Mike Eruzione

We know he had a great year, but we're going in a different direction.

Wow.

So here I am in limbo.

What am I going to do?

So I go back to Toledo to stay an amateur, hoping to get invited to try out for the 80 Olympic team.

So I go back to Toledo.

They gave me $8,000 and a van, because I didn't have a vehicle when I played there.

So I had a van and I got $4,000 raise, but I still got paid every two weeks.

I could get traded tomorrow.

No NHL contract, which kept me as an amateur, which gave me the opportunity, if I did get, to try out for the 80 Olympic team.

So I go back to Toledo.

That summer I got a call from Herb Brooks inviting me to try out for the 80 Olympic team.

So I go to the eight tryouts, I make the team and here I am today.

If John Ferguson never got fired, I would have signed with the New York Rangers and I would have been considered a pro and not given an opportunity to play on the 80 Olympic team.

So there are two moments in my life about opportunity.

One, in high school, and second, when the Rangers decided to let me go and do what I wanted to do, and the best decision that ever happened.

And then the Olympic Games, and then we win, and then a couple of NHL teams wanted to sign me into pro contracts,

I decided it was time to move on and do something else in my life and I was going to coach and teach and then found out that this moment, this event was bigger than we could have imagined.

And I remember I was talking to my phys ed school administrator in my high school asking if there might be a phys ed job open next year because I want to teach.

And then I was thinking about maybe coaching at Boston University because they might be looking for an assistant coach.