Herb Brooks
Road to the Olympics
The 1980 Olympic hockey teams’ road to the Olympics was the road less traveled on and
who better to lead them, then the man that changed hockey herb brooks. Herb brooks was not liked by the US Olympic board, it could be because he picked his hockey team with only one day of try outs, or that he did not ask anyone who he should pick, or that he cut some of the best players in the Midwest. All he had to say was “I’m looking for the right ones, not the good ones". After the tryouts the team had practices and conditioning. Herb knew he only had 10 months to make this the team that could take the gold, so he did something out of the ordinary; he made his team take test to see how hard he could push them. Every practice was mostly focused on conditioning and plays. He told his players that " you may not be the best team at the Olympics, but you will be the best conditioned". As the team got closer and closer to the Olympics they started to grow as a family. Weeks before the Olympics, The USSR invaded Afghanistan and a huge boycott erupted. After that they did not know if there would be an Olympics.
Herb scheduled a exposition game against the USSR just before the Olympics just to show his team what they were up against. The USSR stomped of the US 10-3, But when the US team got to the Olympics they had something no other team had heart, heart is what won the gold, Mike Eruzione said not luck, Heart.
who better to lead them, then the man that changed hockey herb brooks. Herb brooks was not liked by the US Olympic board, it could be because he picked his hockey team with only one day of try outs, or that he did not ask anyone who he should pick, or that he cut some of the best players in the Midwest. All he had to say was “I’m looking for the right ones, not the good ones". After the tryouts the team had practices and conditioning. Herb knew he only had 10 months to make this the team that could take the gold, so he did something out of the ordinary; he made his team take test to see how hard he could push them. Every practice was mostly focused on conditioning and plays. He told his players that " you may not be the best team at the Olympics, but you will be the best conditioned". As the team got closer and closer to the Olympics they started to grow as a family. Weeks before the Olympics, The USSR invaded Afghanistan and a huge boycott erupted. After that they did not know if there would be an Olympics.
Herb scheduled a exposition game against the USSR just before the Olympics just to show his team what they were up against. The USSR stomped of the US 10-3, But when the US team got to the Olympics they had something no other team had heart, heart is what won the gold, Mike Eruzione said not luck, Heart.
