the NHL teams, as they prepared. So the last game was in Madison Square Garden. So you guys understand this? Like, so they're the 1980 team that Mike is on. They're playing against college teams, minor league teams, the Soviets are playing against the NHL teams in Beat them. And the NHL stores, Mike and the team, these are college players, the Soviets, because of communism versus capitalism, or professional hockey players, essentially, where their life is paid for. They're always paid for, and these are much older players, much more seasoned players, like they would be NHL players in our team. They would be any NHL teams, any NHL all-star teams, but Mike, back to you and going into Madison Square Garden. So we, we stepped on this. You've got to remember one thing too. Some of the Soviet players were going for the third consecutive little middle. That's playing together for 12 years, some of these guys. The average age of our Olympic team in 1980 was 21.5, 22 years old, no matter if that, 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 Buzzley Schneider was 25. The Elbronk was 18. Mike Ramsey was 18. David Christie was 19. So we stepped on in the ice in Madison Square Garden, the building sold out. This is two days before the Olympic Games. And we lose 10 to 3. Totally embarrassed, totally humiliated. God, we thought we were good and all of a sudden we got welcome to the world moment. So we lose 10 to 3 games over. The last two guys get cut from the team. Now 20 of us are getting on the bus the next day and go to Lake Placid for the Olympic Games. And when the game ended, her didn't say anything to us. She said, go back to the hotel, get a good night's sleep. Come back to the, we're drinking the morning, we'll pack our bags and we'll go to Lake Placid. Never mentioned talked about the game. So the next morning I pick up the New York Post, wrong newspaper to pick up. And the article talks about how the US team has no chance of the upcoming Olympic Games. The Soviets and 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 it was a quote from her Brooks and her upset 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 column up, there's yakishat, there's kutah, these great players we heard so much about. Her was a great speaker, great motivator. We go home 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, our common second in our division. So even get a chance to play that. He says remember how you played in the second and third period, not the first period. We were losing sixth and nothing after one period. And I tell you that because he turned a negative into a positive, right away. He said look out even you played with them when you guys are ready to play. So instead of screaming and yelling at us, saying how much we sucked, how bad we were, we walked away thinking loud. We played even with the best team in the world. And I tell that story because when things don't go well, and there are times things don't always go well. Find something positive and build up of that because if you think negative things, guess what? Nothing but negative thoughts will stay in your head. So we get on the bus clearly excited about what just happened. We played even. And we don't know if we're even going to play them again. So our mindset going into Lake Placid was totally different than if he had screamed in the L.S. So we get to Lake Placid and the tournament starts. But that game that we lost 10 to 3 was never, ever talked about again. Even when we got to play in the second time in Lake Placid, the day before it practiced, her had never said, so 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 not a good way. We were never concerned about other teams. Herf 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 not a good successful. So play your game. Play your game. Throughout the Soviet game. That's what he talked about. Never once did he bring up anything negative about what had happened before. So your mind says different. Your mind says totally different. This game didn't, it was like it didn't even exist. It was something in the past. And I wouldn't expect it to hear that that's extraordinary. Right? I mean, would you guys expect it to hear that? Yeah, extraordinary. So now you're acting Olympics. And as it starts, and I think you play Sweden game one, am I right? So going into the Sweden game, as you're there, was there any talk in the team about how you guys could do? Go mental, mental rounds, or the team culture was more like just play the game in front of you. Did it guys talk about things? How is that, how? Well, we got to make plastic. 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. As the last time I'm going to wear a cowboy hat and boots and jeans. But anyway, that wasn't, you know, so you get all your clothing. And then I remember there was a stack of sports illustrators. And you go over and you pick them up because they get predictions, speed skating, lobster, and looge. And you read, it's got ice hockey. And it says, the Soviets were in the gold medal in the best team in the world, Czechoslovakia, because of the rivalry between the two countries from a political standpoint at the time. And the Czechs had the three Stasni brothers who were great players. They might give the Soviets a game. And then it said, Sweden, Finland, Canada, and West Germany were fighting for the bronze. The 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, our experience to compete at that level. And I remember seeing it the second time, it reminded me of my high school football coach. My high school football coach told me that ability and the 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. 