I'll always believe in miracles...



Legendary Hockey Coach Dies in Car Crash

"MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ While his team rushed onto the rink and America began

to celebrate, Herb Brooks simply headed to the locker room. Even later, the

magnitude of the ``Miracle on Ice'' seemed to escape him. ``In the early

years, he thought it was just part of his job _ being a coach,'' recalled

announcer Al Michaels. Brooks, a master motivator who spent a lifetime

getting the most out of his hockey teams, died Monday in a car wreck at age

66."



I can still feel that grey shag rug in my old living room. I lived in Bensonhurst, but Lake Placid was New York, too. A cold, blustery Friday night. I sat alone, cradling my figure skates in my arms, glued to a tv set. Hockey guys were always stealing my ice time and scaring me as they whipped around Abe Stark. I was 7 going on 8. Mom was upstairs asleep, Dad was out with his friends. I never followed hockey before that team. The tension built. Was this why people liked this game so much? Finally I understood. I watched it on a black and white tv, but I knew the Russians had to be wearing red. I couldn't believe the shock on their faces as these guys, college kids I later learned, pumped their fists in the air and screamed. They had beaten the enemy, an evil superpower. One more game and the gold medal was theirs. One more game, and they won. I returned to my rink with a new found awe. I wanted to skate that fast, too, and feel the wind in my face. To this day, I prefer high school and college teams dropping the puck, not the pros. Mr. Brooks did that for me.



"In a recent interview at his White Bear Lake home, Brooks described to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about watching one of his favorite movies, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.



"You know, Willy Wonka said it best: We are the makers of dreams, the dreamers of dreams," Brooks said. "We should be dreaming. We grew up as kids having dreams, but now we're too sophisticated as adults, as a nation. We stopped dreaming. We should always have dreams.



"I'm a dreamer."



Well, he's in good company now. Maybe he can teach Mr. Hines how to skate...