Miracle Trivia Questions

Answer: vs. Soviet Union (Feb. 9, 1980)

O'Callahan hurt himself in the first match against the Soviet Union three days before the Games began. We didn't see the entire match, but we did see OC get into an altercation with members of the other team.

Answer: Michigan Tech University (MTU)

MTU was a college hockey power in the 60s and early but it had sort of tapered off by '79, and consisted of mostly Canadian born players. Pavelich went to UMD, O'Callahan (along with a few others) went to Boston University and Mark Johnson went to Wisconsin.

Answer: Mike Eruzione

The team is only allowed to have 20 players. At the time, they have 21. One person would have to be cut anyway, but also, Herb brought in a brand new, very skilled player. Some of the boys, including Eruzione, asked to speak to Herb after a game where the newest player had played very well. They thought it was crazy to bring in a new player at this time because they were a family. Herb realized that this was the team they wanted to go to the Lake Placid Olympics with, so he decided to send the new player home.

Answer: Mike Eruzione

After an embarrassing 3-3 tie with Norway, Herb made his team stay after the game and do sprints for hours. Tired and beaten up and all hope seemingly lost for the boys, Eruzione screamed this quote with the remaining oxygen he had left in his lungs. Brooks then concluded the sprints. Shortly after that night, he made Eruzione his team captain.

Answer: 1976

Rob's team, the University of Minnesota, won in 1976 against OC and his team, which caused the tension between the two players. We first found out McClanahan was part of the 1976 team when he was talking with Eruzione before tryouts. Later, OC told the story of what happened at the 1976 championship game.

Answer: 45 seconds

For those of you who don't know hockey that well, that is skating about 1000 feet with stops and direction changes in 45 seconds. That is very fast and very hard to do. The USA Olympic team did it several times per practice too.

Answer: Knee

Herb didn't cut him and get another player because he realized that that would mess up the chemistry the team had developed. He got some grief for this because others realized that if they lost another player, they wouldn't have enough.

Answer: Al Michaels

Although Al Michaels and Ken Dryden redid most of the commentary for the movie, the closing seconds of the game against the Soviet Union use the actual original ABC Sports commentary from 1980. Michaels is one of the most well-known sports broadcasters in professional athletics and does nothing more or nothing less in the movie "Miracle."

Answer: Don't Fear the Reaper

I know this really wasn't about the boys, but I just love that song (sung by Blue Oyster Cult)! The boys were given the test to see how far Herb Brooks would be able to push them. The boys were sitting at the bar discussing some of the bizarre questions that Herb had on the test, as well as the old rivalry between guys from Boston and Minnesota.

Answer: United States of America

This is after they tie Norway and skate for nearly an hour. After he says it, Brooks doesn't make them skate any more that day. He skated them to build team unity and Eruzione shows it.

Answer: CCCP

CCCP is the Russian counterpart for the initials USSR, which stands for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.