Al Michaels: Every Time Mike Eruzione Watches That Highlight, The Puck Goes In!

Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first.

The same way you know you've got to make sure your lucky jersey is clean on game day, or your team might lose. Checking first is smart, so check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

Hey, Rich Eisen here. I hear from a lot of business owners like you about the work it takes to pursue your passions, so I know how important it is to have the tools that can help keep you moving forward. And with access to world-class business and travel benefits, the American Express Business Platinum Card helps you take your business to the next level. It offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business, plus you'll have complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges worldwide, including the Centurion Lounge, so you can keep running your business while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply.

Learn more at americanexpress.com amexbusiness. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on the Roku Sports Channel from noon to three Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime.

But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. You're really about sports, then you're about your teammates and the fans.

It doesn't matter how much money you're making. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. McDavid scores. Connor McDavid scores the goal.

Team Canada wins four nations gold. Earlier on the show, NFL Network insider Tom Pellicero, Apple TV lead MLS analyst Taylor Twelman. Coming up, broadcasting legend Al Michaels. And now it's Rich Eisen.

This is awesome. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air right here on the Roku Sports Channel. This Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate 120 coast to coast listening to us on the Infinity Sports Network Sirius XM channel 375. We say hello to those listening there.

The Odyssey app streaming us through that or odyssey.com. We say hello to you and our podcast listeners later on. Even though you're listening whenever you want, we'll say hello to you anyway, because that's the type of people we are here in hour number three of this program. Listen, honored to be here in year 11 doing this program. And we've done this many, many years here on this program. And it's all part and parcel of one of the greatest blessings that I've had since moving out here to Los Angeles that Susie and I got to meet Linda and Al Michaels and befriend and call this man a friend. And he is back here on the program again in advance of celebrating another year of the Miracle on Ice. Good to see you, Al Michaels. How are you, sir?

How are you, brother? Forty five years. I think we've done unbelievable. I know we've done 40, maybe 42. Yeah. Can we both last five more?

Can you still be here? That will be one hell of a celebration. It will be 50, 50, but 45 is is no slouch in its own right.

Unbelievable. Now that's tomorrow is the the Saturday, February 22nd will be the forty fifth anniversary. What were you doing the day before? What was the day before? The day before was was an off day. Remember, the U.S. team had played five games in Lake Placid leading up to getting into the medal round. So the day before, I'm just preparing for the Friday game against the Soviets. My partner, Ken Dryden, after they had played, the United States had beaten West Germany on Wednesday night, got into a car, was driven overnight to Ottawa to take the bar exam, which he not only passed, but I believe he had the highest score of that bar exam, got in a car and came back. I've always said Ken is about as smart a man as I've ever met, a true renaissance man, a man who had he desired to become the prime minister of Canada, probably could have. He did serve in the parliament for a while, but then decided he wanted to do do other things.

He passed the bar exam with flying colors. So that's what he did the day before the game. And I'm sitting in my room just learning how to pronounce every Soviet player's name.

The polysyllabic test you were taking there. The great thing is almost every one of them ends with off, you know, the T-soft, Makarov, the whole thing, Krutov, perfect. There was that benefit of that for sure. And then, of course, the the game itself. What was it like the day leading up to the convening inside the arena for that big game against the Russians?

So much anticipation. But the game is going to start at five o'clock. The way it worked out, you didn't know who was going to play who until the early round was completed, at which point the U.S. finished second in its bracket and the Soviets were first. So two in the U.S. bracket wound up playing one. So people who bought the eight o'clock ticket, they didn't know what game they were going to get. They got Sweden, Finland. If you had the five o'clock ticket at sixty nine dollars and twenty cents face price, you got the U.S. against the Soviet Union. And that's why the game wound up on tape delay, because ABC tried like crazy to get them to move the game, that game to eight o'clock. But the Soviet Federation basically said no dice yet. Yet.

You know, yet with a lot of exclamation points. And, you know, we weren't the friendliest with the Soviet Union at that time, which, of course, played into what made that game so so special. So what I walked over to the arena with with Ken Dryden at about 130, we were staying at the Hilton Hotel, which is like three or four blocks away. And I remember one part of the conversation with Ken was if the U.S. only trails something like three to one in the middle of the second period, that's about all we could hope for. Because what we feared, certainly I feared, was the Soviets would lead six nothing, you know, 14 minutes to go in the second period and everybody's gone. And knowing Roon Arledge at that time who was running ABC sports, he probably would have put on figure skating ordinals or something, anything to get away from that game.

So this was what we were hoping for. And, of course, as as the game evolved and it was only 3-2 at the end of the second period, we hit a grand slam home run. It was a close game after two periods.

And you and I have talked about this in the past, but there were so many interesting and fascinating things about that game. The Soviets, number one, outshot the United States 39 to 16, two and a half to one ratio. They outshot the U.S. 15 to three in the second period. They dominated the time in the offensive zone for the Soviets was two or three times what it was in the U.S. zone. The U.S. came from behind three times. Down one nothing, 2-1, 3-2, and of course take the lead on Mark Johnson's tying goal and Eruzione's game winner. So how often will you see a game, it's almost never, where a team gets outshot two and a half to one and comes from behind three times.

