"Monster Miracle"

As legendary sportscaster Al Michaels said in his lead-in to 1980's epic Olympic hockey clash between USA and USSR, it was an event which simply defied description.

Michaels might as well have been describing my Monday evening on January 4th, 2010.



Thanks to the great people at Dunkin Donuts, I was granted the extraordinary privilege of living out SEVERAL unthinkable dreams simultaneously. First, I stepped foot inside the foul line at Fenway Park (and what you've heard from players and media alike is absolutely true: it really does feel like the stands are "right on top of you" when you're in the center of the diamond). Next, I skated alongside '80 US Gold Medalists Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig at Fenway Park's "Miracle on Ice" event.

On this evening, both Eruzione and Craig could not have been more classy, gracious ambassadors for the game of hockey, the Olympic spirit or Dunkin Donuts. Both legends participated in a Q&A after the skate, passionately advocating for amateur sports while offering their take on the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. The former teammates now devote their lives to speaking and empowering each and every one of us to believe that WE TOO can "slay the dragon". Craig offered a simple message: we all learn MUCH more from defeat than victory.



For an exceptionally deep examination of the social and political context around the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team, watch HBO's documentary "Do You Believe in Miracles?" before this February's 30th anniversary.

Last, a special thank you to @btripp715 for fulfilling my very own impossible dream! "Dream On, Dream On, Dream until your Dreams Come True!" - Aerosmith

37 & 87: Together Again in 2010

They dominated as linemates at the 2005 World Juniors in Grand Forks.

They dominated as linemates at the 2006 World Championships in Riga.

And now in 2010 Winter Olympics Hockey, Patrice Bergeron and Sidney Crosby re-unite to chase Gold for Canada. Sidney is an other worldly talent; he's in a class all by himself. Yet the host nation's roster is deep with other worldclass natural pivotmen: Thornton, E. Staal, M. Richards, and Toews. And the world is now learning what we in Boston have known all along...

Patrice Bergeron BELONGS in that select group.

Throw out any cliche you want. Boston's young center plays 'both ends of the ice', '60 minutes', 'all three zones', 'goes all out' all the time. All of the above. Over the course of Vancouver's Winter Games, hockey fans across the world will come to recognize that #37 belongs in the conversation with contemporaries Jordan Staal and Pavel Datsyuk for the superlative "best all-around center in the game". With any luck, the NHL will honor Bergeron's efforts with a deserved Selke Trophy award nomination, justly putting him in a class of such legendary 2-way greats as Ron Francis, Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau, and Bobby Clarke.

Raising Tuukka

Before his days in between Boston's pipes, Tuukka Rask was cultivated slowly by B's brass in hockey's lower ranks. After he was acquired in a 2006 head-scratching straight up swap with Toronto for Andrew Raycroft (!!), the young backstop made the jump to North American pro hockey in '07 after competing in the Finnish Elite League since age 16. Along the way, Rask competed for Finland in three consecutive World Junior Championships, defeating a very unhappy Phil Kessel for the '06 Bronze:

For more on the B's practice of patience regarding Tuukka's development, check out Globalpuck.com.