Dallas Morning News
02/22/2002

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – Slava Fetisov wasn't backing off an inch. When asked how he felt about the 1980 loss by the Soviet Union to the United States in the "Miracle on Ice" game, Fetisov played along.

"That's how I became famous here," he said. "I love it."
The greatest defenseman in the history of the USSR will take the spotlight Friday at 5:15 p.m. when he stands behind the Russian bench as coach against his old rival from the United States, Herb Brooks, in an Olympic men's hockey tournament semifinal.

It will be USA vs. Russia all over again, 22 years to the day that a bunch of unheralded college kids pulled the biggest upset in the history of the Olympics and went on to win the 1980 gold medal.

Those who read numbers have to be delirious. Team USA has a 20-0-3 unbeaten streak on U.S. soil during Olympic competition that dates to 1932. The United States on Wednesday defeated Germany 22 years to the day after it defeated West Germany in the 1980 Olympic quarterfinals.

"This is strange how it's playing out," Team USA forward Jeremy Roenick said. "Just like 1980."

Except it's nothing like 1980, and Fetisov might be the best judge of that. In 1980, Fetisov was a soldier in the Soviet Army; it was the only way he could be an elite athlete. His life was controlled by the government, his game was controlled by the government. Still, many have memories of the great hockey machine.

When asked if there was a great hockey victory in Russia that's celebrated the way Americans celebrate the Miracle on Ice, defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said: "We don't have one win, we have a lot of wins. That's why Russian people are so spoiled, because they are used to seeing team No. 1 all the time."

Fetisov also has that pride. He won more than 80 medals in international play, including three Olympic golds. His 1984 team might have been the greatest in Olympic history, outscoring the competition 48-5 in seven games. But in driving the Soviet Union to heights of hockey greatness, Fetisov continually fought the Soviet system, trying to earn freedom to leave the country to play in the NHL.

In 1989, he finally won that freedom and paved the path for the players behind him.

"He is why we work so hard, to make him proud," Kasparaitis said. "That's why we are in semifinal, because we believe in Slava."

Fetisov has helped take the players from slavery to millionaire freedom. He believes a great deal in the way Americans do things, but he also is proud of his Russian heritage. It is a complicated mix, until you understand that at the heart of everything he does, hockey is the unifying force.

"We are going to sell this game with hockey," he said in anticipation of the USA-Russia semifinal, "not with politics."

Many of the Team USA players were 7 or 8 in 1980. They might have seen the game on tape, but it really didn't have that big of an impact on them.

"It's a nice story," Team USA forward Scott Young said. "But we've got to concentrate on playing this game."

And yet we will relive 1980, because it is so important in our past. And in Russia, just about every television will be tuned to the game, because it so important to their present. A trip to the gold medal game is at stake. Two teams driven by fantastic athletes will play a game between friends, between now friendly countries.

"When I came here in 1989, in cold war, they called us Commies. But now we are friends," Fetisov said. "Communication, that's what we need, communication. We are all just people."

People who can put together one heck of a hockey game.

"That's how we should sell it," Fetsiov recommended.

That's how it will be sold.