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. A little things separate good business from great business. Intangibles. Hard work. Qualities that our team had. So we opened 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 officially started. And there were maybe two, three thousand people in the stands. Billy Baker scores arguably the biggest goal of the Olympics. So 28 seconds left to go. We tie Sweden to the two. And it was a huge point because nobody thought we could beat Sweden. And then at the end of the day, I'm sorry. So they're losing by a goal into the final minute. 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 battle round. Yeah, I've been really hard because that was a big point for us to get. So we tied Sweden. We get a point. Next day is the opening ceremonies, which was incredible. Next day's Czechoslovakia, the only team that anybody thought could beat the Soviets. And we blow them out. We beat them seven and three. 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 children earlier. So we didn't know what was being written. And we're in a village in Lake Plassen, which is about the size of this church. And we beat them. Then we beat Norway. Then we beat Romania. Then we beat West Germany. And now we're in the middle room. That was our goal. Get to the metal run. And as it turned out, we were second in our division because Sweden had a better goals for our goals against. So it's a crossover. Number two plays number one. Obviously number one on the other side wasn't the Soviets. Italy. They were averaging seven goals a game. They beat Japan 16th and nothing two nights earlier. And we're going to play. That's the deal. And you're in the tournament. The next game is the Soviets. And now we'll play them. And so the movie shows the pregame speech. I think when we had spoken a few months ago, you had mentioned, I think, that more of what her brook says in the movie in the Soviet pregame speech, he said in practice that they before. When I saw the movie for the first time and I heard his speech, I'm like, oh, shit, that's long. I don't remember him saying that. But I remember him saying you were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours tonight is your night. But in the movie, they lent them that because of what he talked about in practice the day before. They're right. They're ready to be beat. If anybody can beat him, you guys can beat him. And we know it on and on and on about that. So I think they incorporated what he said the day before into the speech before the game. So and they showed the wall in the game. How did that build over those that are real thing with the wall? 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 telegrams said was beat those comedy bastards. It'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 the read and put it up on the wall. So we're walking out of the locker room onto the ice and the wall of telegrams with the air. So we knew people watching from a fire, but knowing nowhere, did we have an idea of the world watching the way they were. So that was kind of motivating for us as a team. Then we went out and I received the Soviets four to three. And today's lady we had to play Finland. How, what is that bring up? Bring back if anything for you. Just the emotion in the locker room. See how quiet it was. It was deadly quiet. Our locker room was never quiet. Guys would be eating hot dogs before the game. You know, Neil brought like I said, Neil brought an 18 years old. He had a slice of pizza before he go on the ice and I'm sitting there, how can he eat anything like that. But this game here. Just I remember walking in the locker room, how deadly quiet it was. And I'm thinking, wow, we are we are 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 like that. And then I think the you know the speech I said to you a lot of that stuff you talked about the day before that second time in the Soviets. Everybody talking about them. And I thought they did a great job of combining everything. And I think the music adds a little to it too. And Russell was was a joy he was amazing as her Brooks, although friendly or in the movie. Well, I told that that guy is a something like said to me just a little while ago. Kurt Russell playing her Brooks, he said was much softer and friendlier. And my my curves wipes in the movie and I don't think I saw her once all year. I didn't know what you look like. But they did. There's a couple of scenes in the movie that he smiles and I'm like, that's not the guy that coach. So did you ever see her Brooks smile? Yeah, years later. Because I was a broadcaster for the New York Rangers when her was the head coach. So I got to see a little another side of her herb. Her made a choice to coach our team that way. He was going to be that it was good cop that cop. Craig Patrick, our assistant coach, was you, which I'm important he was. Because her stayed away. He was an S O B. That's the way he was going to be partly because again, all the Minnesota guys on the team. If her sub you know, favorite 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 was a hard demanding coach, bonded us even more together because it was always us against against him. You know, we'll prove you wrong. Really? You're going to yell at Buzzie then yelling at me. And we understood that he says he said many times as 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. 