periods and his.men provided him with 5 goals in the last two periods. Romania was the only team the USA scored first against. They went on to win by a score of 7-2.(3) The thing remarkable about the USA only scoring first in the game against Romania is that in all of hockey the team who scores first goal will win 80% of the time where the competition is some what equal like the Olympics and college and NHL.(ESPN 2) They were truly destined to win after overcoming all the deficits that they faced. "Our following turned into an outpouring," said former star Neal Broten, a member of the team. "It was Kind of like a soap opera. People had to watch it. It was a connection for all kinds of people."(Jones 1) West Germany was the next foe they had to deal with coming back from a 2-0 deficit they went on to win 4-2.(Carlton 4).
Even with the USA winning games everyone knew what their destiny was, having to play against Russians. Playing maybe the best team of all time did not keep brooks down though. "Brooks did the best to yank the Russian players down from hockey Olympus, even referring to long-faced Soviet star Boris Mikhailov as "Stan Laurel." How could you be afraid of Oliver Hardy's partner?" (Jones 1) In the game against the Soviet Union Goalie Jim Craig was outstanding stopping 36-39 shots on goal.(3) With one second remaining in the first period the USA had scored on their second goal of the game making the score 2-2 thanks to Mark Johnson. At this point the Soviet team had pulled Vladislav Tretiak who was the best goalie in the world at the time and put in their back up Vladimir Myshkin. Tretiak did not return to the game for the second period. The Soviets dominated the second period out shooting the Americans 12-2 and taking a 3-2 lead. In the third period Mark Johnson struck again his second goal of the game and tying the score up at 3-3. A short 1 minute and 21 seconds later captain Mike Eruzione scored to take a 4-3 lead their first lead of the game.