1980 hockey captain: 'Hardest secret I've ever had to keep'

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Saturday, February 9, 2002

SALT LAKE CITY -- Twenty-two years after they produced the "Miracle on Ice," members of the 1980 U.S. gold medal-winning hockey team proved they could handle a flame, too.

The team of college kids who came together to break the Soviet Union's monopoly on Olympic hockey were reunited Friday night -- this time as family men instead of world-class athletes -- to be the final torchbearers for the Winter Games.

Captain Mike Eruzione, who scored the winning goal against the Soviets, accepted the torch from skier Picabo Street and current U.S women's hockey captain Cammi Granato at the base of the cauldron. And then, just as he did on the medal stand at the Lake Placid Games, Eruzione motioned to his teammates to join him.

Together, they touched the torch to the base of the 117-foot-tall cauldron.

"I think this is probably the final journey. It's hard to imagine yourself being an Olympic athlete and winning a gold medal, then 22 years go by and you carry the torch and light the Olympic flame," Eruzione said.

"It was the hardest secret I've ever had to keep."

The identity of the final torchbearer is always the best-kept secret of the Olympic Games. In the past, the role has been performed by royalty and children, Muhammad Ali and an anonymous archer.

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