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. Okay. So we'll go down one side. And so just in a little bit of fun, whether any moments where he just did something totally crazy and insane, or were some of the more ridiculous moments, they maybe felt ridiculous then, but as you look back, any unique, crazy, interesting moments between a team and him, or things he said, I come up here, Mike. No, he was just a prick to play for. John Harrington used to write down something. We called them brooksisms. 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, we've, we've, we've, but don't weave at the sake of weaving. And weaving was intercrete, you know, cross the crisscross. That's the style of hockey that we were going to play. So weaving was the international thing. And I remember sitting there going, we weave, we, 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 fire down his head. And Kenny skating around going, what's it look like? So there were some stupid things that he said that kind of made you laugh a little. But for the most part, he stayed pretty true to form as far as being, this is the way it's going to be. Like I said, we got it, we understood it, but we as a team kind of had fun with it sometimes, without him knowing it. And there's a scene in the movie with an interaction after the Soviet came between Jim Herbbrook and Jim Craig. Did that happen? How did he relate to Jim Craig, you know, coachbooks? I don't know that. That must have been something was separate. You know, gold tenders usually just leading along. We had a gold-tendered coach who could probably maybe deal with Jimmy. But for the most part, you know, whatever they said, I wouldn't remember. I thought about it. And it is correct, by the way, the team has never been back to get the whole team making onto Air Force One the next day. Just Jim Craig did not. He went to Atlanta because he signed with the Atlanta costume. 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? Is that crazy? I remember sitting on the plane going back to Boston after we go to the White House and then found out that this thing was huge. And I remember getting on the plane in Eastern Airlines. That's how long ago that was. And I'm sitting next to Dave Silke. And Silke kind of got tears in his eyes. And I said, Silke, what's the matter? And he just looked at and he went, it's over. We're never going to play together again. And it was like, fuck your eyes. And we all went our separate ways. You know, Neil Barrett and Simon, Mark Johnson, and Simon, all these guys, you know, signed troke contracts. I remember going home. And we wanted to go metal on Sunday and Monday night my mother's making me dinner. And I'm like, what the hell just happened to me? Well, you know, 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. I had a car out of limousine taking me to the airport to take me to New York. 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 new people watched. And the pilot, and he just wrote a book, the pilot. In the book he mentions, he told me to get out of my seat and come and sit behind him on the plane. Because people wanted to come up and talk to me and get autographs and pictures. And he said, don't tell anybody who you hear because you're not allowed to be here. You're not, you know, a member of Eastern Airlines. And I remember getting off the plane and the, the, the, the New York line of people. They were all clapping and patting me on the back. I'm like, healthy. You know, what, what happened here? You people watched. It was, it was, it was crazy. You know, to go from having no idea to, oh my God. My God, I was 10 years old. I was not a hockey player. I did like the Islander Stutt's 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 my mom to help rush get me home so we could listen to the game on the radio. I don't, fire a clock correctly. It wasn't, I was in New Jersey. It wasn't being broadcast on television. It was tapety late. It was so big. So I didn't listen to it on the radio. And I was, I was a huge USA person. So I loved the Olympics. I watched everything. So I didn't. And so I just love hockey. But I loved all of it. And I sat by myself. In the basement, parents house, small house on a main road. We weren't three families, two family. And listened to this go on. And it's a 10 year old. Somehow, maybe, could stand the Soviet Union. Comedy bastards. Like, I was in a comedy 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 when 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 long away that I faced challenge, I couldn't find out I was going to go blind to high school sports challenges. And everything that would come in my life, things to this day. Your signature or a fraudulent version of it, but I hope it's yours. It's not a jersey in my library in my house along with the hockey skates. It has the 80 blue jersey all you guys cited 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 talked 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 numbers, the dynamics, and the heart, coach Herbrook put that together. He was captain, such an incredible leader amongst leaders, as you always say, all these leaders. And you really did do something that was really impossible, that changed the course of human history. And it's so unbelievable. And remember, Mr. Microsioning isn't on television, he's not in movies, he's not on social media, but he's at the seashell