Bridgeport celebrates its first-ever national title. (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Editor's note: This story first appeared in our Winter 2019 magazine as part of our NCAA championship coverage.
Before the U.S. hockey team played the Soviet Union in a medal-round game at the 1980 Winter Olympics, Herb Brooks famously gave his “Miracle” speech.
Brooks told Team USA, a group of college players, that the Soviets might win nine times out of 10, but not that night in Lake Placid, N.Y. Unfettered by the challenge before them, the Americans won, 4-3, dethroning what was widely considered the greatest hockey team in the world.
Now, there’s no common ground between the “Miracle on Ice” and the University of Bridgeport, but women’s head coach Magnus Nilerud sure channelled Brooks’ sentiment.
