Miracle depicts the true story of the 1980 United States Men’s Hockey team and their journey as they prepare to compete in the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. In six months the team goes from being a bunch of rival college students to an Olympic hockey team. Players were told they will compete to be on …show more content…
For that reason many of his former players are coming back to Messina for the funeral. Rake is one of the most victorious coaches in high school football history and is both feared and loved by his players. The funeral allows many to experience closure as they get a long-delayed grip on their feelings for the man that took them through hell in order to win football games. The town policeman’s certain thing was a brutal experience in Vietnam, which he survived only because of Eddie rake: "When I was hangin' on for my life, under that boat, I didn't think about my momma or my dad or my girlfriend, I thought about Rake. I could hear him barkin' at us at the end of practice when we were runnin' sprints. I remembered his locker-room speeches. Never quit, never quit. You win because you're tougher mentally than the other guy, and you're tougher mentally because your trainin' is superior. If you're winnin', never quit. If you're losin', never quit. If you're hurt, never quit." ( ). Another former player gives credit to coach Rake for giving him the courage to face the obstacles of being openly gay. There was one player who had the strongest, most conflicting relationship with the coach, Neely Crenshaw. Neely was the star football player at Messina had to speak at the coach’s funeral and it was hard for him because of his love-hate relationship with him. In the book, Neely has to forgive coach Rake and himself before he can get on with his life and live happy. The Messina Football team players did not have a true connection with their coach until years after high