U.S. team proof of hockey’s growth

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — The “Miracle On Ice” was a Minnesota production.

If the U.S. pulls off another Olympic miracle, it would be a nationwide effort.

When the 1980 U.S. hockey team made up of college kids shocked the favored Soviet Union on the way to winning the gold medal, 13 players came from Minnesota, four from Massachusetts, two from Michigan and one from Wisconsin. The 2018 team couldn’t be constructed more differently with players from 12 different states and leagues all over the world, though it has the same underdog approach from careers of being discounted and passed over.

“We’re trying to prove some doubters wrong,” goaltender Ryan Zapolski said. “We’ve all had pretty successful pro careers, I think, but we still have doubters, for sure. And I think that’s a motivation for us. We’ve been overlooked pretty much our whole careers, much of us, so just in the back of our minds we still think of those times where people didn’t give us the right chances and have this opportunity now to kind of take advantage of that.”

Again, a team of Russians is the favorite even if it’s under a neutral flag, and again the U.S. is trying to end a lengthy goldmedal drought, which dates back to 1980. The Americans will try to do it with players from Massachusetts, New York, Michigan and Minnesota and some lesscommon hockey hotbeds: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Colorado, California, Connecticut, Virginia, Florida and Arizona.

Three players come from Philadelphia suburbs alone.

“To have three kids from Philadelphia, you would never have seen on that 1980 team,” said Brian O’Neill, a native of Yardley, Pa. “I think it just shows you how far hockey has come in the U.S. where you have a California representative, you have a Pennsylvania representative, Florida — you name it. I think that’s just a testament to how good hockey’s gotten in the U.S.”