HE MADE US BELIEVE IN MIRACLES AGAIN

Herb Brooks killed in car crash (Associated Press and Star Tribune, 08/12/2003)

Herb Brooks, who coached the U.S. hockey team to the ``Miracle on Ice'' victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, died Monday in a car wreck, a state official said. He was 66.

Brooks coached the 1980 Olympic team that won the gold medal in Lake Placid, N.Y. He returned to lead the 2002 U.S. Olympic hockey team to a silver medal.

He was killed when his 2000 Toyota minivan rolled and he was ejected at a highway intersection north of the Twin Cities, according to the state official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Weather didn't appear to be a factor. [...]

In the historic U.S.-Soviet Union hockey matchup, Brooks told his players: "You're meant to be here. This moment is yours. You're meant to be here at this time.''

The U.S. team won 4-3 in a game often referred to as one of the greatest sports moments of the century.

At one of the lowest points in this country's history, when Jimmy Carter had managed to make it seem like we might even lose the Cold War, Mr. Brooks beat the invincible USSR and began the process of restoring our pride and our belief in ourselves.

GLENN DRYFOOS ADDS:
Anyone who has played organized ice hockey in the last 20 years is painfully familiar with "Herbies": the leg-killing, vomit-inducing drill where you sprint from the end line to the closest blue line and back, then end line to red line and back, then end line to far blue line and back, and, finally, end line to end line and back. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 11, 2003 7:02 PM