New Netflix 'Miracle on Ice' doc includes Mark Johnson, Eric Heiden
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A new documentary on the famed "Miracle on Ice" moment of 1980 landed on Netflix on Friday, Jan. 30, a renewed telling of the iconic Team USA hockey upset over the USSR.
The documentary "Miracle: The Boys of '80" featured input from a pair of Wisconsin winter-sports heroes: Mark Johnson and Eric Heiden, both stars of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
Johnson, a University of Wisconsin star who scored two goals against USSR in the medal-round miracle, gave his team a massive lift in literally the final second of the first period, taking a deflection off Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak and cashing it in to tie the game, 2-2.
"Their two defensemen just paused a second, [which] gives me enough time to get through," said Johnson, now the head coach of the powerhouse Wisconsin women's hockey team. "My only fear was there wasn't enough time left, so as I turned and put my head up and looked at the clock … was there enough time and were they going to count the goal?"
USSR coach Viktor Tikhonov infamously pulled Tretiak – widely considered the best goaltender in the world – before the second period. Johnson later scored a tying goal in the third period on Tretiak's backup, moments before Mike Eruzione's legendary go-ahead strike that gave the Americans a 4-3 lead that they would not relinquish.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of the documentary is the amount of time dedicated to the game that followed, a must-win over Finland that solidified the gold medal. It's a contest that often gets glossed over in the annals of time. Johnson scored a third-period goal that gave his team a 4-2 lead after they'd been down heading into the final period.
"It's like, how much do you have in your tank?" Johnson said, referring to the game played after the USSR win. "At some point, you get to empty. And when you get to empty, then what?"
But after his goal, Johnson remembered thinking, "OK, this thing's gonna happen. We got this one. This is ours."
An earlier sequence also detailed the team's stunning 7-3 blowout win over Czechoslovakia, a game that ended with Johnson taking a vicious hit and coach Herb Brooks threatening the Czech player who administered it. The players joked that Brooks only reacted that way because it was Johnson laid out on the ice.
"That's why we call him 'Magic,'" a player's voiceover noted later in the documentary, referring to Johnson. "He was our Magic Johnson. By far our best player."
Among the guests on the documentary: Speedskating legend Heiden, who won an unprecedented five gold medals at the same Olympics. Heiden, from Madison, famously woke up late for the morning of his final race because he had attended Miracle on Ice the night before (though he won another gold, anyway). He told the documentary makers that he attended several hockey games at that Olympics, often played on the nights when he wasn't racing.
The documentary shows the outdoor oval where Heiden competed, literally located in front of a high school, as an illustration of Lake Placid's quaint nature despite its role as host of something so massive.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Netflix doc 'Miracle: The Boys of '80' has Mark Johnson, Eric Heiden