It almost never happens. It happened that night. And speaking of the Eruzione moment, let's relive that here with Al Michaels sitting with us.

Roll it. U.S. team is depending a little bit too much now on Jim Craig. He's making too many good saves. Now we've got Bedlam.

Now we got Bedlam and now live on the Rich Eisen Show, Al Michaels, I'm pleased to say we now have Mike Eruzione as well joining us live here. There he is. There's the captain. The honorary captain of the U.S. team last night.

That was fabulous. Did that goal go in again in the highlight there? I mean now that we have Mike, a couple of things. Mike said if that puck doesn't go in, he's spent the last 45 years painting bridges, right?

He'd have done a little bit better than that. But I love the fact he says every once in a while he might get a little down. He'll go home and put the tape in.

Best thing about that tape, every time he shoots, the puck goes in. And it will forever, my man. Nice to see you. Thanks for letting me join you today. No, you kidding me, Mike.

Thank you for doing this. You just make it that much more special. I mean when you see that moment relived, what goes through your mind 45 years ago tomorrow, Mike? Well, I just think the joy that my teammates and I experienced of, you know, winning a big hockey game. And it's funny because we're going to celebrate the Soviets tomorrow. But if we don't beat Finland, you and I aren't having this conversation today. So as great as the Soviet victory was, the Finland game became the biggest game for us. And I look back again, like you said, and the question was at this moment, it's just the joy of realizing that we would end one more we would end one more step away from realizing an ultimate dream. And you couldn't have been around a better group of players than my teammates. And just the joy and excitement of winning that game and what it eventually led to the next two days later to finish it off with the gold medal and the joy we brought to a nation. We didn't know we were just playing hockey in a little place in Lake Placid. There were no, you know, no media, you know, interviews. We weren't traveling around the country.

There's no Facebook and Twitter like social media. So we were in a little cocoon in Lake Placid just having fun and then realize that, oh my God, this this thing's pretty big. And I think, again, I think that's the pride and the joy that my teammates and I take with that.

It's so, I mean, there are so many parts to this that you go back and you think about them. And Mike is so right about the Finland game because it was, and Mike was there, Herb Brooks basically telling the team in the locker room at the end of the second period after they're trailing two to one, if you lose this game, you're going to take it to your bleeping grave. And there's no question about that. If this team would have lost the Finland game, people would have said, let me get this straight. You beat the vaunted Soviet Union and you lost to Finland?

Because on the reverse side of that would be like somebody from the Soviets. And in fact, they had the opportunity of the 2014 Olympics to interview Tredyak, the goalie who was pulled after the first period in that game. And then Michigan comes in and they, they got, because Mark Johnson had scored at the buzzer at the end of the first period.

So they take Tredyak, maybe the best goalie in the history of hockey. They take him out and I asked him, what did people say to you guys when you got back to the Soviet Union? And he said, we'd walk around and people would say, you lost to a bunch of students?

And the other thing he said to me was, I said to him, what did you think? Because they won every, they just won all the time. They won so much that Mike and I were talking the other day at the end of the one goal victory that the US had against the Soviets, they didn't even pull the goalie because they probably never practiced it. They were always winning.

They didn't have to think about pulling the goalie for the extra skater. And Tredyak told me when I said, what were you guys thinking? You're standing there pensively on the blue line. You're watching this crazy celebration. And he said to me, we wished we were them. Perfect. What do you think about when you hear that Mike?

I think it's great. You know, I think there was almost kind of a, not a relief, but they enjoyed watching us celebrate to a degree because they never shared that. You never saw any emotion out of them. They were expected to win. That was their job.

They worked, they were in the military. You know, some of these guys were going for their third gold medal. That's 12 years playing together. So, you know, for them to get beat like that, it was almost like, oh my God, I guess this is a celebration that we don't do that often. And maybe in some ways enjoyed watching us just, you know, share that victory amongst all of us and the crowd. So why do you think it worked for you guys, Mike? Like why, why do you think this moment in time actually occurred later now?

The teams of winning the tournament. I think Dave Silk said it pretty well the other day when we were doing something. He said for a two week period of time, 20 players collectively played their best hockey they've ever played.

Individually and yet collectively. And I thought that was a pretty good point because I never really thought about that. But I've always said if it wasn't for Mark Johnson, we don't win. You know, Mark was, Mark was the man. He, you know, when we needed a goal it would be like, hey Magic, you know, time to do something. But we played, we played four lines constantly.

We didn't, you know, shy away from playing everybody. Jimmy was great in the goal. And the one thing that I remember is that I scored with 10 minutes left to go in the game. And I think if I remember correctly, the Soviets only had five or six shots on goal in the last 10 minutes. They had like 30 something in the first two periods and a half. But in the last 10 minutes, we did a really good job of shutting them down. And I think that goes back to Herb as a coach.

