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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.