Mark Johnson, the current Badger women's hockey coach, was a member of the Olympic team immortalized by the recent movie \Miracle."" He recently spoke with The Daily Cardinal about the film.
The Daily Cardinal: What did you think of the movie?
Mark Johnson: It was good. The first time I watched it out in Hollywood, you sit there and critique, you don't watch. When I came back to town I took my [family] and watched it as a movie and I really enjoyed it. It certainly was much better the second time than the first.
: What did you think of the actor who portrayed you [Eric Peter-Kaiser]?
: He did a nice job. He's certainly better looking than I was. When I interacted with all the guys that played different players, they were very excited not only to get the job, but also to portray this team and get to film it. There was a lot of excitement in their voices.
: Many players from the team were from different areas of the country, and this is emphasized in the movie. Was this a problem?
: It started out as a definite real thing because we had so many rivals. You had kids from Minnesota and Wisconsin-at that time, I don't think there was a bigger rivalry in college hockey. Then you've got Coach Herb Brooks from Minnesota and the best player from Wisconsin and rivalry between Coach Brooks and my dad [UW hockey coach Bob Johnson].
: There's a great scene in the movie where Coach Brooks has the team do sprints on the ice in the dark after a lackluster performance during the exhibition season. What really happened there?
: That one is portrayed pretty accurately, except at the end. That's not the way it ended [with a player saying he plays for the USA for the first time, leading the coach to end the brutal skating session]. Obviously we were exhausted. The movie didn't say we had to play the next night, but we beat the same team 9-1.
: What did you think of Kurt Russell as Coach Herb Brooks?
: He was good. I know Herb spent some time with Kurt and Kurt studied tape of Herb's mannerisms. He did a great job of what Herb was like. In some scenarios, Herb was even worse than Kurt Russell displayed.
: There's a scene in which a player suffers a deep thigh bruise, and the coach calls him a ""candy ass"" for not being able to play. What really happened there?
: In real life, he called him names a lot worse than that. I would say that scene is probably a lot worse in real life than what was on the screen. [The player] was hobbling out of the locker room trying to chase Herb down the hallway, and Herb never turned around. Throughout the season, he had different ways to motivate either individuals or the team. The biggest credit to him is he knew when to push the right buttons.
: What do you remember about the Russian team?
: I remember them real well, with my dad coaching here and numerous world championship teams in the '70s. Of all the players on the USA team, I probably knew them the best. I'd played against them the previous year in the world championships in Moscow. I'd seen them play as early as '75 with my dad coaching the world championship team in Germany.
: Were you scared of the Russians?
: If you weren't fearful of them, something was wrong. That group of players had won numerous world championships and previous Olympic gold medals, and they made the statement of beating the NHL All-Stars 6-0 [before the Olympics].
: Was there anything from the movie you didn't like, or you thought was inaccurately portrayed?
: Obviously some little things like guys shooting the wrong way, but when people watch it's irrelevant. Some scenes were twisted a little bit to make for a different viewing, but as you watched for the second time, it does a good job of [capturing] what was going on in the early '80s and what a group of kids willing to sacrifice and work hard could do.