So everything worked. We count, clearly had some good players. You know, we didn't suck. You know, Kenny Morrow went on and won four Stanley Cups. Davey Christian, Mike Ramsey and Neil Broughton played 17, 18 years in the National Hockey League. So we had some really good young players, but collectively we had the right players. And with Herb's leadership and the way he, you know, played us and how we played was a huge part of our success.

And I'm going to give you a statistic. And I don't know if Al, if you even know this, and Robbie McClanahan gave this to me. In the third period of the Olympics, in the third period of the Olympics, we outscored our opponents 15 to 3.

That's an unbelievable number. And that goes back to the conditioning and the skating and the Herbies and everything that we had done to go out there and win. And Al mentioned it. We were losing to Sweden. We tied. We were losing to the Czechs.

We won. We were losing to Norway. We came back. We were losing to West Germany by two goals. We came back. We were losing to the Soviets throughout the game. We came back.

We were losing to Finland going into the third. We came back. That's a sign of a good hockey team. And that's a sign of, you know, guys, and I talk about it all the time, who had incredible, incredible values, incredible work ethic. Herb used to call us a lunch pail hard hat group of guys, because that's what we were. We were an old fashioned group of guys who believed in hard work. We believed in togetherness. And when you put all that together, usually good things happen. And I think, again, that's the side of our team that you don't measure.

You don't see that. You don't measure heart and pride and commitment and the values that are important that our team had to go along with some pretty good hockey players. So again, having said all that, you just put that all together over a two week period of time. I think that's how we were able to win.

You know, it's so interesting you're mentioning the fact that the U.S. played great third periods coming from behind in all of those games, including the two most important, the Soviets and Finland. And so you know what paid off? All those Herbies that he made you guys do right. How angry he was when you're on that European tour and the game is over and he makes them keep the lights on in Helsinki or Oslo.

I forgot where it was. And he makes the guys go up and back and up and back to their puking. Right. The conditioning paid off, didn't it? And he shut the lights off in the building and we're still doing them. Yeah. Every guy that I played with and went on and played in the National Hockey League, they said the best shape they've ever been in their life was the six months that we played under Herb. And he used to say there's a method to my madness.

And clearly there was. Where's the puck, Mike? Where's the puck that you put in the basket?

I wish I had it because I could sell it for a lot of money. Wait a minute, where is that puck? I was told that it went out of play.

This is just a true story. After I scored, you know, he went back and they had a face off and at some point the puck went in the stands and a guy called me years later and said he had the puck and he wanted me to sign it because he wanted to sell it. And I'm like, how do I know it's the puck? Because it was just a black puck. It wasn't like in the days today with, you know, they might even have chips in them to see, you know, while they have logos on them. I could go down my basement now and bring up a puck and say, hey, I got the puck from the game against the Soviets.

Give me 50,000, you know? So that's that's all I know is some guy said he got it in the stands. It went out of play. So you score the goal, they use the puck again and it gets sent out of play, like goes over the boards into somebody's hands?

Like that's literally what happened? Yeah. Mike, where's the stick? I sold the stick from the Soviet game. I had my Finland stick. I'll be real quick here.

Sure. Ten years ago, I sold all my memorabilia other than my skates, my stick from the Finland game, the watch that I got, the ring that I got, the other ring that we got, and the gold medal. I still have those items. I got $1.6 million for my equipment, my shoulder pads, my shirts, the game game shirts that I wore. I took the money financially.

Things are fine. I endowed a scholarship in my mother and father's name at Boston University. I have my own charitable foundation.

I put money into my foundation and my three kids took the money and all three have bought houses. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Mike Eruzione. But the other stuff's going to be sold soon. Okay. Well, Mike, listen, the metal, except the metal metal. Sure.

No way. Before I let you go, I would be remiss if I did not ask you what it was like last night to be out there with Team USA and Gretzky and Team Canada and TD Garden, this four nations face off. You're wearing Johnny Hockey's sweater.

I mean, what in the world was this like for you, Mike? It was unbelievable. I'm from Boston, so to be in my backyard, I got to know the team. I spoke to the team in Montreal, so had a great relationship with the players. There were four players from Boston University there as well, so that was kind of an induction for me to get to know all the other players fairly quickly. But the atmosphere in the building, the USA-USA chants that were going on, it was electrifying. It was incredible. I mean, Gretzky and I are standing there.

We both said it almost at the same time. I was more nervous on the ice last night with the opening of the game than I was against the opening of the game against the Soviets. And Gretzky said, same as me, he said, I was never nervous playing hockey.

He says, I'm nervous out here with all this noise. So it was just really nice. It was a great, great game, two great nations, great hockey back and forth. Unfortunately, we didn't win the game, but we were not embarrassed by the game at all whatsoever.

It could have gone either way. Al, I just wanted to hook you up with Mike Eruzione. Oh, man, it's always great. Mike and I, we talk from time to time on the phone and we've done a few events together. It's always great to see the great Mike Eruzione. Mike Eruzione!

