Miracle Movie Analysis

Billy Held Sports Lit
Miracle Essay 3/21/13 In the movie Miracle, one of the main characters Jim Craig faced many struggles on and off the ice. As a hockey goalie, Craig had a very important role. All his life, he played as goalie, and as he got older, he began to play for a different variety of teams eventually working his way up to play in the U.S.A. Winter Olympics in 1980. Throughout his hockey career, he faced the loss of his mother, who was very important to him because she encouraged him to forgo his hockey
career. In the year of 1977, Craig’s mother, Margaret, passed away and his life was changed forever. His mother was a hockey nut and loved the game. She involved herself so much that she would even sharpen the hockey skates of the kids that were on her son’s team. However, Craig’s mother motivated him all his life to play hockey and after the passing of her, Craig decided to try out for the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid because that is what his mother wanted him to do. After trying out, Craig made the team and would play as goalie in the 1980 Winter Olympics. After the passing of his mother Craig’s performance was not the same as it used to be.
His family life was a big part of why he was not playing as good as he could. After the passing of his mother Craig’s father was not the same, he was not around as much. Craig was still just as good of a hockey goalie as he used to be, but never showed it on the ice. At the tryouts to play in the Winter Olympics, the coach, Herb Brooks, closely watched Craig. Brooks seen Craig’s performance during tryouts and knew it was not his best. However, Brooks previously watched film on Craig and knew what his capabilities were. For that reasoning, Craig deserved and earned the starting goaltender spot on the1980 USA Olympic team. After many games, Craig’s performance was finally improved. As Brooks formed his team for the USA Olympics, he put the team to many tests to see what players would be physically and mentally strong enough to play in the USA Olympics. Such as a 300 question psychological test that proved a players mental capabilities. He refused to take his tests because he did not understand how taking a psychological test would prove his ability to stop a puck during the game. After Craig proved his point, Herb Brooks knew Craig would be the starting goaltender for the USA Winter Olympic
team. As the starting goaltender in the USA Winter Olympics, Craig’s performance was phenomenal. If it weren’t for Craig’s outstanding performance, the USA team would have had a tougher time with the comebacks they needed to make to win the games. The underdog in the majority of games in the USA Winter Olympics was the United States; they were always coming from behind to win the games. This was a struggle for Craig. As the starting goalie for the team Jim Craig by far had the most stress. If the starting goalie did not have a good game how would he help leads his team to victory. In the movie Miracle, one of the main characters Jim Craig faced many struggles on and off the ice. As a hockey goalie, Craig had the most important role on the team. He nearly had to be flawless in every game to give his team the best chance of winning. And, he did. Craig gave his best performance and led his team to victory many times and eventually winning the gold medal.