LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 30 superior women are now than they were 10 or 15 years ago because so many women are playing the game," he said. "We might have opened the door, but today's players have knocked it down." Team members treasure every chance they get to re- unite, such as the recent White House ceremony, and in some ways their bond is stronger now than when skating their way to sports immortality. "It's gotten to a point where we're almost like extended family with each other," Schneider said. "We do a couple autograph signings each year, a few appearances. So we still stay together and when you look at the emails, it hasn't changed in 40 -some years. We act like 19- and 20 -year-old kids again. So that part hasn't changed." "I'm still close with all of them," Janaszak said. "I don't care if it's Tiddlywinks, I would pick these guys no matter what it is." Eruzione, who works for Boston University, owns a store in Lake Placid where fans can buy 1980 Team memorabilia. Players are expected to be in the Olym- pic Village from May 3-7 for the latest in a series of Fantasy Camps they've held the past several years. Even more tributes are planned leading up to a major 50th anniversary celebration of the 1980 Winter Olympics, four years from now. "Something keeps happening, things keep popping up," Schneider said. "I remember teammate Kenny Morrow saying, 'Geez, what's going to happen next year? ' It's been life changing for sure, it's hard to ex- plain." The latest recognition is a new documentary film, Miracle: The Boys of 1980, which premiered on Netflix in late January. "A lot of us went back to Lake Placid," Eruzione said. "We went in the locker room. They interviewed us and talked to us. Then they came to my house and inter- viewed me at home. So that's another story coming up about us." Also, on January 31, a six-foot-tall statue of Brooks, the team's architect, was unveiled outside the Olympic Museum in Lake Placid and plans are in the works for a beautiful life-size monument depicting all twenty players on the top step of the Olympic medal podium. The public will get its first look at the $5.2 million project, located outside the Olympic Center, in Febru- ary 2030. "I keep telling my wife, 'It's going to end. I'm telling you honey, it's going to end,'" Eruzione said. "But yes- terday I picked up my phone and I had three speaking engagements, sales meetings, next September and October. It's a great story, a feel-good story. When you talk about moments in sports and sporting events for your country, it's still number one." t Fans and supporters are invited to help fund the monu- ment at: https://www.1980miraclemonument.org Above and left: The six-foot-tall statue of Herb Brooks, the coach of the 1980 USA Men's Hockey Team, is displayed near the entrance of the Olympic Center in Lake Placid.

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