Boss, thank you very much. Tell the leggy Greek I said hello. My very best, his wife's name is Donna, but he calls her Donna, right? Donna.

The old accent, the old New England accent. Thanks for having me on the show. Keep talking to Al. He's got a lot of great stories. You got it. Mike Eruzione. Thanks, brother. Captain of the 1980 U.S. men's Olympic gold medal team. Pretty cool, huh?

Very cool. You know, it's just, it's a story that really never gets old. I mean, I had no idea, nobody had any idea at that point in 1980, how long it would last.

I mean, Jim McKay said to me that we had a wrap up show on Sunday night and he brought all the announcers who had done the individual sports and Keith Jackson had done Eric Haydn's gold medals and Frank Gifford and Bob Beattie at Alpine Skiing. So I come in and of course, this is the going to be the premiere segment that night because of what had happened earlier that day and over that weekend and McKay said to me, how long do you think, you know, this euphoria will last? And I said, I don't know. It's of the moment right now. So we think it'll last forever.

I don't know. We live in this world where things come and they go. In my heart, though, I thought maybe this one will last for a while. And here we are. Here we are in 2025.

And it is as fresh as ever, Al. Well, a lot of it has to do, I think, with a lot of people weren't born, obviously, at that time. Right. But I mean, HBO did a fantastic documentary. Ross Greenberg produced it back in 1980, in 2001.

It was the 20th anniversary, but it took him an extra year to do it. It was fabulous. I thought it got everything exactly right. And then the movie Miracle, directed by Gavin O'Connor. You saw the the Kurt Russell thing last night. Nobody, I think, captured anybody any better ever than they were in real life. And then Kurt did with with Herb Brooks.

I mean, it was so freaky. And I was a part of the movie doing some narration for the people and working very closely with with Gavin O'Connor. So one little side story here. So Gavin tells me at one point he had this idea and the movie turned out the way he wanted it to.

But you know, the way you're always getting you're always getting notes from the higher ups and the people in the creative end at Disney and all of that. And there were a couple of people that were pressuring him to turn this in to a love story between Herb and Patty Brooks. That was going to be the thrust of the movie. And it's amazing how many times these guys who do these movies have to fight.

You've got to fight with all those people up above who were sitting in the ivory towers. Can you imagine turning that story into a coach and his wife love story as opposed to what it was turned into? Like Herb busts out a bottle of Cabernet or something like that. I don't know what they had in mind. Oh my goodness.

Gavin stood his ground. And then there you have the movie that, you know, kids to this day just love to watch. It's amazing. And again, for from my perspective, I'm on the edge of my seat. I know how that ends, too. You know what I mean? I know the ending. Spoiler alert, you know, but unbelievable. Al Michaels is here. We've got the full hour, which is great because we're going to take a break.

We got another surprise for you on the other side. This is the Rich Eisen show with the great Al Michaels sitting here. Look at that picture with Ken Dryden back in the day. Look at that shirt, huh?

Hey, Rich Eisen here. I hear from a lot of business owners like you about the work it takes to pursue your passions. So I know how important it is to have the tools that can help keep you moving forward. And with access to world-class business and travel benefits, the American Express Business Platinum Card helps you take your business to the next level. It offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business.

Plus, you'll have complimentary access to more than 1400 airport lounges worldwide, including the Centurion Lounge. So you can keep running your business while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved.

Terms apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first.

The same way you know you've got to make sure your lucky jersey is clean on game day or your team might lose. Checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Savings vary. Subject to terms, conditions, and availability.

Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. Let's talk TurboTax people. You might be sitting there going, wait a minute, Rich.

I don't get it. It's not April. Why am I thinking about my taxes now?

Why should I? Because with TurboTax, you can have an expert file for you as soon as today. You get a TurboTax expert's undivided attention when you use TurboTax and they work on your return in real time. Once upon a time, taxes is all about waiting and wondering and worrying.

That's three things any fellow football fan can relate to, right? But nowadays, it's all about a TurboTax expert giving your taxes their undivided attention. Just like your fantasy league waiver wire. Experts file with a hundred percent accuracy so you can get your best return guaranteed.

Know how it's all working for you right now rather than finding out at the last second and wondering if the person who's doing it for you knows what they're doing. With TurboTax, they've got an expert who knows what they're doing all the time. Now this is taxes. Intuit TurboTax.

Get an expert now on TurboTax.com. Back on the Rich Eisen Show Roku channel. Radio audience will rejoin in a couple minutes and that's when we'll resume our, I guess, the full-on conversation about the Miracle on Ice 45-year anniversary that is officially tomorrow. Al Michaels here. We just showed that photograph of you with Ken Dryden in the booth.

I mean, what do you think of when you see this, Al? This photograph? Who is that? Yeah. Right. That guy on the right.

I'm going, number one, I forgot when I had that much hair. Nice. So I don't know where that all went. Right. In those days, you know, you wear that kind of a shirt, that collar. Yeah. Which may come back at some point. I mean, everything comes and goes. So I probably kept a shirt.

It might be, I'm not sure where the sweater might be in storage. Meanwhile, take a look at, you know, these days with the 4k monitors you have in the whole thing. Look at that. That's our monitor. That's your monitor on the right. That's the monitor you're calling the game from.

In Technicolor? I can see the color on the right. Who's a can of TAB in the middle right there?

Think about that. Were you drinking the TAB or was that Ken? That might've been me. And I had a pack of larks someplace else.

I was smoking in those years and I had to go out between periods to take a couple of drags outside. You couldn't pull a Jim Leland? Or an Earl Weaver. Earl would hit a dart or two during the game. Remember he used to call Don Stanhouse full pack, right? The relief pitcher. He'd come in and Stanhouse would get into trouble but work his way out of it and Earl used to call him full pack. Another one of my partners, Earl Weaver.

That's right. Didn't Earl have a pocket sewn into his jersey where he kept his... Did he have a pocket sewed in to keep his cigarettes? He might have. He got thrown out of so many games though, right? He would go down to, you know, in the tunnel toward the clubhouse and he'd be there and you'd see the smoke coming out of the tunnel. What a beauty.

He wasn't following his injection with the puffs of smoke coming out. No way. That is so funny. I've got Al Michaels right here in studio. Our Rich Eisen Show radio network is back on the air with our Roku channel stream. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. One of the reasons why the game against the Soviets went that way is because Jim Craig was standing on his head pretty much the whole time, right? Of course. Right? I mean, what was the shot differential again?

What was it again? 39-16, 15-3 in the second period. And as Ken Dryden said just before I call Eruzione's gold, the Americans are putting too much pressure on Jim Craig. But Jim Craig kept us in the game. He kept us in.

It's real simple because if the Soviets had taken like a four to two lead, that would have been very, very, very difficult to overcome. And here's some of your calls of Jim Craig standing on his head in that game. Look off in on Craig. A save by Jim. Stops the rebound and the whistle for the face-off. Now to Pervukin. Pervukin's slap shot is covered up by Jim Craig.

Petrov, number 16. Long slap shot and Craig able to sweep it aside and the puck clears the glass and goes into the seats. So, Jim Craig tested time and time again tonight with 5.21 remaining in the game. And I am pleased to have joining us now live on Zoom for you Al Michaels is none other than Jim Craig. Good to see you, Jim. There he is.

There he is. Hey, how's Linda, Steve and Jennifer? Oh, everybody's just great. We think about you and the family though all the time, man. Good to see you.

I haven't seen you in a number of years. God, you look great. Thanks. Thanks.

Yeah. You know, Rich, you don't win. You can't win a Stanley Cup. You can't win an Olympic gold medal unless your goalie is terrific.

It's impossible. And what can you say about Jim? Every time he had to make a save, he made the save. Kept us in every game. Again, we fell behind in every game, but there he was.

And especially in the third period, he was impossible to penetrate at that point. So nice to see you. Thank you, Al. After all these years, you know, I was thinking just the other day is as a transition from the athlete to the business person, you know, you realize that to be the very best that it takes so much work.

And, you know, so when I learned to all the behind the scenes stuff that goes on with your business and how professional you are, the one thing that comes to my mind is your balance to be able to understand the game, utilize your assets. And in Lake Placid, you know, Kenny was such an asset and never outstepped him. It was, you know, so it was almost like this script was made before you guys even call the game. You guys are so good.

Thank you. I mean, and Kenny was he was the perfect partner. Remember, Kenny had never done this before. And Ken had just retired in the at the peak of his career after winning several Vezina trophies and multiple Stanley cups.

And Ken just wanted to experience different things in life. And he talked to his agent, Art Kaminsky, put him in touch with ABC and they put us together. And of course, I've told you the story many times about I got that game because I had done one hockey game and everybody else on that staff had done none.

Howard Cosell, Jim McKay, Keith Jackson, Chris Schenkel, they hadn't done any. So I almost got that assignment by default to get. And also I was a kid who grew up in New York and I loved hockey, so I knew what offside and icing were, which at that point was that was a very important thing to know. And that's how you got the gig? And that's how I got the gig, right? And they put me with Kenny and Kenny and I went to Moscow to scout the teams before the Olympics in December of 79. And you know, Kenny's very erudite and describes things beautifully and brilliantly, unbelievably articulate. And he spends about five or six minutes at dinner the first time we met in Moscow explaining to me the difference between international hockey and the National Hockey League brand of hockey. And then Ken says to me, you know, he looked like the professor. He's got the glasses and holding the pipe.

He's got everything but the slippers and the dog. And Ken says to me, he said, no, do you think this is the kind of thing the American audience would be interested in? I said, Ken, yes, but let me introduce you to the world of television.

Can you get it down to eight seconds? And he did. He figured it out. Oh, man. And Jim, you know, did you wake up that day?

