Sports Motivational Speaker Mike Eruzione is an Olympic ice hockey player for the United States. He was the captain of the U.S. national team that defeated the Soviet Union in perhaps the greatest hockey game in history at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York.
The “miracle on ice” game stands as one of the United States’ greatest Olympic triumphs and Mike is responsible for scoring the game winning goal in the 3rd period. The highlight was voted as the greatest highlight of all time by ESPN viewers in 2008 and after defeating the Soviet Union the U.S. team would go on to defeat Finland in the title game to win the gold medal. The team has had several movies made about their incredible display of teamwork and determination most recently by Disney in 2004.
Since his miraculous Olympic run in 1980, Sports Speaker Mike has returned to his beloved Boston University where he played 4 years of college hockey from 1973-1977 and longtime coach Jack Parker dubbed him “Pete Rose on skates.” After his triumphant 1980 Olympic campaign, Mike had several offers from NHL teams including the New York Rangers but turned them down as he felt he had reached the peak of his career. He wouldn’t stay out of the game long however, and eventually became a color commentator for the New Jersey Devils and Rangers for Fox and USA Network coverage of NHL hockey.
He would regain the spirit of the Olympics as a broadcaster covering 5 Olympic Games for ABC and CBS. He returned to BU as an assistant coach for 3 seasons before taking the Director of Special Outreach position he still holds today. Aside from his work at the university he has been present at various charity and fundraising events, and even giving a short speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention. Mike also does motivational speaking while coaching his son’s hockey team and mentoring youth.