Written by Lake Placid 2022: Even before the sun was up in Lake Placid, it was team. Sunday morning arrived before sunlight hit the Adirondack’s. The 2010 Flames were playing in the Bronze Medal game at 6:30AM on the USA Rink at the Olympic Center. So they had to rise early and hope that they were ready to play despite walking into the Olympic Center while it was still dark outside.
It wasn’t even 6am yet, when the 2010 Flames made their way down the hill to the Olympic Center for the Bronze Medal games against Haverhill / Pentucket (Mass.) on Sunday morning. © 1inawesomewonder 2022.
The 2010 Flames went to Lake Placid with a goal of playing hockey for a medal on Sunday morning. They did just that.
Sunday, November 6, 2022 – It was team:
As a lover of history, which includes sports, and most certainly a lover of the history written in Lake Placid, NY during February, 1980, I include the following.
Sergei Makarov was a one of the great Russian hockey players of all-time. He was on the Russian KLM Line, one of the most talented and feared lines in the history of hockey. Makarov has been inducted into both the IIHF Hall of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame. He has talked a little bit about the 1980 Olympics and the Russians loss to the USA. He spoke about Team USA’s eyes in the 1980 Olympic contest.
He and many of the Soviet players were stunned by the difference in the USA team on February 22, 1980, especially after the Americans had been crushed by the Soviets at Madison Square Garden, 10-3, just 13 days earlier. Regarding the meeting in the Olympics, “Their eyes were bright, their eyes were burning,” Makarov said. “It was team.” Team USA was playing for a cause bigger than themselves, they played for their team, for their hockey family, and the fire in their eyes was certainly noticed.
I bring this up because when I think about this 2010 Flames, I think about the entire team. They play for the betterment of the team. These kids get along pretty well, and they jump at nearly every single chance they get to be together off of the ice too. They played football on the hotel front lawn in Lake Placid, they ate together in the dining room, they swam together, and they had each other’s back on and off the ice. It was team. They are better together than any one of them is individually. I love that this team plays like underdogs and then is thrilled by the results they achieve through effort and teamwork.
This Flames team plays hard right through to the final whistle. Win or lose. They don’t have a superstar that scores a large percentage of their goals. They have a pair of goalies that split time in the net. They enjoy playing hockey together. They enjoy playing their best for each other. They are not perfect as players or as kids. They are a lot of fun though. They thoroughly enjoy being a team, together, wearing the same color jerseys, and competing until someone tells them that it’s time to stop.
It was early, but we were all there to watch. The Bronze Medal game at Lake Placid. © 1inawesomewonder 2022.
Sunday, November 6, 2022. USA Rink – Lake Placid. 6:30 AM. Bronze Medal Game.
2010 Manchester Flames – 01 – 03 – 01 = 05
Haverhill / Pentucket Thunder – 01 – 01 – 00 = 02
2010 Flames goals in order:
1) Sean McGee at the front of the net on a rebound of Caleb Powers shot.
2) Gavin Petrie on the power play, a rebound from Logan McCain’s shot on goal.
3) Logan McCain shot from the point that tracked perfectly through players and past the goalie.
4) Teddy Beal, shorthanded, on a steal, a rush, a shot, and his own rebound.
5) Garrett Warren from Lucas Ouellette on the power play and some nice puck movement.
The 2010 Flames celebrate their first goal of the Bronze Medal game on Sunday morning in Lake Placid. © 1inawesomewonder 2022.
Manchester Flames 5
Haverhill / Pentucket Thunder 2
Game 4 (Bronze Medal Game) – Lake Placid 2022
Click on the pictures, open them up and zoom in. Have a look around. There are many reasons to smile, and maybe even a few reasons to spill a tear, in heartfelt pride, or pure enjoyment.
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- It was early in the morning, but the game still begins the same way.
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- Just to make sure that Travis was wide awake, the Flames may have allowed a skater in all alone.
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- Logan gets behind the defense, creating a great scoring chance for the Flames.
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- The Flames stayed in their curling lanes on this trip up the ice. Lots of opportunity here.
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- Chase skates behind the net and turns sharp toward the post and a wrap-around scoring chance.
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- Logan fires a shot off of the goalie, but the puck stayed out of the net…for the moment.
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- Gavin gets to the doorstep in the wake of McCain, looking for a rebound.
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- Gavin found the rebound, buried it, and then stepped over the goalie to finish the play.
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- The 2010 Flames celebrate the Petrie from McCain goal on the bench as well as on the ice.
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- Logan lets a shot fly from the point with Teddy ready to grab a rebound if there is one.
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- No Teddy needed on this one, as Logan’s shot crossed the line for a Flames goal.
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- These celebrations really hit me during the tournament. I am not exactly sure why. It sure is fun to watch this team play.
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- Travis has a lot of people out in front of him, but he remains totally focused on the task at hand.
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- The Flames enjoy the success of their fourth goal in the Bronze Medal game. Celebrate!
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- Another pretty well spaced Flames rush up the ice. Options everywhere.
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- Coach Nick gets the Flames worked up into a frenzy before they take the ice for the third period with a 2-goal lead.
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- The Thunder goaltender has a little something stuck to his mask right before the Flames seal the deal with their fifth goal of the game.
