Stars Pucks: The Story of the Captain's Elbow
How Team USA once was filled with rivals who tried to take each-other's heads off.
Note: I am not sure what has inspired me to write this today. It is part Team USA nostalgia that these last few weeks have brought back, part reading from many who want revenge on Mark Stone for his hit on Miro Heiskanen’s knee, and part just loving that I can dive into history whenever it strikes here at this newsletter “just because.” I hope some of you really enjoy this random hockey story.
As we have established, I have always loved USA Hockey.
As a young boy, I witnessed the Miracle on Ice and the joy that came with it. But, then in each subsequent Olympics, we never came close to being even decent. Our amateurs were just no match.
1984 Sarajevo - 7th place
1988 Calgary - 7th place
1992 Albertville - 4th place
1994 Lillehammer - 8th place
So, naturally, the discontent grew. In some ways it made the Lake Placid story even better, but I thought it was inspiring young boys (or older ones like me) to play the sport in the US in the 1980s and 1990s from that inspiration. But, if it did, how are we actually getting worse? Maybe, our best generation to date got skipped.
Here is the summary paragraph from the wikipedia page on our men’s hockey program during that time:
The United States hockey experienced a spike in talent in the 1980s and 1990s, with future NHL stars including Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, Derian Hatcher, Brett Hull, Pat LaFontaine, John LeClair, Brian Leetch, Mike Modano, Mike Richter, Jeremy Roenick, Kevin Stevens, Keith Tkachuk, and Doug Weight. Although the U.S. finished no higher than fourth in any World or Olympic event from 1981 through 1994 (unlike other teams that used professionals, the U.S. team was limited to amateurs at these tournaments), the Americans reached the finals of the 1991 Canada Cup and won the 1996 World Cup.
These were my guys. In particular, Wisconsin Badgers were my guys, but Team USA guys were next. Preferably both. So, Chris Chelios and Mike Richter were really my guys. Then, I loved Brett Hull so much (Minnesota-Duluth). Then, some of these guys wouldn’t even play college hockey. Jeremy Roenick and Mike Modano were that good?
So, when I finally really started focusing on the NHL in the late 1980’s, I quickly gravitated to players and teams that had Americans. It was easy because the closest team to me was the Chicago Blackhawks and they had two Badgers as their best defensemen - Chelios and Gary Suter. Then, this Roenick kid showed up. They even had North Dakota goalie Ed Belfour (who was actually Canadian), but he was a US college kid, too. They were my guys.