"I've often been asked in the years since Lake Placid what was the best moment for me. Well, it was here - the sight of 20 young men of such differing backgrounds now standing as one. Young men willing to sacrifice so much of themselves all for an unknown. A few years later, the U.S. began using professional athletes at the Games - Dream Teams. I always found that term ironic because now that we have Dream Teams, we seldom ever get to dream. But on one weekend, as America and the world watched, a group of remarkable young men gave the nation what it needed most - a chance, for one night, not only to dream, but a chance, once again, to believe."
____________________
As movie lines go, the Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks voiceover at the end of "Miracle" makes for tremendous, goose-bump inducing theater.
The non-Hollywood reality of today's Olympics though is a little more complicated, even for Clark Donatelli.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' head coach is perhaps best known as having played for Team USA in two Olympics, including captaining the 1992 squad in the penultimate Games without NHL players.
When the puck dropped on the Olympic hockey tournament Wednesday in PyeongChang, it did so for the first time in 20 years without the world's best players. Even Donatelli doesn't know quite what to make of it.
"It's kind of a mixed bag," Donatelli was telling me in his thick New England accent on Tuesday. "You want to see the best players playing in it, but I also realize they (NHL) don't want to shut down the league every four years. I don't know. Tough one, right?"
Talk about tough ones, in its 3-2 overtime loss to Slovenia, the U.S. did not have Auston Mathews, Jack Eichel, Johnny Gaudreau or almost any recognizable names. Instead it iced a team of mostly nondescript former NHLers and college players.
There may have been a time when the notion of amateur competition and the "Olympic spirit" were real and romanticized things that mattered but those days are long, long gone. A whole generation of fans has been raised on NHL participation in the Olympics, on Sidney Crosby's golden goal in Vancouver in 2010 and T.J. Oshie's shootout magic in Sochi in 2014.
When the NHL officially announced last April that it wouldn't be shuttering the league for three weeks this February, the heart of the league's season, it hardly came as a great surprise. There was a not-friendly-to-network-TV time zone difference to consider. There were concerns about insuring players' safety on the ice and their security off it a few miles away from the Korean peninsula's DMZ.
"You could see the writing on the wall. It would have been more of a surprise for them to say yes to it," Zach Parise, a silver medal winner in 2010 and captain of the 2014 U.S. team, told me when his Minnesota Wild were in town a few weeks ago. "It's unfortunate.
"It's a special event. It's awesome. You don't get that many opportunities to do that. It's too bad. I'm lucky to have played in a couple of them but it's sad there won't be some great players that won't get that chance to."
But perhaps the impact of Gary Bettman's decision wasn't truly felt until Wednesday when Slovenia's Jan Mursak beat former Mercyhurst goalie Ryan Zapolski. Do you believe in miracles?
____________________
Back in 1980, you had to know Donatelli believed.
When Mike Eruzione's wrister beat Vladimir Myshkin low blocker in Lake Placid, Donatelli was a 14-year-old bantam hockey player in Providence. It was, and still is, the defining moment for hockey -- and perhaps of all sports -- in this country.
"I was at the house watching," Donatelli was saying. "It was exciting because of beating the Russians. It was just amazing that a bunch of college guys could go out and do that. It really inspired us and put hockey on the map here in the United States, for sure."
If he didn't want to be a hockey player before, Donatelli certainly did then.
In the fall of '86, Donatelli's teammate at Boston University was freshman Mike Sullivan of Duxbury, Mass. The two have since forged a personal and professional friendship that has lasted over 30 years. Their careers crossed paths first on Commonwealth Avenue and again five years later as teammates in the IHL with the San Diego Gulls and, now, for the last three seasons as head coaches in the Penguins organization.
"He was a fiery player," Sullivan said. "He could really skate. He was a pain in the neck to play against. Our opponents couldn't stand him."
It was that desire and passion that helped Donatelli land a spot on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team, a roster that included Kevin Stevens, Peter Laviolette, Scott Young and Tony Granato. Young is now the Penguins director of player development while Granato, a former assistant under Dan Bylsma, is serving as the coach of this year's Olympic team in PyeongChang.
While Sullivan went on to the NHL with the expansion San Jose Sharks for the 1991-92 season, Donatelli found himself without a pro contract. But he did get an invite to tryout again for the Olympic team and, once again, he made it. This time, though, he was voted the team's captain by his teammates, Keith Tkachuk among them.
Not that Sullivan was surprised by that then or now. Donatelli has always been an intense competitor who shows his emotions on his sleeves, he says, always been a leader.
"I think it's a testament to the character of the person," Sullivan said of Donatelli. "He's just a terrific guy. He's all about the team. He's about trying to win and I think that he was the captain of that team is an indication of that."
Donatelli's greatest Olympic memory was not his goal against Sweden or playing for a bronze medal in '92, but rather walking in the opening ceremonies and sharing the same living space with other world-class athletes in the Olympic village.
"It was great, definitely an honor," Donatelli said. "Anytime you get a chance to represent the country, yourself, your family, it's just such an honor. It's ... tough to describe in words. Especially walking in the opening ceremonies and being over there participating and soaking it all in ... it was an awesome experience."
____________________
It's an experience Sullivan clearly would have liked to have again after serving as an assistant coach under Laviolette in the 2006 Torino Games. Quite possibly, Sullivan would have been a coach with this year's Olympic team after guiding the Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cups.
"I think it's sport in its purest form and to be part of it, I think is an unbelievable privilege. That's how I look at it," Sullivan told me. "For selfish reasons, I'd like to participate because I'd like to be part of it. There's something to be said for having the best players in their respective sports on the grandest stage."
For Olli Maatta, who represented Finland in 2014, it's a missed opportunity to emulate the heroes of his youth.
"Back home, it's a really huge tradition," Maatta told me. "I know here it means a lot, too. It's kind of disappointing. When I was a little kid, you grow up in Finland, you dream about playing in Olympics. You saw guys like Teemu Selanne, Kimmo Timonen, Teppo Numinen. It's pretty disappointing for me. But it is what it is. There's nothing I can do about it."
Though they will not be participating, disappointed NHL players will be watching what goes on in PyeongChang. For Americans, Canadians, Swedes, Finns and players from around the world, it's still a matter of national pride.
"Of course, yeah, Sweden's still participating in a lot of sports," said Hagelin, who donned the Tre Kronor in Sochi. "Cross-country skiing is big for us, and we obviously want to win hockey and a couple others. Curling is big, too. I'm looking forward to it."
And Crosby?
“Once you find out you're not going, you're disappointed," the captain said. "But you're anticipating the hockey starting and follow it like you would the Summer Olympics when you're watching at home cheering for Canada.”
To continue reading, log into your account:
