John Mayasich discusses goalie Jack McCartan from Forgotten Miracle on Vimeo.

Feb. 16, 1960 – Squaw Valley, CA – Skating again on the outdoor rink, the US hockey team wins 10-0 over an overmatched Japanese hockey team. The scrimmage was also a chance for coach Jack Riley to have some more fun with the press and the opponents.

In the book, Squaw Valley Gold Bill Christian recalls “at the end, he wanted us to stage a donnybrook. Riley’s big thing was playing games with the press.” The Americans fought amongst themselves, trying to play up their internal strife. “We just put our sticks up and kind of bumped around. They (the Japanese) didn’t know what was going on. Riley thought he was going to fool the press, but it didn’t work out.”

“Twenty years before the “Miracle on Ice,” nine Minnesota hockey players found similar glory, and an inextricable tie to the sport. The saga of Minnesotans on the 1960 U.S. Olympic hockey team reads like the 35-cent novels so popular in that era…..”

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Feb. 13, 1960 – Squaw Valley, CA – Coach Jack Riley predicts the American hockey team will go undefeated in 1960. In a meeting to determine the schedule of the games, each coach is asked for input on the schedule. None of the teams want to play the two favorites, the Canadians and the Soviets, back-to-back. But, when asked for his opinion, Riley stated that he didn’t care who they played, “we’re gonna go undefeated anyway.” It was more a bit of bluster than a real prediction. Riley would later admit that even he didn’t believe what he said. It wouldn’t be the last time Riley played head games with his opponents and the press.

Feb. 9, 1960 – Los Angeles, CA – The Americans beat the Czechs 4-3 in Los Angeles in front of a packed house at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Larry Palmer was in goal for the game. Palmer and McCartan had been alternating starts, but Riley decided that Palmer would start again the following night. He explained the decision to McCartan, “Jack, you’re my starting goalie in Squaw Valley, but I’m not playing you tomorrow night against the Czechs. If they beat you, that would give them an edge when we play in the Olympics.”

Feb. 5, 1960 – Colorado Springs, CO – The US Olympic hockey team loses 7-5 to Denver University. Bill and Bob Cleary join the team and Larry Alm, Bob DuPuis and Herb Brooks are cut from the team to make room. Some of the US players threaten to leave the team in protest to the last minute cuts. Coach Riley tells general manager Jim Claypool to “find our where they want to go, get them their plane tickets and get them out of here.” Claypool and captain Jack Kirrane convince the disgruntled players to stay or they’ll “never play for another US amateur team for the rest of their days.” The players agree to stay.

Imagine setting out to document in film a historic sports achievement which by virtue of its time period offers only minimal archival footage. A great, great story to be told without much in the way of camera-eye evidence. Such was the dilemma-challenge confronted by Andrew Sherburne and Tommy Haines, makers of the celebrated 2007 documentary ‘Pond Hockey,’ with their aim of chronicling the American hockey team’s gold medal performance at the 1960 Winter Olympics in ‘Forgotten Miracle .

And yet in the skilled filmmaking hands of these special hockey hearts what is ostensibly a project-damning weakness is instead turned into an asset: ‘Forgotten Miracle’ is rife with moving imagery alright, it’s just that we’re moved in this movie not so much by big-game footage or delirious, patriotic fan celebrations but rather the misty-eyed reflections of the now aged American sports heroes who carried off America’s first true Miracle on Ice.

This film’s aim is straightforward and noble — to correct the shortsighted presumption all too commonly held that the history of American hockey began in 1980 at Lake Placid. Most assuredly it did not….

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