Many have questions after the disappointing 2018 Winter Olympics performance by the USA national hockey teams. Can the USA team win gold again this year? But that doesn't mean the end of the world. The USA is a country that has had a lot of failures, especially in Olympic hockey. The USA has been close to winning the Olympics medals in the past, but has never been able do so.
Angela Ruggiero
Angela Ruggiero played hockey for Team USA in her twenties. She was the youngest player on the U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team in 1998. They went on to win the gold medal in Nagano (Japan). She continued to play for Team USA, including playing on the 2002 and 2010 Olympic Teams.
Herb Brooks
Herb Brooks was conceived on August 5, 1937. Brooks grew up in a modest two-family home in St. Paul, Minnesota. Brooks won the Minnesota state championship with his team during high school. Brooks played college hockey at the University of Minnesota, where he was coached by John Mariucci. He scored 45 points in the 1957-58 season. He played on many U.S. National teams in the 1960s and 1970s.
Miracle on Ice
1980 Olympic Men’s National Hockey team beat the Soviet Union in order to win the gold medal. The title "Miracle on Ice" was given to the team. This remarkable feat is an important piece of Cold War sports history.
Herb Brooks' plan for players to hate him
Herb Brooks was a hockey coach who lived and worked in Davos in Switzerland. He will be the New York Rangers' coach in March. Jim Craig was a Boston Bruins' player and grew up in the exact same house as Herb. Craig was paid $35,000 by Coca-Cola to appear in a Coca-Cola advertisement while he was playing for the Boston Bruins. We don't know if Brooks's plan to make players hate Brooks was successful.
Soviet hockey team's scrappy style
A number of Soviet hockey players were left handed. They were taught to use their dominant right hand on the top of the stick, so they were often forced to play on their weak sides. They couldn't afford to fetishize their handedness so they created ways to compensate.
Brian O'Neill
Brian O'Neill in the United States is a professional forward in ice hockey. He currently plays for EV Zug, a National League team. He has represented the USA National Hockey Team 5 times.