How? Like what was going on in your mind when you woke up in Lake Placid 45 years ago Saturday? Well, you know, one of the things is everybody prepares to win or they think they do. But with our coach, he was the most organized person there was. And so in order to prepare to win, you have to get organized. And, you know, I think one of the biggest and smartest things that he did was have us play the Russians in Madison Square Garden so that we became more prepared.

So when we woke up that morning, we had done, you know, we had done the work. We were prepared and it was about really about executing. Now, just because you're organized, prepared and you execute doesn't mean you're going to win.

But, you know, I think the biggest focus was how are we going to represent our country and do the very best job you could be. And for me, playing the Russians was like in one period was like a game against anybody else. So, you know, you try to compartmentalize and have really strategic times. And now, as you know, in sports, goalies have to make the save at the right time. So you watch that game last night, the Canadian goalie, if he didn't make any saves, he made them all at the right time, you know, and over time. And so timing has so much to do with it. So being prepared, enjoying the moment, probably the most important thing. You were able to live in the moment, Jim, you were you were you were able to live in the moment.

You were able to soak it in while you're doing this? Yeah, I mean, you get to play against the greatest team in the world and you're representing your country. And it's a really good test to find out where you're going to be. And, you know, I always tell people, you have to have more goals. You know, most people, when they get somewhere, they think they're done. And to me, when you finally make it somewhere, you're just starting, you know what I mean?

And so this was a real good litmus test. And Rich, don't forget, you know, one of the most iconic postgame camera shots ever taken was Jim Craig, whose mom had died shortly before. Where's my father? Where's my father?

You could read his lips. What a moment, Jim, what a moment that was. Yeah, you know, one of the things and you and I have talked about this is if you can change your mindset from sacrifices and look at them as opportunities where someone else has made sacrifices for you, then comes a responsibility. So it was really easy for me to think about my father and all the sacrifices that not only my family did, but, you know, community coaches and that can be used as a motivator.

And I think that's really kind of something that I've been very fortunate enough to use as a tool of motivation. Would you mind sharing with us what happened when you did find your dad? He used to be right behind the goal, you know, and I used to love the end that didn't have the ice machine because there was more people there and he had more pressure and he used to always sit up there. So I'd have to acknowledge him, you know what I mean? Because, hi dad, you know, okay, time to go to work, right? And so, you know, earlier in his life he had a heart attack, right?

A pretty bad one. And so when the game ends, he's not where he should be. And I found out that ABC had moved him to a better spot. And so I'm looking, trying to find him and making sure he's okay. But the moment was really about both of us thinking of his wife and my mother and, you know, wishing that she would be able to be physically with us there. And it was more of out of a respect, you know? So when I found him, he knew what I was thinking, right?

And I was really happy to see him. Something else. Wow. Oh yeah.

I mean, just to go back, I mean, 45 years later, we're talking about it, boy. And it's like, it's still there. Wow. It still hits you. Yeah. Of course it does. It hits me right here, right in the gut right now, just hearing this. Yeah. It's amazing.

Right now. And, you know, it's, you know, what's amazing guys is that the four nations tournament, what I felt last night were two countries needing some type of moral boost. And it was the hockey game that did it again, you know, and it was about pride and respect and, you know, these NHLers, they're not being paid.

They're, they're just so prideful. They, they, they have recognized the journey and so many people there and, and people were just passionate and felt good. And it was, you know, it was like that feeling, but, you know, obviously at the Olympic stage is a little bit bigger.

Yeah. I mean, to me, Rich and Jim knows it's, there's nothing like hockey. There's, you are, you get like an, in a Stanley cup overtime game, you know, I've been to a whole bunch of them. And if you're a fan, I mean, you're dying a thousand deaths. You know, the other team almost goes, oh, you almost go, oh, hit the post.

Oh, there's that, oh, moment. So many, and there's no other sport like that. There's nothing like hockey, nothing in my mind. You don't want to be the goalie's parent though. Very true.

Very true. Where's the, where's the flag, Jim, that you were, you were wearing, if you will, I don't know how walk me through the story of that, who put it on your shoulder, where you got the flag after it was all over beating the Soviets. The Colorado Springs has a Paralympic Olympic museum. So it's always on display. So everybody can see it. The story that I think is great, just about the flag is that they didn't sell any at the arena. So every flag that you saw there, somebody brought from their house and it meant something. And the only way you really had flags back in the day was probably because somebody within your family served for their country. So to me, with great respect is the flag.

And, you know, it's, to me, it's a non-negotiable, right? It's something you need to respect and be proud of. You know, also in conjunction with that, you know, I had done a number of sports. I've done a couple of world series. I've done baseball for the whole decade of the seventies, college football.

I'm at ABC on a lot of events. To me, this is where the chance started, USA, USA. This is where it started.

Well, I don't know if you know it. When I was doing research on my second book, We Win, I found the two part-time firefighters that were in Lake Placid. And the story is, is during the game against Sweden, they got off a little early, came in, we were losing. The crowd was like dead. And these two volunteer firefighters, and I'm sorry, I can't remember the names off the top of my head, but started that chant. And that's where the chant started from. It was dead silent. They got up just out of pride and started yelling USA.

