Miracle Directed by: Gavin O’Connor Written by: Eric Guggenheim Presented by: Jacob Johnson

Official Preview Miracle Trailer

Back Ground Information Miracle is based on the true story of how the U.S.A Olympic hockey team beat the Soviet Union in the 1980 winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York At the time the Soviet Union was the best ranked hockey team in the world U.S.A team was said to be one of the major underdogs throughout the entire tournament Sports Illustrated selected the USA team’s victory over the Soviet Union as the Number 1 sports moment of the 20 th century

Soviet Union Lead by Coach Viktor Tikhonov, Captain Boris Mikhailov, and Goaltender Vladislav Tretiak Average age years old The Soviet Union had an outstanding hockey team as well as record Prior to 1980 winter games Soviet’s had won gold in every winter Olympics from 1956 throughout 1976 except for the 1960 games when USA last won gold Also had won gold in 9 international tournaments throughout this period Soviets were highly experienced and some players had been playing together for up to a decade The Soviet goaltender was said to be the best goalie in the world at the time

USA The U.S. team was lead by Coach Herb Brooks, Captain Mike Eruzione, and Goaltender Jim Craig Average age on the team was years old Many of the players had never played together before Those that had played together either played on the same team or on a rival team in college Many players had problems getting past old bitter rivalries Many players also had alliances with past team mates and were unwilling to put a side differences for the greater good of the team Needless to say, this team fought through lots of adversity to get to where they needed to be in order to win

Coach Herb Brooks Former player for multiple U.S. National hockey teams Played Division I College hockey for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers during the mid to late 1950’s Played for 1960 National team that won Gold, however was cut 2 weeks before winter games started, last player to be cut that year After winter games ended Brooks is said to have approached his former coach Jack Riley and was quoted saying “Well, you must have made the right decision, you won” From Brooks holds a record for playing on a total of eight U.S. National and Olympic teams, including two that went to the Olympics in 1964 and 1968

Tough Practice

Picking the Right Players Coach Brooks had a theory of picking players with the “RIGHT” amount of skill and talent Did not want a team full of “all-stars” he wanted players that would play as part of the team design he had created He had coached many of the players he picked for this team in prior years while at the University of Minnesota Also witnessed many other future players during active competition while coaching at Minnesota At this time professional hockey players were not allowed to participate in international tournaments such as the Olympics Tryouts

U.S.A in Trouble from the Start USA team was not playing the way Coach Brooks wanted them to play, not good enough to win Lost many games at the start of the training process Players lacked discipline needed to succeed, especially for Olympic play Coach Brooks made sure players knew how good they needed to be, and how good they actually could be He was very stern and demanded respect and a 100% effort from all of his players on and off the ice Back to the Line... Again

Sitting Down Jim Craig Coach Brooks asked different responsibilities and roles from different players He had his players take psychological tests in order to see how hard he could physically and mentally push them When his players did not play up to expectations he was not afraid to tell them so, and he was not afraid to take action to fix it Sitting down Jimmy Craig

Team USA Gains Momentum Coach Brooks pushed his players vigorously throughout entire training process Coaching staff thought players would start to hate and disregard Coach Brooks direction in response to harsh tactics and treatment Did not put up with quitters or negative thinking Once players started to believe in their selves and team strategies they started to win Bruise on the Leg is a hell of a long way from the Heart Bruise on the Leg is a hell of a long way from the Heart

Coach Brooks Team Leader Coach Brooks was a very motivating speaker and leader Players trusted everything Coach Brooks had taught them, even if his methods were challenging and/or confusing at first Looked at the team and cared for the team as a family unit Many people close to Coach Brooks felt that he wanted to win gold more so than his players Always pushed for excellence on and off the ice Very charismatic leader Pre-game Speech

Leadership Styles Coach Brooks Portrays Transactional- In the sense that he offers players a combination of rewards and punishments in order to achieve team goals a)Distinguished Chain of Command- lead by coach Brooks b)Players subject to disciplinary action when they did not play up to expectations and praised when they excelled Transformational- Brooks was able to change players mindset and persuade them to focus more on team goals and achievements rather than on them selves Charismatic- Coach Brooks was able to get his players to follow and abide by everything he was doing and saying throughout the entire process of making it to the Olympics a)Despite being practically hated by all of his players at times b)Coach Brooks did a good job at making everyone on the team feel as though they were part of a family, and that every piece was very important to the solidarity of the unit Explanatory- Coach Brooks had a hard time with this style of leadership. It took people a long time to figure out and understand why he was doing the things he was in regards to picking the team and coaching the team a)Players did not understand certain aspects of his game strategies when they were first explained b)USA Hockey organization did not understand why he had picked the team he did

Was Coach Brooks a Good Leader? Leading to a Good Place Leading to a Bad Place Getting Many Followers Coach Herb Brooks Not Getting Followers Coach Brooks was a good leader that acquired followers and lead them to a good place Leading his players to become gold medal winners (leading followers [not many] to a good place) Leading our country to a gold medal victory over a country we (USA) were in conflict with (leading many followers to a good place)

Overall Outcome Coach Brooks lead a team of young men, most of whom had never played together, to win an Olympic gold medal Despite being major underdogs and fighting through major obstacles along the way, USA beat the best team in the world, Soviet’s, in the medal round 4-3 to advance Next defeated Finland in final game to win gold and complete the “Miracle on Ice” Came from behind in every game of the tournament they played and won, proving to be a worthy opponent Soviet Union team devastated by loss Many of the veterans on the team were forced to retire Coach was not blamed at all for loss of game by general public Loss caused downfall of greatest Russian international team of all time to date

Do you Believe in Miracles? End of Movie