Miracle on Ice

After being beaten in four consecutive Olympic hockey tournaments, the United States turns to Coach Herb Brooks to try and turn things around. Coach Brooks had won several NCAA hockey championships with the University of Minnesota. During this span of losses, the Soviet Union team was the most feared international team. They had won gold in 4 consecutive Olympic games. The storyline of “Miracle” focuses on Coach Herb Brooks and the forming of the team through their famous game against the Soviet Union.

Coach Herb Brooks was the clear leader of the United States hockey team. Once he was selected to coach the team, the next step was to select players for the team. Coach Brooks decided to go against the traditional selection method, which was by committee, and select the team on his own based upon how the team chemistry would be. This was quite different from years past when players were chosen based solely on their skill level. Coach Brooks believed that the team that could beat the Soviet Union would be the most cohesive and best-conditioned team possible. He focused strictly on how they would play together and whether they could put aside individual accomplishments for the greater good of the team. A great scene from the movie was when the team was playing a preliminary game in Norway. The team was within a goal of winning and Coach Brooks overheard some players talking about some girls that were attending the game. The team ended up losing. Coach Brooks held the team on the ice after the game and made them do sprints down the ice. His purpose was to get the team to push aside distractions and play as a team. He made them do so many sprints that even his assistant coach was in disbelief. Finally, one of the players shouted out that they play for Team U.S.A. This was a dramatic change from introductions that were done earlier on in the movie. “Miracle” takes the viewer through all major phases of forming a team: forming, storming, norming, performing, and...