today. And what happened? And that what happened? Then they wanted to take pictures, then they wanted autographs, then they started cheating in USA, USA. And I'm like, oh, I just wanted a drink. And it was, who's going to recognize me here? So I finished my drink and picked some pictures and signed some autographs and left my drink at the bar. We'll get you a few drinks. Oh, I'm going to get a few later. So fairly accurate, not fairly 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're just like, I'm focused, and we're going to go play this game. When you're on the ice, you don't hear anything. You hear a teammate asking for a pass, or her, or be on the change of the lines, or whatever. So you don't hear any chance that you're on the bench, you could hear the crowd a little, but you're still, you're just so geared to what you're doing, what you're watching. Everything's blocked out. And it's funny because I'm not that smart of person, but it's amazing the focus that you can have in a situation like that, where you're just, my mindset is just, on the ice, you know, what's happening in front of you. Awesome. Do you miss playing at all? Oh no, you didn't know. I skate, I held up out with my high school team. I've been, you know, 45 years of volunteer coach. I skate with my grandkids, they play. So we were talking earlier, I get a little rink, I put in my backyard, so the grandkids come over and we'll skate and things like that, but they check them. I don't want to because I may fall and miss them. I'm a golfer, so I'd much rather do that than skate around the ice. I don't need the aggregation. Plus, I just can't do things, you know, I try to lift the puck and my shoulder hurts. So quick fun fact, and we're going to take that, go to the next spot. The game was tied three to three and I don't know, some guy scores a goal that puts the USA up four to three. So maybe we'll go there and ask, but not that long ago, Mike was a golfer. And he ends up at this place and there's a shared experience, it's a people-rimer table. And I think it was Tiger Woods, Jack Nicholas, who was considered to be the race golfer in history by many. Jack was the son and 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're in mind that the president of a very important fact that he might not have been aware of, but Tiger Woods and Jack Nicholas and some difference between you guys. Well, I'm not going to get into politics because I've no President Trump a long time. He used to play celebrity golf with us. And while he was the president, I played a couple of rounds with him because I remember his club. So I was going to play that day, but Jack Nicholas's son ended up playing. I was going to be the fourth in the group. So they'd done golf and then I was sitting at a table and the president called me over and said, now, and we're just talking back and forth about this and that. And I looked at the president and I said, hey, boss, I said there's a lot of majors between these two guys, but I'm the only gold medalist at the table. And there you go. And he looked at me just, hey, wait, wait, that's funny. Just give me a heads up, boy, aren't. So games going, okay, once that games going, you're playing. And is it, and 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 it keeps, I think, and correct it from long. 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 Soviet, it's your playing hockey. And the game was now three to three in the third period, correct, not correct, or is that any time in the game like kind of changed where you guys became clear or just a hockey game, we could beat these guys. Like did you come into the game just as a game? What are your confidence as a team you think build over the game? Well, first of all, you go into the game thinking you can win. If you think you're going to lose, you probably will. So, I mean, we knew it was going to be difficult. We knew we had to play well, we had to be smart, we had to be disciplined. We couldn't take penalties, we couldn't get into a shootout, because if, you know, we were scoring five goals, you know, four, four, we got four, because if they scored five, we weren't getting five. But again, that's the way the game kind of went. But as a player, you just focus on what you're doing. Doing your job, do the things that you're asked to do. Go out there every shift, play hard, play smart, be disciplined. And, you know, the game just kind of goes the way it does. And, you know, I was seeing Mark Johnson scores with no time left on the clock to tie the game to the first period. The end of the first period was a huge goal, because we didn't play really well in the first. We weren't terrible, but we didn't play well in the first. Jimmy played great. So it's 2-2, you know, then it's 3-2 them, and it's 3-3 us. And, like I said, if it got to be four to them, the game's over. Because now we're going to chase them, now we're going to change the way we want to play. The fact that the game stayed, the way it was going, because you're never down two goals. No. No. We were never down, you know, I'll give you a statistic that I didn't know about till a couple of years ago. In the third period of the Olympics, the third period, we outscored our opponent 16 to 3. That is unheard of. We gave up three goals in the third period. All tournament long. We didn't give up any defendland. We didn't give up any dissuading. And we didn't give up any two Soviets in the third condition. Conditioned that. Conditioned. I think