Cold war revival

USA to meet Russia on 22nd anniversary of Miracle on Ice

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) -- Russian coach Slava Fetisov strolled up to U.S. coach Herb Brooks in the Olympic Village and asked if he remembered where he was 22 years ago Friday.

If Brooks knew the obvious answer, he didn't let on.

On Feb. 22, 1980, also a Friday, Brooks' American collegians scored perhaps the biggest upset in U.S. sports history by defeating the supposedly unbeatable Soviet Union hockey factory 4-3 in the Olympic semifinals.

The two nations meet Friday in another Olympic semifinal, with Belarus facing Canada in the other game. The cold war is long gone, but the U.S.-Russia showdown comes amid threats and accusations of favoritism.

Russian Olympic officials said Thursday that they might pull their athletes out of Salt Lake City because of judgments against them in several sports. But the teams kept preparing, and Russia's president later indicated there will be no boycott.

The "Miracle on Ice" game will be remembered as long as hockey is played in America -- and will be regretted as long as the game is played in Russia.

"Slava came up to me and said that 22 years ago we were playing, and what did I think," Brooks said Thursday. "I told him I can't think that far back. But it is kind of eerie, strange ... and it shows he's still thinking about it."

There are virtually no comparisons, other than the date -- in 1980, the United States sent amateur players to play against a highly skilled, highly trained Soviet super team that beat NHL All-Star teams.

Now, the NHL all-stars wear the colors of all the remaining Olympic teams except Belarus, which pulled off its own upset of a generation by defeating Sweden 4-3 Wednesday in a game that instantly made national heroes of the Belarusian players.

Just as the 1980 game did to Brooks' collegians.

"But you can't make any comparisons," Brooks said of the two biggest Olympic hockey upsets in the last 60 years. "We had college kids playing the greatest team in the world. Belarus has some skilled, veteran players who know how to play the game. They're not 21-year-old college kids."

Added U.S. forward John LeClair: "I don't think the rivalry is as big as back then. Now it's 30-year-old guys playing 30-year-old guys."

The semifinal game could come down to a goalies' duel between Russia's Nikolai Khabibulin, who shut out the Czech Republic 1-0 to eliminate the 1998 champions and seems to be playing better every game, and Mike Richter, who was flawless Wednesday in a 5-0 victory over Germany.

When Russia and the United States played to a 2-2 tie Saturday, it drew the largest U.S. TV audience for any hockey game since the 1980 Olympics. Now, the teams meet in a semifinal that was as widely anticipated as the other semifinal was unexpected.

Canada seems supremely confident going up against a semifinal opponent that figured to be back in Minsk about now.

Overconfident? Well, maybe just a little too.

Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky, intentionally or not, all but dismissed any suggestions that Sweden's misfortune could possibly happen to the Canadians.

"This is one time I'm comfortable saying we're the overwhelming favorites," Gretzky said. "They [Belarus] are thrilled to be where they're at, and our guys are ready."

What they don't appear ready for is an upset.

Asked about center Eric Lindros, who played little in the final two periods of Wednesday's 2-1 victory over Finland, Gretzky said it was coach Pat Quinn's decision to play Michael Peca on that line.

But, Gretzky said, "Eric's a big part of this team. We need him to play well on Friday and on Sunday" -- which is the gold medal game Gretzky apparently assumes will involve Canada.

Canada also was favored to beat the Czech Republic in the 1998 semifinals in Nagano, but lost 2-1 in an overtime shootout. But that Czech team had a number of NHL stars, while Belarus has only one NHL player, Ruslan Salei.

"The mindset here is we've got to get the gold medal," Gretzky said.

 

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