Andrew Grimm REMENISCING — Members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team Mike Eruzione, Ken Morrow, the team’s assistant coach Craig Patrick and Pittsburgh Penguins legend Phil Bourque were the keynote speakers at Thursday’s Baron Club Dinner, emceed by Catholic Central graduate John Buccigross of ESPN.
STEUBENVILLE — After a year away due to the pandemic, the Baron Club Dinner came back Thursday night — and it was worth the wait.
Attendees were treated to a roundtable discussion with members of the iconic 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that won gold at Lake Placid and has since been the subject of movies, documentaries and books. The group gathered inside the Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Finnegan Fieldhouse.
Mike Eruzione, the team’s captain, Ken Morrow, a defenseman on the team and Craig Patrick, the team’s assistant coach and former Pittsburgh Penguins general manager, joined Phil Bourque, former Penguin and Penguins radio analyst, along with event regular and Catholic Central graduate John Buccigross of ESPN, who emceed the event for a sixth time. The team’s bond was evident in a discussion with the media, as the group continued to recall their accomplishment and time together, telling stories at the table long after the media was done asking questions.
One of the members, Morrow, has a close connection to the area. His wife is a Toronto native.
“For me, it’s special (to be at the Baron Club Dinner) because I have ties to this area,” he said. “My wife is from just up the road. We spent many years coming back here and visiting her family. It’s very special for me.”
Patrick and Bourque also have a connection to Toronto as former Penguins strength and conditioning coach, the late John Welday, was a native of the Gem City. Morrow’s wife was a classmate of Welday’s.
Bourque was also a guest the last time the Baron Club Dinner was held in 2019.
For him, an American-born player that was playing high school hockey when the team won gold, spending an evening with the trio was a special experience for the two-time Stanley Cup Champion.
“It’s phenomenal,” he said. “I was a senior in high school when they won. I actually had a game that day, I’ll never forget it. You talk about where were you at that moment? I was actually driving home, a whole group of us, I could take you there right now I know exactly where I was on Route 495. The game was on the radio. The signal was terrible, except for this one spot. Everybody pulled over in the break down lane, there must have been 15 cars. Everybody just stayed in that spot.
“When the game was finally over, horns were going, lights were flashing. It was an unbelievable moment. I have goosebumps right now just talking about it.
“The impression they made on me, as a 17-year-old kid, was incredible.”
The players during the Olympic run in 1980 were not permitted to speak with the media, so, they said, they had no idea at the time how impactful their victory over the Soviet Union was across the country.
“We didn’t know anything that was going on other than we had a hockey game or a practice,” Eruzione said. “The only time we did a press conference was all of us at a table, the whole team. We did everything as a team.”
Patrick recalled being asked by legendary coach, the late Herb Brooks, to speak to the media in his place during the tournament.
It became pretty clear in a hurry afterward, though, how big of a deal it was — and the excitement over their accomplishment has not faded.
“Air Force One came to get us at Lake Placid to take us to lunch at the White House,” Patrick recalled. “We got to Andrew’s Air Force Base and they put is in limousines. I like Kenny’s line, ‘We arrived in Lake Placid on a bus and left on Air Force One.’ All the way to the White House people were lining both sides of the street with flags. We had no idea.”
“We still talk about it to this day when we get together, ‘Can you believe this is still happening?'” Morrow said. “We thought maybe 10 years later, maybe 20 years later if we’re lucky people will remember, but it’s actually kind of grown to where it’s actually even more attention now.”
“You should see the letters I get in the mail from kids that are eight or nine years old,” Eruzione said. “They’ve seen the movie ‘Miracle’ or they’ve heard about it from their father or grandfather or grandmother.
“People come up to you and say they remember where they were, depending on their age, when Kennedy was assassinated, I remember where I was on 9-11, I remember where I was when the Challenger blew up, and I remember where I was when we won.”
As they pointed out, though, people often forget the win over the Soviets was not the last game. “People think we only played one game” Eruzione said. “If we don’t beat Finland (to seal the Gold Medal), we’re not having this conversation. We’re not here today. As great as the Soviet game was, sealing the deal against Finland validated how good our team was.”
Teams that have success together typically remain close, but the 1980 group has stayed especially tight — though they seldom talk about the Olympics themselves.
“Whenever you win, the bonds never, ever go away,” Patrick said.
“When we get together, it’s actually kind of comical. We don’t talk about the Olympics, it hardly ever comes up,” Eruzione said. “It’s who’s fat, who’s bald, who’s divorced, what’s your handicap, you’re lying about your handicap. It’s conversations like that.”
Though the 1980 team is the last American men’s hockey team to win gold — the women’s team won gold in 2018 — Eruzione has been impressed with how far the American talent pool has come.
“I always say I think in 1980 we opened the door to American players and college players,” he said. “But today’s players have knocked the door down. We go in expecting to medal now. Some of the best players in the world now, men and women, are American. You see the skill level of the players today and it’s off the charts.”
“Someone asked me how the 1980 team would do against today’s Olympic team. I told them we’d get killed, I’m 68,” he joked.
Both Eruzione and Morrow said partaking in events like the Baron Club Dinner and giving back to the community have been a focus of theirs since their golden moment.
“You’re supposed to give back, that’s what my mother taught me,” Eruzione said. “Our team, for 41 years, has been in a position to help others, whatever causes and situations.”
“I think hockey players are special in that regard,” Morrow said. “I think giving back is the easiest thing you can do as a former athlete.”
Eruzione compared today to back then.
“When it’s the Olympics, the nation feels a part of it,” he said. “Back in 1980, our country needed something to feel good about. That’s what we need now. We need another 1980.”
The Baron Club Dinner’s honorees were the late Paul “Bud” Billiard, Marc and Dan Bjelec and the presentation of the first Kuzma Community Award to the Kuzma family.
Attendees also heard from Franciscan Athletic Director Scott Greve and President the Rev. Dave Pavonka, TOR, during the festivities.
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