1979 National Sports Festival - Colorado Springs
Some 40+ years ago, the Miracle on Ice was still a vision in Herb Brooks’ imagination. His youthful American squad had a tie and a win to its credit, with a game against Norway looming. The Soviets were still a week away. Everyone knows what happened next, and thanks to films like Miracle, even the events leading up to the greatest upset in sports history became mythologized. One such event was the 1979 National Sports Festival held in Colorado Springs. The hockey portion was conducted at the original Broadmoor World Arena. Convened in late July as an initial tryout for the 1980 Winter Olympics, it became a seminal moment in the American march to improbable Lake Placid gold.
Esteemed sportswriter John Gilbert was in Colorado Springs to cover the event. His 2010 book, Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind, includes the definitive retrospective chapter and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning the real story of how Team USA began taking form.
In Gilbert’s book, you’ll discover the context for a post-festival stats summary included below. And there’s some fascinating stuff, like why Dave Delich’s six points weren’t enough and why Jim Craig’s 12.41 goals-against average wasn’t too much.
Source in part: Jayson Hron - Historically Inclined Blog
| P | Leading Scorers | Festival Team | NCAA Team | GP | G | A | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | Phil Verchota | Midwest | Univ. of Minnesota | 4 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| F | Neal Broten | Midwest | Univ. of Minnesota | 4 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| F | Dave Christian | Central | Univ. of North Dakota | 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| F | Mike Eruzione | Great Lakes | Boston University | 4 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| D | Ken Morrow | Great Lakes | Bowling Green Univ. | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| F | Dave Delich | Great Lakes | Colorado College | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| F | John Harrington | Midwest | Univ. of Minnesota Duluth | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| F | Bobby Crawford | New England | N/A | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| F | Henry Taylor | Central | N/A | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| F | Mark Wells | Great Lakes | Bowling Green Univ. | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| F | Mark Pavelich | Midwest | Univ. of Minnesota Duluth | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| D | Greg Woods | Central | Univ. of Denver | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| D | Jack O'Callahan | New England | Boston University | 4 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| F | Frank Roy | New England | Univ. of New Hampshire | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| F | Scott Lecy | Central | Univ. of Wisconsin | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| F | Jim Armstrong | Central | Clarkson University | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| F | Bill Army | Great Lakes | Boston College | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| F | Mark Fidler | New England | Boston University | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| F | Tom Mullen | Central | American International | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| D | Les Auge | Midwest | Univ. of Minnesota | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| F | George Hughes | New England | Harvard University | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| D | Bill Whelton | New England | Boston University | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| F | David Silk | New England | Boston University | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| F | Rob McClanahan | Midwest | Univ. of Minnesota | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| D | Mike Ramsey | Midwest | Univ. of Minnesota | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| F | John Slonim | Central | Brown University | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| F | Paul Castraberti | New England | Yale University | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| F | Dan Lerg | Great Lakes | Univ. of Michigan | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| F | Brian Walsh | New England | Notre Dame | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| D | Dave Feamster | Great Lakes | Colorado College | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| D | Bob Grant | Central | Dartmouth University | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| F | Paul Miller | Great Lakes | Boston University | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| P | Festival Leading Goalie | Festival Team | NCAA Team | Minutes | GA | SVS | SV% | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | Bruce Horsch | Great Lakes | Michigan Teach | 120 | 4 | 45 | 0.910 | 2.00 |
| G | Steve Janaszak | Midwest | Univ. of Minnesota | 121 | 8 | 65 | 0.890 | 3.96 |
| G | John Rockwell | Great Lakes | Michigan Tech | 121 | 8 | 75 | 0.900 | 3.98 |
| G | Mike Dibble | Central | Univ. of Wisconsin | 220 | 20 | 105 | 0.840 | 5.45 |
| G | Blane Comstock | Midwest | Bemidji State | 119 | 11 | 57 | 0.840 | 5.54 |
| G | Mark Holden | New England | Brown University | 121 | 12 | 53 | 0.790 | 5.97 |
| G | Jay Palladino | New England | Salem State Univ. | 91 | 10 | 55 | 0.840 | 6.62 |
| G | Peter Waselovich | Central | Univ. of North Dakota | 20 | 3 | 5 | 0.630 | 9.00 |
| G | Jim Craig | New England | Boston University | 29 | 6 | 16 | 0.730 | 12.41 |