condition was a big part of our success. We played four lines. We didn't play one of them too. We rolled four lines. Everybody played. Everybody contributed. Deiro was to move in. Thank you, Mike Owen. I mean, and Mike, I know that you're a humble man. I mean, I was like, yeah, listen, I'm not that deep. Do you feel anything when you watch that or what? I feel happy that it goes in. You know, yeah, obviously it brings a smiley face. You know, for me, knowing I was able to help out our team at a time when we needed something to happen. Like I said earlier, though, if Mark Johnson doesn't score his two goals, who knows my goal doesn't mean anything. But the fact that I scored at a team when I did it, there were still 10 minutes left to go in the game. It 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 to 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. The Soviets only have five shots on goal in the last 10 minutes. We totally we totally shut them down in the third period. And especially the last 10 minutes. Again, I look at it, yeah, it's a nice shit. When it didn't, I got the winning goal and we went four to three. And so what that means is and take let's get right and 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, sounds to me like what Mike Rosione is saying is that they were taking that momentum as a team and they were shutting down the Soviets. They weren't just playing great defense. They were still playing offense. They were out playing them at every level because the Soviets only had five more shots on goal to rest of the game. Am I hearing that correctly? 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. Mike, what was it like to stand that podium and bring the team up when that was all complete? Well, that was pretty special. Like, you know, to stand and hear the whole building, the whole building singing the Star Spangled Banner. And see a flag being risen just a little higher than everybody else's was pretty special. And, you know, I was standing there and I ended up obviously calling on my teammates up onto the podium because one person shouldn't be there. And the next Olympic Games and since then it's a long platform where all the players stand. And that's the way it should be. He changed that. Thank you. Well, we can see we all fit. I don't know if we'll all fit now, but we all. Although there's only unfortunately three of my teammates have passed since 1980, but we get lots of well all of the together next week in Minnesota. I don't know when it goes. Remember, be really signing things. We sign this company. Heiders are a team for I think every three years we do. We sign like five or six hundred prints. And then they use them for charities or whatever. So we'll get together and we'll have some fun. And they have a Netflix. Netflix, Netflix special should be coming out in January of 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 and 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, if you talk to her, you're not going to get much out of her. So she was sitting there and the guy looked at my wife and he said, when Mike was elected captain of the team, and he called you and told you, what did you think? What did he say? And she looks and goes, call me. He's thinking 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 on to the show. That's really 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 after the Netflix and in the commemorative, that's got to be it. What else can they give us? It's over. Never over. Well, yeah, right. Thank you. It's over. No, I get that. But still, it's like, you know, okay. What else can we have? So, um, legacy. Do you think about those things? Do you think about, you know, I know a simple person. Do you think about what you want people? 100 years ago, and you leave this world. 100 years from now, and leave this world. What you want to be. Remember for us that have ever come across your mind, your heart. No, I guess I think it's what I talked about earlier. You know, like my teammates and I had to remember it as a good group of guys who worked hard to accomplish their dream. And then we were good people. And like I said, if you spent time with my teammates, you'd get a total understanding of how we were successful. You know, not only were we good, we were the type. You know, we were the guys that wanted, you want as a neighbor as a friend. And I think I'd like our team to be remembered. It's just a bunch of good guys who worked hard and had incredible values and who loved our country. We took pride in putting the US age jersey on. And I think we, you know, represented our country the way that I think people in this country were proud of and want to be our team want to be remembered for that. Being, you know, a good group of guys that you would want to hang with and sit with and talk with. And you could trust and who you respected. I guess the things that, you know, my dad always told me about. It's easy to be a good person. And I think our team was that. And then it's okay if we're getting down to it for a couple of minutes. Okay, if we ask two or three good questions. True. Let's go to Sir Partner Questions. And Sir Partners have a question for Mr. Michael Eisein. I'm a former registration handler. And let's give them the microphone. And actually, they, Lance, I did. I also would, if Lance and then if Nathan had his hand up, great, not fun. But I have to what Nathan did today, that that would be earning a question. And let's try to get one of the