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- Garrett gets the rebound and directs the puck back toward the net.
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- The puck follows direction and slides into the net for a Flames goal, and a 5-2 lead.
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- The Flames celebrate another goal, their 16th and final goal of a spectacular trip to Lake Placid.
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- Logan comes over to join the party on the ice as the Flames are just minutes away from earning the Bronze Medal on the USA Rink.
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- Often times the ultimate statement in sports. The scoreboard.
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- I wouldn’t call it a miracle by any stretch, but it was a great run, the result of great effort by the team.
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- The Flames on the ice have heard the horn sound and now it’s time to really celebrate their four-day run of hockey.
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- The bench empties and the players looks for teammates to jump on.
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- Winning is not ‘everything’. The kids playing for each other, feeling and expressing pure joy while achieving results they weren’t sure they could achieve, has to be pretty close to ‘everything’.
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- I’m sorry Soucy, but it’s not a proper Flames celebration unless you are on your backside for a part of it.
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- The net had no chance.
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- Coaches – Job well done! Thank you for the direction, the discipline, the curfews, the team first mentality, and the confidence in our players.
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- Coaches don’t score any of the goals or make any of the saves, but when everyone on the bench and everyone on the ice, clicks like this group does, good things happen. Go Flames!
Sometimes your team plays well enough, for long enough, to earn some hardware. It only takes everything you have, a total team effort. It takes each of you. Congratulations!
Just this: Thank you.
You can catch up, and follow along on all things 2010 Flames in the following places.
You can find more material in these types of articles, right here.
Then there is the team web page 2010 Manchester Flames.
After the ceremony was done and the medals were handed out, this happened. The goalie hug. I only caught the very end of it. Petrie and Ingalls in a joyous embrace. © 1inawesomewonder 2022.
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- We had such a good time at the tournament in Lake Placid. At the rink, in the village, at the hotel, visiting with our hockey families, up and down the hill, it was awesome!
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- The games had been played, and the medals had been won. Our team’s tournament play was over, so we grabbed one last picture in front of the Olympic Center on the way back up the hill.
As Teddy and I walked around the corner of the arena onto Main Street after all the games were done, we both felt the pang of finality. We were smiling but maybe there were tears in our eyes as Teddy said, “Dad this was so awesome, but there’s only bad thing. It’s over.” I know Teddy, I feel it too. What a special place to pursue hockey dreams, big or small. A special place to walk around with smiling faces, buoyed by the memory of miracles in a real-life history classroom that is Lake Placid, NY.
As we left the village and returned to life outside of the quaint sense of security that was buffered by the swirling memories and kids dreams coming true, we turned to our calendars and the coming days. The holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching, always too quickly, on the horizon. There are tournaments and games to be played that slice pieces of time from the fruit that is the gift of each day. Some say sacrifice. Some say investment in the future. Some haven’t thought that deeply about it, and would rather just react as they go.
Hockey gives and it takes. It takes a lot of time. But does it take time away from family life, or does it enhance life inclusive of family? I guess it’s how you look at it, or better yet, it’s how you prioritize the value that is gained in every situation. I think that sports, not just hockey, but maybe hockey more than any other sport, gives back so much more than it takes. Look at one picture of any one of our kids, wearing the team eye black, “Their eyes were bright, their eyes were burning. It was team.”
These thoughts waft through my mind and I think of stories like these.
“…Herb Brooks Arena is a north country mecca for people who visit Lake Placid, whether they are Pee Wee hockey players or senior citizen tourists. You walk along Main Street and it’s almost as if you are at the end of a ski tow getting tugged toward the top of the hill and the white flat-topped building that sits just beyond it. For most of us, the tug is constructed not just of the history that went on there, but of an appreciation of the faith and commitment and love that underpinned the history…” ~ Wayne Coffey – The Boys of Winter.
“…I see Neal Broten skating on a flooded rink that his father got up at 2AM to make in 25 degrees below zero weather. I see a young Steve Janaszak making saves by the lights of his father’s Rambler, and hear Mary Harrington telling her son John who was constantly trying to prove he was good enough that perseverance is everything in life.” ~ Wayne Coffey – The Boys of Winter.
“I see Mary’s late husband Charles skipping overtime at work to watch his kids games because his overtime would always be there but the games would not, and see him listening to John skate against the Russians from the cab of his locomotive. I envision Margaret Craig running her goaltender son and all her other kids all over southeastern Massachusetts, a devotion that was absolutely unstinting until her cigarette habit caught up to her and cancer arrived.” ~ Wayne Coffey – The Boys of Winter.
“Behind every player there were stories of love, and sacrifice, and struggle. Of human beings being human…Life is hard, and Olympic gold medals provide no exemption. You push on, do your best, and if you are really brave you dream big. Doubts and fears be damned. This is the stuff that miracles are made of, and the proof was there to see on February 22nd, 1980.” ~ Wayne Coffey – The Boys of Winter.
I believe that we are in this for our families, for our kids. I also believe that it only takes everything. But to that which we love would we not give everything. This is all about the kids.
The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors, mostly mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the schools, coaches, players, or characters listed in any of these blog posts. Or, maybe they do, but you would have to ask them directly.
Either way, “It’s a great day for hockey” ~ the late “Badger” Bob Johnson.