Can The U.S. Steal Olympic Gold From The Russians?
The following article was published back in 1979, several months prior to 1980 Olympics

Part 3. Written By Dan Stoneking in the hockey annual 
The Complete Handbook of Pro Hockey: 1980 Season

If possible, the Soviets were even more devastating in the World Championships.

They swept through the first undefeated performance in four years as they devoured the Czechoslovakian team 6-1 for their sixth straight Group A title.

None of the other four world hockey powers even gave the Soviets sweaty palms or a high pulse rate in the two week tournament. The Russians wound up with the most goals scored (51), the least against (12). They beat the Czechs, 11-1, the Swedes 11-3, and Canada, 9-2.

The American squad at the World Tournament, coached by Brooks, did not get a chance to play the Russians since they were in a different bracket. "The Russians," said Brooks, "were awesome, just awesome. But I have a way we can come a lot closer to them than the NHL pros did."

In a cloak and dagger put on, the coach who has led the University of Minnesota to three NCAA titles since 1974 motioned his visitor closer. He talked in a whisper. "the last two games the NHL played them, the pros got blasted, right?" said Brooks. "In the last game it was 6-0. Well, I figure that if we don't show up, the Russians would win 1-0 (by forfeit). That might be the closest anyone is going to come to them.

"It would go down in the record books as Russia 1, the United States 0. Forty years from now they would look at the score, and say, 'Hey! That must have been a helluva game!"

Then Brooks turned serious. "Lookit," he said. "They are the best team in the world. You can rant and rave all you want about the Montreal Canadiens. But the Russians are in a class all by themselves. Nobody is even close. For them to lose will take a big fluke or a big upset.

"I don't want o sound negative about playing the Soviets. Nobody is throwing in the towel against them. When we play them we will play them just as hard as we play every other team in the tournament, which will be as hard as we can.

"But I look at the game with the Russians as one you don't even worry about. Just play your game. Don't go into it and expend everything physically and psychologically. Save the win-one-for-the-Gipper pep talk for a team you have a better chance of defeating. I repeat, that doesn't mean you don't give the Soviets your best shot. We will. But you can't get so hung up on that game that it throws everything else out of perspective."

Brooks was the last man cut from the tryouts for the 1960 Olympic team. Now he faces the same decisions.

"We have about 64 players (nearly half of them from the state of Minnesota) going to the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs in July and August," he said. "We will come out of that with about 25 or 27 players. We will keep 20 or 22 with the club and place 4 or 5 with the International League teams or maybe a couple in the Central League. You need that many players because of the injury factor, the fatigue factor the motivation factor." 

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