Miracle Monday: 7 Players Cast Perfectly in Miracle

Happy Monday! Before we get started, is that picture not the cutest thing you've ever seen? Look at those happy faces. :)

Anywho, I was recently digging through my computer and came across something I'd made almost two years ago, when my Miracle fandom was still fresh and new: side-by-side comparisons of the real team and the guys cast to play them in Miracle. And, I gotta tell you, some of them blew my mind a little bit. I hadn't been aware that the casting directors, y'know, used a cloning machine. So in light of my re-discovering my discovery, I thought I'd post some of my favorites. Because, really, it's amazing.

I'll give Patrick O'Brien Demsey and Mike Eruzione an honorable mention. ;)

Nathan West / Rob McClanahan

I'm convinced that these two are secretly related, because they really look like twins. But they have matching personalities too; when Nathan was cast, he sent Mac an extensive questionnaire to learn every minute detail about him, and threatened to move in with him if he didn't fill it out. If that's not the most Mac thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is!

Michael Mantenuto / Jack O'Callahan

Again, do these two share genes or something? They've got the same crooked smile, and they were both the first guy to drop his gloves; OC led the Olympic team in penalty minutes, and Michael got into a fight with another player during auditions. Talk about accurate.

Eddie Cahill / Jim Craig

Gavin O'Connor, the director of Miracle, has actually commented on how uncanny the resemblance is between Eddie and Jim, and had Eddie pegged for Jim immediately because of it. (Eddie had never played goalie before, but that was neither here nor there.) And do you want to hear something cute? These two still keep in touch and tweet at each other occasionally. :)

Kris Wilson / Phil Verchota

Extra bonus points to the casting directors for finding Phil's doppelganger despite his relatively small part in the movie. Kris has both Phil's scary intense face and joyful smile (and we know how important Phil's smile is). And while Phil wasn't the goon he was believed to be, he certainly wasn't afraid to get into it… and Kris is the all-time leader in penalty minutes at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Too excellent.

Nick Postle / Bill Baker

I can't find any information about Nick as a person. But between that smile and that beautiful blonde flow, I'm totally here for him as Bill.

Sam Skoryna / Steve Janaszak

Again, I couldn't tell you a single thing about Sam. Except that he's a complete dead ringer for Janny. (Excellent stache, my friend.)

Billy Schneider / Buzz Schneider

I don't even think Billy and Buzz look all that much alike. But casting a player's son to play him? You can't really get more accurate than that!

Miracle Monday: Superlatives, Part 2

Happy Monday! Is everyone ready for the second half of superlatives? I've got to say, this has been so much fun. I really wish I could make it last another few weeks, but you know what they say about too much of a good thing. Alas. (Click here if you missed part one!)

While several other guys on this team have been called Picassos on ice, Eric here was the true creative-type artist of the group. He'd have random streaks of brilliance, and then equally as random streaks of nothing. But when he was brilliant, his hockey was like a work of art. He'd often confuse his own teammates with his unpredictability on the ice, and he even had the head-in-the-clouds, quirky personality stereotypical of artists. So, really, the ice was his canvas!

Mac here has just about everything you'd find in a president: an insanely brilliant mind, the ability to be friends with athletes and academics alike, good looks, business smarts, interview skills and an ease in front of the camera, and the ambition and ceaseless drive to make things happen. The more I think about it, the more surprised I am that he hasn't held a public office yet. With this man in the Oval Office, we'd all be in very good hands!

The job of a dad is to be a support system, and Janny fits that to a T. As the backup goalie he didn't play very often, so his role became that of supporting his teammates. He sharpened skates and had words of encouragement for teammates who had a bad shift, pushed Jim Craig to the top of his game, and was all-around just there for everybody. And he always did it happily.

If everyone in the world was more like Buzz, I firmly believe there'd be no wars. Seriously. He's always warm and humble and giving, and was often the focus of Herb's abuse because Herb knew that not much would get to him. On top of all that, the U.S. government has already sent him to Turkey to teach hockey, and he still keeps in touch with some of the kids he coached. I mean, come on. Give the man an award.

It may seem odd to award Best Athlete on a team of athletes, but let's look at Rammer's resume. In high school he was a state tennis champion, an All-City football player, and the best hockey defenseman in the state. Then he attended the University of Minnesota, working his way from junior varsity to varsity starter in less than a season; was the first American ever taken in the first round of the NHL draft; was a starting defenseman on the gold medal-winning Olympic team, where he was known for his aggressive hitting and offensive style of play; and went on to a 17-year NHL career (including four all-star game appearances). The dude could play.

Wellsy had to hustle for his entire life, largely because being a smaller athlete ain't no walk in the park. From the time he was a kid he had to work to prove himself against the odds, even starting college on a partial scholarship before becoming one of the best scorers in the country. He had to bust his butt to make the Olympic roster, and then once on the roster he had to bust his butt to make the team. And then after the Olympics, he had to bust his butt to take his life back after a debilitating injury. His work ethic is tireless!

Guys, Silky's ability to better himself is truly inspirational. As a hockey player he wasn't the best skater, and Herb frequently told him so, but he worked on it relentlessly. He started the Olympics on the fourth line, but managed to play so impressively (even scoring the team's first goal of the Olympics!) that he played the whole medal round on the first line, with the fastest skaters. And when he started struggling with alcoholism, he attacked the problem and turned his life around. Nowadays he competes in triathlons and is in better shape than he was 15 years ago. Amazing.