And then it just, you know, I mean, you saw you see what it is now, right? You know, last night, it wasn't political either. You know, it was pride. And sometimes people do the USA or the, you know, it's more symbolic of pride. But, you know, when it's real, it's a special, special chant. No, I mean, last night, I think it had, you know, forget about the 51st day and the tariffs and all that.

We know that plays into it in my mind very minimally. This was about the involvement of U.S. hockey, how good we are, you know, and it all started, it goes back to 1980. And Jeremy Roenick once told me that the reason he wanted to be a hockey player was, you know, watching that game and seeing how exciting it was. And of course, that spawned, I think, a whole generation of players.

The movie has probably spawned another generation. And now let's face it, the U.S. and Canada are, if you're on radio only, I'm going to hold my fingers like a millimeter apart. Nice. That's, I mean, if Austin Matthews had a couple of chances last night and Brady could charge, if the puck goes in, we're having a different conversation today, aren't we? We sure are. Hey, Jim, what a pleasure to have you. Thank you for your time, certainly on such a momentous occasion. I know you're being pulled in many different directions. You've done this multiple times and keep looking for my calls, man. I get emotional seeing you, honestly. I think of that moment about, you know, you looking for your dad and the flag on your shoulder and what it meant, you know, and how you stood on your head and basically said no damn near 40 times that night.

Unbelievable. Well, you know, Al and I are connected to an event that is so much more than hockey. But Al, the best part is I'm here in Denver and I'm with my granddaughter and my daughter. And last night, my son had the jersey on, went to the game.

He had his, my little grandson with a jersey on and my granddaughters, they're all wearing USA hockey jerseys. And so it keeps going, you know, for all the right reasons. And nobody could have called it better. Al, I'm just so happy to get a chance to say hi to you. We will play some golf and everybody stay healthy, okay? You guys wrote the script, not me. You gave me that, you gave me the opportunity to say something that came out of my heart. It was you guys.

Let's be honest. I mean, it's, it's all about you. You're the 21st player on that team now, so I hope you always know that.

And Rich, keep on doing what you do. And I'll catch up to you guys again one of these days. Good being the honorary mascot. Love you, man.

The great Jim Craig right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Terrific. That's great. That was wonderful. Well, we still have a third of a segment to go to finish up this show with the great Al Michaels. We'll get to that when we come back for the moment.

Here's Rich Ackerman with a sports update here on this wonderful Friday show. I can say to my new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, hey, find a Keto friendly restaurant nearby and text it to Beth and Steve. And it does without me lifting a finger.

So I can get in more squats anywhere I can. One, two, three. Will that be cash or credit? Four. Galaxy S25 Ultra, the AI companion that does the heavy lifting so you can do you.

Get yours at Samsung.com. Compatible with select apps, requires Google Gemini account, results may vary based on input, check responses for accuracy. It's winter and you can now get almost anything you need for the coldest months of the year delivered with Uber Eats.

What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a ski slope delivered, but you can get dish soap delivered. Sunshine, that's a no. But a bottle of wine, that's a yes.

A snow angel, sorry, no. But angel hair pasta, Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now.

Alcohol in select markets, product availability may vary by region. See out for details. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show Radio, rejoined shortly Al Michaels with us. I can't believe you had only called one hockey game in your career before the 1980 Olympics. And the reason part of the reason why they gave you everything is because you called one hockey game and nobody else called another. Correct.

Unbelievable. Yeah, you can't imagine Coachella sitting there and doing those games. McKay was going to be the host and do figure skating. Frank Gifford and Bobby Addy wanted to go up to the mountain and do the skiing in the morning and then you know go to Apres Ski beginning at three o'clock with Champagne and Caviar. And then, you know, it's funny because I really wanted speed skating because Eric Heiden was going to be the big story of the Olympics and clearly would have been. He won, he was expected to win five gold medals and he won five gold medals. But they gave that to Keith Jackson and, you know, when I got hockey, I wasn't disappointed because among other things, if you're doing a winter Olympic sport, isn't it better to be inside, you know, than outside?

I mean when I did the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, that's where I did that one hockey game, you know, among the other events I covered was the biathlon at 10 below on the island of Hokkaido. So getting that assignment was pretty good, you know, I could walk to the arena and then of course as it turned out it was like the, you know, the most iconic moment of, you know, of my sportscasting career. Nothing will ever beat that. People say, you know, what's your favorite?

I go, really? I love that. I mean I've got a top five but this is one, two, three, four and then number two is number five.

I mean nothing could beat this. Right. And just seeing this moment and, you know, but Eruzione mentioned it earlier too, Al.

It's kind of like, what's similar to it? A lot of people think in the 86 World Series ended when the ball went through Buckner's legs. Correct. There was a game seven. There was. Actually after a rain out too.

Right. I think the Red Sox even had the lead in the game seven. And, you know, there was still another game. One more to go.

