How accurate is the movie Miracle?

One of the great universal truths is that dads love sports movies. Another is that they love Kurt Russell. So when it comes to the 2004 film “Miracle,” which chronicles the “Miracle on Ice” hockey game at the 1980 Winter Olympics, in which the underdog U.S. team defeated the much more experienced Soviet team, there is hardly a better “dad movie.” Russell plays University of Minnesota head coach Herb Brooks, who went on to become the head coach of the U.S. Olympic team. He’s a titan of hockey history, but also of sports history, and “Miracle” is a two-hour testament to his greatest moments. But how true is that, really?

The movie Miracle on Ice was already spectacular enough and tailor-made for dramatization, with the team falling behind in the second period and coming back in the third to tie and then win the game, but the filmmakers behind “Miracle” had to make some changes for storytelling reasons. Every movie “based on a true story” must of course contain elements of fiction, but with a story as incredible as what happens in “Miracle,” one would hope there wouldn’t be any. Also a lot of interference. Let’s take a look!

The main idea of ​​”Miracle” is quite accurate, following the disjointed American team comprised mostly of college players and their charismatic coach as they faced off against the four-time gold medal-winning Soviet team. 1980 was still at the height of the Cold War, when the US and USSR were locked in bitter hatred, so an American victory on American soil was a very significant event. The US won gold in the final match against Finland, with the USSR taking silver, but the match between the two has become legendary. There are a few changes for dramatic purposes, mainly moving the dates of college games and seasons to create a more coherent backstory for the rivalries between some of the American players, but it’s all pretty minor. Additionally, while “Miracle” is ostensibly about the miracle match, it’s honestly more focused on Brooks and his impact on the team and their surprising rise to victory. So how close is Russell to the Hockey Hall of Fame coach and two-time Olympic medalist?

Russell’s ability to play Brooks was confirmed by both players on the original hockey team and the “Miracle” production team, who said he not only embodied the coach onscreen, but also took it upon himself to coach the young actors playing the hockey players in acting. He nailed Brooks’ Minnesota accent and “Minnesota kindness,” imbuing the character with a very specific kind of kindness that only Midwesterners know. Kurt Russell is a phenomenal actor who always gives 110 percent, whether he’s playing fictional characters or real people, even if his biggest moment in “Miracle” is a bit of a Hollywood fiction.

In the film, Brooks, played by Russell, gets to deliver a fantastic line when he tells his team in the locker room, “Great moments come from great opportunities.” He delivers an incredible speech, but according to Jack O’Callahan, who played on the 1980 U.S. national hockey team, the speech was a mix of fact and fiction. Speaking to WBUR, O’Callahan explained how the scene was created after consulting with director Gavin O’Connor:

“So I wrote the speech that they used in the movie. It wasn’t word for word. There were things that were probably what he said and things that I just added based on my memory. But when the guys all saw the movie, I asked a couple of them, ‘Is that kind of what he said before the game?’ They said, ‘Yeah, pretty much.’”

For obvious reasons, there was no one to record the locker room conversation, so the big moment in “Miracle” is as close to reality as possible. The real Brooks was also a consultant on the film and helped ensure accuracy as much as he could, even though he sadly passed away in a car accident six months before the film was released. While small details were changed in “Miracle,” the most important parts are as true as can be, and that’s a big part of what makes “Miracle” one of the best hockey movies of all time.