by John Giles
By all accounts, Mike Eruzione and Jack Parker have been
great friends for more than forty years. If you’re familiar with their
backgrounds, the source of this friendship shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Each of them was raised in modest circumstances in hardscrabble towns; Eruzione
in Winthrop, Parker in Somerville.
Parker demanded a high degree of competitiveness and determination
from his players at BU. Eruzione cites these attributes as his greatest
strengths.
Parker’s acceptance speech at his induction into the US
Hockey Hall of Fame acknowledged the dominant role “coincidence” played
throughout his career. In “The Making of a Miracle”, recently published by
Harper Press, Eruzione, via co-author Neal Boudette, proudly and repeatedly asserts
that chance played no less of a part in his life.
Eruzione’s honesty about all facets of his upbringing and
career is the central theme of the book. He was raised in a “three-decker” in
working class, insular Winthrop. His family lived on one floor; aunts, uncles
and cousins occupied the other two. In fact, he terms the arrangement as “three
floors, no doors” that housed one large, rambling family. His father, Eugene,
known as “Jeep”, worked multiple jobs. Mike caddied and shoveled snow, giving
the money he made to his mother.
When he wasn’t working, Eruzione was consumed by sports. He
played baseball, football and hockey. Above all else, he thrived on
competition. He found his first mentor in Bob DeFelice, the Winthrop High
School football coach. “Deefa” demanded discipline and competitiveness from his
team. Eruzione flourished in this environment. Football became his “passion”.
Serendipity first appears in Eruzione’s life during the
summer after a year spent in prep school. Having drawn no interest from
Division 1 schools, he was on track to attend Merrimack College, play Division
2 hockey, and eventually become a teacher while coaching multiple high school
athletic teams. In fact, it seems if that had become his destiny, Eruzione
would have been happy.
However, with nothing else to do one August night, Eruzione
decided to play a game of pickup hockey and returned home with a scholarship to
a Division 1 college. Some of his buddies just happened to play in a summer
hockey league and just happened to need another player for the evening’s game.
Eruzione grabbed his hockey equipment and accompanied them. By chance, Jack
Parker officiated the game that night.
At the time, Parker was an assistant coach at BU, charged
with recruitment. By chance, a couple of players he thought he’d recruited for
BU went elsewhere. Parker was impressed by Eruzione’s play. Needing two players
on short notice, Parker asked him what his college plans were. When Eruzione
responded that he’d received no interest from Division 1 schools, Parker
offered him a scholarship to BU. Parker filled the remaining scholarship by
recruiting Rick Meagher who became a three time All-American and Eruzione’s
lifelong friend. Coincidence and happenstance, indeed.
Eruzione’s career at BU had a rough start. He was buried on
the JV team, at first, and hadn’t advanced above skating the fourth line when
circumstances intervened again. BU fired Head Coach Leon Abbott due to
“recruiting violations” shortly after the season started.
The beneficiaries of
Abbott’s dismissal were Parker and Eruzione. Parker became Head Coach,
inheriting a very talented team. Again, Eruzione was playing for a coach who
demanded and appreciated competitiveness, hard work and determination. Eruzione thrived at BU as the team won the
championship of eastern college hockey each of his four seasons. They never won
a National Championship, however, and never advanced to the championship game,
which Eruzione regards as a “blot on my career.”
Following graduation from BU, Eruzione knocked around the
minor leagues of professional hockey. The era in which talented college players
advanced to the NHL hadn’t quite dawned. Again, chance plays a role in his
future. While playing in various minor leagues, Eruzione had played nine games
in leagues that were considered “professional” by international standards. If
he’d played a tenth game, he’d have lost his eligibility for the Olympics.
He participated in the National Sports Festivals during the
late seventies. The US Olympic Ice Hockey committee used these games to select
the players who would comprise the 1980 Olympic team. Herb Brooks, who would
coach the team, was already familiar with Eruzione from the small world of
college hockey, and through his play for the US during international
tournaments.
For longtime college hockey followers, much of the book’s
appeal lies in the background Eruzione and Boudette provide about the game
during the seventies. Eruzione describes what it was like to play for Parker, the
personalities of some of his teammates, the depth of BU’s rivalry with BC and
detailed descriptions of key moments of important games BU played during his
college career.
The second half of the book covers the entire Olympic
experience, from player selection and training camp, through the long pre-Olympic
schedule and the games themselves, to the glorious aftermath and celebration of
the Gold Medal victory.
Again, Eruzione provides extensive detail. He describes the
dynamics among the players, the East – West animosity that marked the team
after it was first assembled, and key games played prior to the Olympics. Herb
Brooks is center stage at this point. Eruzione and Boudette do a terrific job portraying
Brooks’ single-mindedness, especially his relationship with the players.
Apparently, Eruzione and Boudette reviewed films of all
games played by the US during the Olympics. If not, then Eruzione must have a
world class memory. They recount the essential details of all contests and the
flow of play that led to critical goals. They devote two riveting chapters to
the “Miracle” game against the Soviet Union. Chance re-enters Eruzione’s life
as he hopped onto the ice and into the Soviet defensive zone at precisely the
right moment to collect a pass and score the goal that changed the direction of
his life permanently.
Essentially, Eruzione recounts the final ten minutes of the
game, as the US protected its one goal lead, on a shift by shift basis. He
provides detail and insight that even avid hockey fans may not have known or
appreciated previously.
In the final chapters, Eruzione describes his post-Olympic,
post-hockey life. He acknowledges that fate has provided him with many opportunities
over the last forty years. However, he leaves the impression that he’d have
been happy with his life even if he hadn’t met Jack Parker, maintained his
amateur athletic standing or scored one of the most celebrated goals in hockey
history.