Sure. But that really wasn't in doubt, was it in doubt that game at all? The Finland game? Oh no, Finland was projected to be better than we were. Oh no, no, no, Finland was. So going into that tournament, Soviets obviously number one. Czechoslovakia clear number two. Then you had Sweden and remember we had to go to the final 30 seconds to wind up tying them on Bill Baker's goal. That was gigantic.

Finland, West Germany was pretty good as well. So we were a team that looked like maybe with some luck we could win the bronze. Maybe. Was Ruhnhalerj out of his mind after this happened? Because this is the dream come true, right? Is a story like this and a moment like this on a broadcast like that.

Well, he was happy, but I think he was unhappy that we couldn't get this game moved to eight o'clock Eastern time instead of seven. Can you imagine this day and age? Could you imagine this day and age? It couldn't happen. Of course not. No, within a second and a half, TikTok has it or X has it or wherever it is has it, right? Everybody's got it.

In the palm of their hands. Yeah, we're living in those years. It's like we're working with an orange juice can and a string, right?

It's a different animal. And don't forget, I've told you this story before that because it was on tape delay, the game ends. And I mean, it's crazy. But now they have to empty out the building to bring in a new crowd that had the tickets for eight o'clock, which turned out to be the other semifinal game, which was Sweden against Finland. So they made Ken Dryden and me stay and do the game into a tape machine in case we had technical difficulties when the tape of the U.S. Soviet game was being played. Think about how ridiculous that was.

Oh, my word. Ken and I now had to do Sweden, Finland in a game that went to nobody and no place. Al Michaels here on The Rich Eisen Show, everybody.

I got in some more practice for the U.S. Finland. Does that exist? Is that our tape of that somewhere out the tape of that? Probably not.

They probably just erased it because that we just went because Rune said, keep those guys there in case we have a technical problem on the U.S. Soviet tape and that we could go to the arena and Kenny and Al can do do the game before we finish up without Michaels. Just a friendly reminder here on the program that you can order your Hyundai that you are interested in ordering right now on Amazon. Interesting that I'm talking about Amazon with Al sitting right here. You can order your Hyundai on Amazon and pick it up at the dealer. Hyundai is now available on Amazon, limited availability. Pick up through a participating Hyundai dealer in select markets.

Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. This hour has flown by, sir. Wow.

Right? I mean, it's been the years have flown by 45 years. It's crazy. This is fun. This is a, I always look forward to the third week in February knowing that I'll probably be here. And you know, and I've told some of these stories.

I'm sure they're redundant to people, but for some crazy reason, they do seem fresh. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the four nations yesterday and all of the rest, but it's a great bedtime story. Isn't it? Well, it's an incredible bedtime story. It is.

It's, it's the ultimate. You can't make this up. That's the name of your book. You know what I mean? And for good reason, your memoir is, is called, you can't make this up because you can't make this story up.

Right. That's why they made an incredible Disney movie out of it. I mean, and you know, so many, so many moments you remember if you're old enough, Pearl Harbor, Kennedy's assassination, a challenger blowing up in 1986, 9-11, obviously you remember where you were, they're all terrible.

They're all terrible moments. This was a beautiful moment. It was and punctuated by the way you punctuated it, which is the, the greatest. It really is. And you know, in the minute we have left here, just poured out of you. That's it.

Yeah. It just came out of my fiber. Once in a while, I'll have a gulp moment thinking, well, if I had to screw that baby up, but serendipitous, I got lucky.

It was, it was me, you know, there was nothing political in terms of what I wasn't saying, Hey, you know, we screw those guys where they're archenemies. I did that solely because it was a sports miracle. We couldn't win the game and we won the game. But to land on that word too. Well, the word in my mind was miraculous.

It got morphed into a question and answer and away we went. Rich, I had no idea when I said those words, I didn't know that they would have the re the resonation that they've had through the years. But you know, you get lucky and I really got lucky. I got lucky that the right words came at the right time.

How soon did somebody repeat that to you? That night when I went to, after Dryden and I had to do the Sweden, Finland game, then went to no place, walked back to the hotel. Linda met me and said, Oh boy, everybody's talking about, you know, what you said at the end of the game. I go like, what I'm calling the, I didn't want to screw the game up in terms of let's say the Soviets who were putting a lot of pressure on had scored. And I'm saying whatever the hell I say, and they scored a tie in the game.

No, I was just concentrating on calming the game. And I know everybody's going crazy and the trucks going crazy in my ear, but I was a horse with blinkers on straight ahead, call the game. And then when the puck came at the center ice with five seconds to go, it enabled me to, you know, have that more miraculous come into my head, do a question and answer, which I'd never done before on the air. And you know, and off we went, what can I tell you? You're the best down the line. Hey, thanks man. Hey, we got to do this every year. We shall. We'll be back to wrap this up on the Roku channel in a sec. That was great. Thank you. They all have one common goal. You want to strive to be like the Ritz Carlton of your industry, do the work, take the time to really understand and master these things. It's really essential to your path for success. The candy Valentino show time to invest in your future follow and listen on your favorite platform.