women of Sir as well. But Lance, you had, right? Mike, I just wanted to say, I never. Well, by the way, Nathan is a retired and tenant Colonel in the United States Air Force. commercial airline pilot now and doing many of the incredible things to watch. Mike, my nephew, a separate, so I 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 was standing there. I want to hold the Naval Academy Park. I just, I never really knew your full story. You know, this man here is a responsible and full knowledge of this and how special is it? Everyone's audience. First of all, I've ever been to a better speech. And I just want to say that you are a national trade and not just because of what you told the story. But for being a much paler of our neck, I got it. And about you, you as far as I'm talking about, it just oozes out of you. So this is a question I just wanted to acknowledge you for that. And also how you tell her roots of story. And I think the the witness that you provide for what he did, who he was, is really great. It's getting it. I believe you can give it up as you are being. Being a witness or somebody's life. Right. And we all believe the miracles of this room. And as you said, you know, maybe we need to go to 1980 this day and age. And because of this man and the witness that he is for your team, your life. I think one of us has retired, you know, by the power of myself. I've said this before, but I believe that the mission that we're all about is more crucial to our nation. To the furthering of that dream, the way you look, the way you represent, the mission that I've served, and that's actually a final of the sky in the end of the country. So I think you will even hear it once and I think that the next miracle that happens will be created in this room. So thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I wrote a book a few years ago. It's called The Making of a Miracle. And it's kind of my life story and I don't tell you to buy the book, but you can if you want to. But I wrote that I remember when they contacted me, they wanted to write a book about our team. It was a simple might and I'm buying a book for everybody in the room. I'm seriously order the book. I don't know if you can get Amazon or whatever. But I remember they wanted to write a book about our team. And I called my team, made something they said, no. Not interested. And if you, like I said, if you move into 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 call 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 going to do it. I wrote the book and I wrote the book for one reason. I want my grandkids to know that Papa's life wasn't one game or one goal or one moment. And my grandkids to know about their grand father, 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 to book signings. I did like two signings and that was enough for me. Thank God for COVID. Thank God for COVID. It's amazing. Who's got the next question? Can't ask me any later. This is Mama Soul Wisdom. She had her face on a Times Square Boat Board. 40 feet for like a month rotating. It's incredible. Can you please move? Thank you. Mr. Wisdom, what do you hope the vehicle of ice teaches future children? About what's possible for the human spirit and the vision and the ways to speak? I think 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, America was a catchy phrase. Sounds great. I think it was an America. It was accomplished by a group of people who believed. We believe that I said this early on 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. I guess that would probably be our message because nobody thought we could win. We believed that we had a hope and a dream. But let's go play and find out. So I think that would be a great legacy and message. I remember when we were named Sportsman of the Year, Sports Illustrated, EM Swift wrote an article about our team and it was entitled 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 the key to our success. And I think that, you know, and then it was named the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. And a lot of it was because of those values. And that's where I hope people take away from the movie or take away from our team. This is what we hope and believe that we had. Let's hear it for that. Thank you. And I think the final question. I was 10 years old as I told you and maybe I was 2.9. 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, until you guys did, we, you made it away for everybody in America who actually could still not be conditioned to 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, the right age, the right time that imprinted on me just in all these circumstances that I am in my life and my others. Yeah, that is initially possible. And I mean it with every part of me. Thank you. And I feel so blessed to have the miraculous timing of being 10 years old and that might happen. So thank you. That's funny. My grandkids want to watch the movie sometimes. And we never, I've never sat with them and watched it at some point I'm going to. But about a month ago my grandson wanted to watch the movie and I took the tape out. And he looks at me and goes, what's that? I says, that's the movie. What movie? That's the movie miracle. What's that? That's the tape. That's the tape of the movie. You know, we spoil a little Brad. It's not a CD. It's not a digital. Forget VHS tape here. Watch it. And Mr. Bruce Lee. 