Herb Brooks

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Herb Brooks bigraphy, stories - American ice hockey player and coach

Herb Brooks : biography

August 5, 1937 – August 11, 2003

Herbert Paul Brooks, Jr. (August 5, 1937 – August 11, 2003) was an American ice hockey player and coach.

His most notable achievement came in 1980 as head coach of the gold medal-winning U.S.Olympic hockey team at Lake Placid. At the games, Brooks’ US team upset the heavily favored Soviet team in a match that came to be known as the ‘Miracle on Ice’. Brooks would go on to coach multiple NHL teams, as well as the French hockey team at the 1998 Winter Olympics, and ultimately returned to coach the US men’s team to a silver medal at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City. Brooks was killed in a 2003 car accident. At the time of his death, Brooks was the Pittsburgh Penguins’ director of player personnel and head scout.

Brooksisms

Brooks’ original expressions were known by his players as "Brooksisms." According to Olympians John Harrington, Dave Silk, and Mike Eruzione, these are a few.America’s Coach, Ross Bernstein 77

  • "You’re playing worse and worse every day and right now you’re playing like it’s next month."
  • "You can’t be common, the common man goes nowhere; you have to be uncommon."
  • "Boys, I’m asking you to go to the well again."
  • "You look like you have a five pound fart on your head."
  • "You guys are getting bent over and they’re not using Vaseline."
  • "You look like a monkey tryin’ to hump a football!"
  • "You’re looking for players whose name on the front of the sweater is more important than the one on the back. I look for these players to play hard, to play smart, and to represent their country.”
  • "Great moments are born from great opportunities."
  • "You know, Willie Wonka said it best: we are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
  • "This team isn’t talented enough to win on talent alone."
  • "If you lose this game you’ll take it to your grave … your fucking grave."
  • "You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours."Coffey, p. 45
  • "Write your own book instead of reading someone else’s book about success."
  • "Boys, in the front of the net it’s a bloody nose alley."
  • "Don’t dump the puck in. That went out with short pants."
  • "Throw the puck back and weave, weave, weave. But don’t just weave for the sake of weaving."
  • "Let’s be idealistic, but let’s also be practical."
  • "You guys don’t want to work during the game?"
  • "The legs feed the wolf."

Coaching statistics

NHL

Note: GC = Games coached, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OL = Overtime loss, Pts = Points, Pct = Winning percentage

Season Team League GC W L T OL Pts Standings Pct
1981–82 New York Rangers NHL 80 39 27 14 — 92 2nd in Patrick 0.575 (Lost Second Round)
1982–83 New York Rangers NHL 80 35 35 10 — 80 4th in Patrick 0.500 (Lost Second Round)
1983–84 New York Rangers NHL 80 42 29 9 — 93 4th in Patrick 0.581 (Lost First Round)
1984–85 New York Rangers NHL 45 15 22 8 — 38 5th in Patrick 0.422 (fired)
1987–88 Minnesota North Stars NHL 80 19 48 13 — 51 5th in Norris 0.319 (missed playoffs)
1992–93 New Jersey Devils NHL 84 40 37 7 — 87 4th in Patrick 0.518 (Lost First Round)
1999–2000 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 58 29 24 5 0 63 3rd in Atlantic 0.543 (Lost Second Round)
NHL career totals 507 219 222 66 0 504 0.497