This is almost a cop-out, because it's just so easy. Ken was known for his solid, dependable presence on the blue line, and goalies loved playing behind him because they could rely on him so completely. I mean, there's a reason he won an Olympic gold medal and four Stanley Cups in four years. There's also a reason why he spent his entire career, from his days as a player right up to Director of Pro Scouting, with a single NHL franchise: Ken Morrow is as reliable as they come.

Jim Craig is a pretty amazing human being. Not only has he befriended some of the Russian players (pictured is Vladimir Myshkin), but he's also incredibly aware of his role on the team and the responsibility he holds. Instead of hogging the attention, he takes so much care to appreciate his teammates and ensure that some of the unsung heroes get recognition. At the 35th anniversary reunion alone, he went out of his way to draw attention to the accomplishments of Steve Janaszak, Eric Strobel and Neal Broten in lieu of himself. Like I said, amazing.

Look at Steve's game face. Is that not the face of someone you'd trust to lead you into battle? Steve was known for being brooding and intense, not saying much but always looking like something was brewing under the surface. He was able to basically score goals at will and simultaneously had the reputation of being a good fighter: so basically, he was the ultimate package. Herb often singled him out for abuse, just to round out the revolutionary stereotype. And he's a pilot. That's a good skill for a revolutionary to have, right? :P

And that concludes our superlative adventure!

Miracle Monday: Steve Janaszak

GUYS, I'm excited.

In my Liebster award post, I mentioned a super awesome blogger Caity, who nominated me. I was initially hooked because of our mutual obsession with love of London, but another awesome thing about Caity's blog is Fab Four Friday. See, Caity is a huge Beatles fan. So every Friday, she blogs about the Beatles. Now, I wouldn't call myself a huge Beatles fan. I mean, I love them as much as any other self respecting human being does, but they're not something I'm diehard about. But I love Caity's posts about them because you can tell how passionate she is about them. She's full of fun factoids and YouTube videos, and I just really love when people get excited about things! And she's just trying to spread some Beatle love!

So this all got me thinking... I love this concept. I think everyone should blog about things that get them excited, that they could yammer on about for days. And I'm all about spreading the love! So I'm stealing her idea. Thanks, Caity! ;)

I, however, will be writing weekly posts about a different group of boys, and on a different alliterative day.

(Raise your hand if you're surprised! I'm actually surprised it took me this long to do something like this.)

I didn't truly get all gung-ho about this team until I learned more about the players as people. When they went from being nameless and faceless to having personalities, quirks, hardships, best friends and interests outside of hockey, suddenly it all felt more accessible to me. Heck, most of them were in younger in Lake Placid than I am right now! These are real, regular human beings who just so happened to do something pretty damn extraordinary.

So, to spread the love, I'll be highlighting one member of the team each week! Because all of them are epic, even the one that never saw any ice time. Which brings me to our first spotlight...

FUN FACTS:

+ Janny (because on this here blog, we refer to guys by their nicknames as if we know them personally)  was quite the epic athlete, earning 10 letters in high school for hockey, football, golf and soccer. He was the backbone of the hockey team, and he'd been nicknamed "The Man." The dude was legit. He played for Herb Brooks at the University of Minnesota, and the Gophers won the NCAA championship in both 1976 and 1979. Janny was named tournament MVP in 1979, but just months later, Herb selected him for the Olympic team... as Jim Craig's backup.

+ Janny was the only player in the entire Lake Placid 1980 hockey tournament to not play a single minute. But he remained positive and supportive, and even helped sharpen his teammates' skates. Other guys on the team have said that now, looking back on the Olympics, they don't remember him as not playing. They still felt he was as much a part of the team as anybody else. And one of the first things Jim Craig did in the post-gold medal press conference was publicly thank Janny for his contributions to the team. (I love me some goalie love!) But Janny's Olympics wasn't a total personal bust for him. That's where he met his future wife, who was working as a translator in the Olympic village. :) (I'm sorry, but is that not the cutest story you've ever heard?)

+ While he's mostly known for being the ultimate team player, I feel the need to stress that Janny was far from just some passive presence on the bench. He constantly worked his butt off and came up big in important situations, and wasn't afraid to stand up to Herb when he felt he was being treated unfairly. He also happened to be a chemical engineering major in college (in other words, he was brilliant). Janny was absolutely not a doormat -- he had his role on the team, and Herb valued him for his ability to fill that role flawlessly. 

+ Undrafted by the NHL, after the Olympics Janny signed with the Minnesota North Stars. He played for several franchises over the next few years, mostly in their minor league systems, before retiring in 1983.

+ Sorry to end on kind of a scary note, but... Janny worked as a bond salesman for an investment banking firm on the 89th floor of the South Tower in the World Trade Center until March of 2001. So, like, six months before 9/11. He says the company lost 67 people when the towers collapsed, including most of the people on the trading desk where he had worked. (Probably a good thing that he took that other job, huh? Sheesh.)

And now, watch this video and appreciate. (Also, this reporter is my spirit animal. "I've been wanting and waiting to interview you for 34 years!" That dude gets it.)