Mike Eruzione
Michael Anthony " Mike" Eruzione ( born October 25, 1954 in Winthrop, Massachusetts ) is a retired American professional ice hockey player of Italian descent and captain of the U.S. national hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
Career
Eruzione scored the winning goal in the game against the USSR. The U.S. victory against the then all-powerful Soviet Union went down in sports history as the Miracle on Ice.
He was pulled in 1974 in the second round to 28th place in the WHA Amateur Draft by the New England Whalers and never played in the NHL, but two seasons in the IHL at the Toledo Goal Diggers. In the season 1977/78 he was awarded the Ken McKenzie Trophy. In 1979 he joined the U.S. national team and finished there after winning the gold medal his active career. He later became a sports commentator, primarily at the Games of the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, as well as at the Olympic Games for ABC television and NBC.
Then he returned to his university back in Boston, where it is since then Director of Development for Athletics. He is a member of a number of Halls of Fame. The film from the year 2004, Miracle - The Miracle of Lake Placid, is largely based on his and the memoirs of former coach Herb Brooks.