Miracle on Ice, the beginning of my madness

As I sit here on another cold winter morning, wondering what got me to the point that I spend most of my down time scouring the internet for hockey memorabilia, articles on junior and professional hockey, and great hockey tidbits, I found this little gem. Prior to February 1980, I LOVED football, the Steelers and Pitt Panthers, and still liked baseball quite a bit. The game of hockey was something I had very little knowledge of. Yeah, I played street hockey for a couple of years in a recreational league in Lincoln Place, but did it only for something to do...............but like many others of that time I got swept up by the Miracle on Ice as it played out during the winter olympics. My family watched the Olympics every night, and my father was particularly interested in the hockey that year. The USSR seemed like and unbeatable juggernaut, and the US team was made up of kids, but as the US team advanced to the medal round, we got more and more interested in hockey. Watching this miracle unfold on ice, the pride and emotion of the US crowd, and the excitement it generated in the area, I became hooked. Beating the Soviets to eliminate them and guarantee at least a bronze medal was a great moment to be sure, and winning the gold by knocking of the Finns, had me hooked for sure. I suddenly spent the rest of the winter shooting pucks off the side of the house, get reinvolved in street hockey, then ice hockey. My father and I spent lots of time during the spring watching the NHL playoffs, and I realized what an accomplishment it was to win the Stanley Cup! During these years, the Penguins were very mediorcre, but watching the games with my father remain a favorite memory of mine. In 1984, the Penguins drafted Le Magnifique, and there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel. With hope on the horizon that the local team could be competitive, the love of hockey grew even more. In 1988, I met my wife, and we began attending games on a fairly regular basis as a result of her boss giving us tickets. In 1989, the Pens had a very good year, and despite losing to the Flyers in the first round of the playoffs in 7 games, you could see a bright future.........the Pens then won two straight Cups, should have won a third and were one of the dominant franchises of the nineties.........the new decade brought a fire sale and return to very ugly hockey, but the bug remained. The drafting of 87 felt very similar to the drafting of 66 in 1984, and the Pens seem poised for another extended run amongst the elite in hockey..........and it is great to be a part of it! This video brings back memories of the origin of the MADNESS.