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 ball-threaded a thought really quickly? Yeah. Please watch it with them. Because it would be, it will be, I am absolutely certain, a remarkable experience for you and them forever. And you have so earned what that one print on them forever. No, I'll watch it. And I think someday I'll watch the Soviet game with them as well. Problem with the Soviet. I don't want to be watching the Soviet game, which is on VHS. I don't want to watch in the game and all of a sudden one of my buddies shows up. You know, let it go, Mike, it's over. But I do have a VHS tape of every game that we played and maybe that would be something. Maybe when the 18-month-old is a little older, we can all watch it together. Let's hear it for that. Final question. Final question. Tony Mariallo. Listen, we talk about, like, you think you're an outsmart. I don't think I'm that smart. This dude's a brain surgeon. Literally, an actual brain surgeon. So yes. Well, glad he's not a dermatologist. We'll get to that in a second. Yes. Just watching the clips and hearing a story, there's a lot of similarities to the mindset and the way you were trained. Would you say that her lips with the toughest coach that you've played for? No, my high school football coach and my college hockey coach were pretty intense. But then again, we were talking about her. That's how coach is coach in the 70s. You deal with it. You know, I mean, living the house with my father for, you know, 40 years and see how tough it was. I tell people, her lips 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 going to be. Okay, I can deal with it. You only need to yell at me for two hours. Practice is over and I'm out of here. But he was demanding and he was challenging, but that's the way it was going to be. So if that's the way it's going to be, that's the way it's going to be. I'm not quitting. I want to be on this team. And some of the positions here with me, we all training at the air, our tentings, training us like that. And again, we get it. Right. And we lose. Yeah. Our results were better because of that. We keep going in special places in our heart because they made us who we are. Makes you stronger. Yeah. And I wonder if some of that means that you know you're still here with the University of America. It's a lot different. And I think it's a lot of different. Coaching kids today is it. You know, coach of the way you use the coach. Don't yell at Johnny because you know you're getting trouble. But you know, I think the air that we grew up and was that kind of an era. Now they grew up in a different era. You got to learn how to coach today differently than you could coach 20 years ago, 30 years ago. And the great coach is that adjust that way. The great coach is 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 than I think the old coaches did. Thank you, Tony. So, Mike's got a great new doctor. Can you share that real quick? My wife's a fanatic about going to the doctors. Got to go to the doctors. My dermatologist retired. So she gets me this new dermatologist. This was about, I'm going to say six, eight months ago. So I go into the guys office, sit me, go to the room for us. So I go to room four. I sit down, wait for the doctor, the doctor comes in. Take your shirt off. So I take my shirt off and he's got the thing and he's looking at me. That's good. That's spot's good. That's good. And I have, after the Olympics, my girlfriend, who's my wife, I had this replica 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 with the US hockey team, one to go metal. So we're done. And I think he's messing with me, right? And they have the oval with Eric Hyden, one to 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 loose. 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. And he goes, oh my god. So I leave and I go home and I tell my wife's 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, if you go to Lake Placid in the arena, there's a big billboard of all our names all around the ring. It says, you know, Mike Luzioni on the in the ring. And he was there and he never looked at my chart. So I'm getting a new doctor. That's a true story. That actually happened. No idea. Anything, anything left that you want to accomplish that is unaccomplished yet. I hear a family, the congressional gold medal, you obviously have incredibly successful speech. No, like I said to you, I take each day as it comes. I look forward to going home tomorrow. My grandson's got a football game, I think tomorrow night and go watch him play. I live every day and enjoy every day and watch my kids, my grandkids grow. Hopefully we live a little longer to see them have kids someday. I told my wife, and this is funny, but I know you're not 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. She didn't think that was funny. I thought it was hilarious. Yes, let them accounts for the next month. I just 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. I'll make maybe nine holes in the afternoon with the boys. That's a beautiful thing. I can't thank you enough for everything that I've done here. Thanks for having me. The appreciation, those no bounds, and what I think would be a wonderful way to have my call this an evening would be to give him a little USA, USA on our feet. It's like, so it's rise to our feet as Mr. Micah Reesioni has off this stage. Let's first hold it in my hand. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chuck. Thank you very much. Mr. Micah Reesioni, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you very much.