Pulling The Goalie

Jim Craig played the game of his life to help the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team beat the Soviet team in the "Miracle On Ice", a feat many (myself included) call the biggest sports upset of the 20th century. The team then went on to win it all with a victory over a very solid Finland team a couple of days later - a fact many people overlook, believing that the victory over the Soviets was the gold medal game. As anyone who hasn't been living in a cave for the last year is aware, this past February marked the 25th anniversary of that team's journey to Olympic gold and immortal glory. Wayne Coffey's excellent new book, The Boys Of Winter, is a must-read for any hockey fan. Coffey reveals many inside details of the team's Olympic quest, and also interviews each of the players to capture each man's reflections of the events of that time, to ask how his life has unfolded since 1980, and to find out what he's doing today. Pick it up and check it out now. In most accounts of the 1980 Olympic hockey team's story, much attention is paid, and understandably so, to Mark Johnson, Jim Craig, and Mike Eruzione, because they played the most pivotal roles in what can only be called a fairy tale. Coffey's book devotes ample time to the less-heralded members of the team, players like Mark Wells, Eric Strobel, Phil Verchota, Dave Silk, and Bill Baker, who received less acclaim but who nonetheless contributed much to the team's success. It's the telling of the stories of these often-forgotten players that elevates The Boys Of Winter above every other book written or film made about the team. It's an instant classic.

One of the unsung heroes of the saga as revealed in Coffey's book is a man named Warren Strelow. The late Herb Brooks grew up playing hockey with Warren Strelow in my own neighborhood, St. Paul's East Side. The two played countless hours of hockey together at Lake Phalen, and played together in the 1950s for the high school from which I graduated, Johnson High School (Go Govies!). The two kept in contact over the years, and when Brooks was named coach of the 1980 Olympic hockey team, he selected Warren Strelow to coach the goaltenders and to choose the two goalies the team would trust as their last line of defense against the Soviets and the world. In this capacity, Warren Strelow was instrumental in the success of Jim Craig, and Strelow later went on to serve as goaltenders coach for several NHL teams, including the Washington Capitals and the San Jose Sharks.
Jim Craig was never able to duplicate his Olympic success, and he washed out of pro hockey fairly quickly. He went from the gold medal ceremony straight to the net of the Atlanta Flames, for which he posted mostly mediocre numbers on a horrible team to which he was relied upon to restore credibility. Too much was expected, and the pressure was too great. A short stint with his hometown Boston Bruins coupled with nagging injuries resulted in yet another failure, and Craig was ultimately given what would be his last chance by Lou Nanne of the Minnesota North Stars. Craig played three games for the North Stars in the 1983-84 season. One of them was against the Washington Capitals, whose goaltenders were being coached by Warren Strelow. When Craig spotted Strelow in the hallway outside the team's locker rooms that night and asked him for advice on how to turn his struggling game around, Strelow replied, "Jim, I'm not your goalie coach any more". It pained Strelow to have to say that, but it was the truth. Strelow told the Capitals players to shoot low on the stick side against Craig, and they scored six goals that night. Jim Craig's professional hockey career would soon reach its end.


Sometimes, the people in our lives make bad or questionable choices. People with whom we were formerly close move on from our lives and have to make their own decisions. What they do is really no longer any of our business, and we can't do anything about it, even if we think their choices are ill-advised or potentially dangerous. As much as it may hurt, we have to say, as Warren Strelow did, "I'm not your coach any more".


Cheers!