>
> To me the best thing about the US winning in 1980 was that it
> legitimized
> the sport of college hockey.  Except for Mike Eruzione and, I
> believe, Buzz
> Schneider, the whole team was comprised of kids who were
> either still in
> college or had been out for may 1 or 2 years.  The average
> age of the team
> was 21 or 22.  It was basically a college all-star team that went up
> against the best hockey team in the world.
 
Mike Eruzione graduated from BU in '77 or '78. He spent some time in the
minors but apparently not enough to affect his Olympic eligibility. The
other players from BU graduated in '78 or '79. Can someone out their
document the team's college affiliations? (Extra credit for year of
graduation.)
 
> When they won the whole thing, it certainly turned the heads
> of the pro
> scouts who now started to flock to college games in droves.
> We from the
> college hockey dark ages certainly remember the many stars of
> the mid-70's
> who hardly got a sniff of a pro career even though they
> clearly had talent.
> It took that 1980 US team to get the NHL ostrich's head out
> of the sand.
 
Ken Morrow won some Stanley Cups with the Islanders. Dave Silk played for
the Rangers. Neil Broten was with the Devils for a while. Alas, Jim Craig's
pro career was less successful. The NHL, it seems to me, failed to
capitalize on the teams success as much as they could have. Perhaps it was
because the NHL was run by Neanderthals, perhaps the mostly Canadian-run NHL
was jealous of the USA's success.
 
> My only regret
> about that
> team is that Ralph Cox, UNH '72, didn't make it.  I've never
> understood how
> the guy who was the leading scorer for most of the team's exhibition
> schedule could get cut.  I felt then, and still feel now, that Herbie
> Brooks had the western bias and Ralph was a victim of it.
> But that is a
> small potatoes complaint compared to what really counted.
 
I believe book about the team details the eastern kids' feelings of bias
towards western players. Can't argue with results, though. And some like to
remember that the captain and hero goalie eastern/Massachusetts/BU guys.
 
Ken
BU '79
 
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