'Miracle: The Boys of '80': USA Olympic goalie Jim Craig talks Netflix doc, legacy of 'Miracle on Ice'

"What do I say? I have this great opportunity … " 

Jim Craig asked himself that in the elevator, of all places. Craig was in the haste of trying to squeeze in a morning workout before an afternoon speaking engagement. He saw a man in the elevator wearing the vintage white hockey jersey that always stands out in a crowd. 

Blue "USA" with red trim on the front. Blue-and-white nameplate and No. 30 on the back. Craig, 69, can barely tell the story without suppressing a contagious laugh, but that Boston accent finally takes over. 

"So I tap on the guy on the shoulder and say, 'You know you're wearing my jersey,'" Craig told AllSportsPeople. "He looked and smiled. He was so thrilled. He didn't know what to do. Then, I got off the elevator and it was on to the workout. It was so surreal."

Craig – the goalie for the 1980 United States Olympic Hockey Team – knows first-hand that  "great moments are born from great opportunity."

He had 36 saves in the 4-3 upset against the Soviet Union on Feb. 22, 1980 in "The Miracle On Ice." The United States beat Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal two days later. Those accomplishments will be celebrated in the Netflix documentary "Miracle: The Boys of '80" which is available for streaming Friday. That encounter on the elevator is a reminder the memories from that moment have not faded.

The documentary explores the political backdrop behind the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union ahead of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. – which escalated after the start of the Soviet-Afghan War in 1979.  Yet the doc focuses more on the "Miracle On Ice" itself – when a group of blue-collar players guided by coach Herb Brooks pulled off arguably one of the greatest upsets of all time. Craig, Mark Johnson, Mike Eruzione, Jack O'Callahan and Ken Morrow are among the team members featured prominently in the documentary, which also includes insights from broadcaster Al Michaels and political commentator George F. Will. 

How does Craig make sense of what remains reality all these years later? 

"I always said the Olympics isn't about politics," Craig said. "People who try to make it about politics lose sight of what it's about. It's about the one time every four years – it's about stopping (discussions) about politics, looking at the greatest athletes compete at the highest levels and enjoying it, learning from it and appreciating the talents. That's what we did with the Russian hockey players."

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Courtesy of Netflix

Jim Craig talks 'Miracle: The Boys of '80' 

"Miracle: The Boys of '80" features in-depth interviews with players from the 1980 United States Olympic Hockey Team. Several of those players return to Herb Brooks Arena. 

Nine of the 20 players on the roster played at the University of Minnesota under Brooks. Craig was one of four Boston University players along with Eruzione, O'Callahan and Dave Silk. Much like the movie "Miracle" – which was released in 2004 – the documentary explores how Brooks' demanding coaching style shaped the team along with assistant coach Craig Patrick. 

Craig – now the President and CEO of Gold Medal Strategies – understood Brooks' methodology. 

"In any business, you hire talent because that's really important – but that talent has to trust each other before you build chemistry and our team was very talented," Craig said. "When nobody was in the NHL – like no Americans – all of a sudden almost every one of the players on our team became an NHL player. It gives you an idea – you go back almost 46 years – about how good my teammates were. Having a really great mixture of different ingredients to win became a really big part."

A total of 13 of those players would play in the NHL. The documentary focuses on Brooks, the coach whose obsession with beating the Soviet Union in hockey stemmed in part from being snubbed from the gold-medal winning 1960 United States Olympic Hockey Team. Brooks' children Dan and Kelly add insight to their father's mindset. Craig understood that on the ice. 

1980 United States Olympic Hockey Team roster 

"The journey we spent together playing 61 games in what – five months?" Craig asked before answering. "That was unheard of against really tough competition and helped develop us and develop that camaraderie and trust. We utilized that talent. Herb had a great game plan, and we executed it.

"He cared deeply about what I wanted to do, and he knew exactly what he needed from me and he pushed me and I was thankful for it," Craig said. "I had other goals because I had other goals than making the Olympic team. I wanted to play in the National Hockey League. In order to do that, not only did I have to be the best player on our team, but one of the best goalies in the world because it's a global sport."

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Courtesy of Netflix

Jim Craig on matchup vs. Soviet Union at Lake Placid

Craig explains Brooks' decision to play the Soviet Union at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 9, 1980 with a question. 

"If you were going to play in a golf tournament, wouldn't you play the golf course first?" Craig asks. 

The Soviet Union won that game 10-3, which only enhanced its aura of dominance. Yet Craig knows what Brooks was trying to accomplish by scheduling that matchup.

"He set it up that way," Craig said. "He never coached against them. He had to coach against them. He was preparing to win. He was preparing our team, and sometimes that takes a great deal of risk and courage and strategy. That game was so important from losing in learning how to win." 

The Soviet Union won gold medals in 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976. In five pool play games at Lake Placid, the Soviets outscored their opponents 51-11. The United States tied Sweden 2-2 in the opener and finished 4-0-1 in pool play with a plus-15 goal differential. That set up the rematch in the medal round.

"Miracle: The Boys of '80" goes inside the matchup against the Soviet Union with new footage and interviews that takes the viewer back to 1980 and highlights the amazing sequence of goals from Buzz Schneider and Johnson, who scored twice.  The go-ahead goal by Eruzione set up the final 10 minutes, where Craig stopped anything and everything amidst a Soviet onslaught. 

"I thought playing against them – meaning the Russians – for one period – was equivalent in draining concentration-wise to playing another team a whole game," Craig said. "So I broke it into three games of four or five minute periods and compartmentalized. First five minutes. Last five minutes. Don't give up a goal after we score a goal. I was able to focus."

Craig finished with 36 saves in the and held the Soviet Union scoreless in an incredible performance that still resonates today because of the back-story behind it. Craig's mother Margaret passed away in 1977, but she had pushed her son to play in the Olympics. Craig's relationship with his father Donald is detailed throughout the documentary.

Craig also carries a different understanding of the Russian hockey style – one he later learned from coaching with Vladimir Lutchenko – who was a member of the Soviet teams in 1972 and 1976. 

"The thing that a lot of people don't understand – and I'm not trying to toot my own horn here – is that the Russians didn't shoot unless they thought they could score," Craig said. "This wasn't a North American team where if you had an open shot you took a slap shot and so, when you look at some of the games the Russians played they might score 15 goals on 22 shots. When the Russians shoot, it's because they think they can score. That's a different pressure." 

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Jim Craig on legacy of 'Miracle on Ice' 

Unlike "Miracle," the new documentary spends a considerable chunk on the gold-medal game against Finland, including Brooks' methods for focusing the team after the upset against the Soviet Union

After all, Craig said the ultimate goal was to bring home the gold medal. 

"I think Mark Johnson brought up a part that I thought was appropriate," Craig said. "How much gas do you have in your tank? This is the seventh game in 14 days. You've gone from the pressure of being an underdog to the pressure of being a favorite. The expectations are incredibly high. We were losing 2-1 after the second period and we're getting booed as we're going off the ice. Nobody remembers that."

1980 United States Olympic Hockey Team results 

The United States won 4-2 and sealed its place among the greatest sports moments of all time. Craig has spent a life-time talking about it. That included this week, when he appeared on "Today" with Eruzione, Schneider and Rob McClanahan. 

"To me it's always been about reflection," Craig said. "What I mean by that is all my life I call it a winning underdog attitude – when people always say you can't do something, how do you use that as a motivator? With that came the same thing. Personal sacrifice. I say this all the time. It isn't something that I do. It's something that someone does for me so I have an opportunity, so when I was all done I was very reflective of all the people who helped me on this journey to get to the Olympics and thankful that we were able to represent our country and win."