I can’t quite say I couldn’t put this book down. I started reading it yesterday afternoon, and though I really didn’t want to, I forced myself to put it down at 11 o’clock last night, just after US captain Mike Eruzione scored to put his team ahead of the Soviets, 4-3.

I picked it up again this morning, and just finished it. I wouldn’t have believed before reading it that you could make an almost moment-by-moment recap of a hockey game so absolutely riveting, but Wayne Coffey does it by weaving the personal stories of the entire 1980 US Olympic hockey team right into the fabric of that impossible win against the USSR on February 22, 1980.

There are so very many wonderful (and also very many not-so-wonderful) stories he tells. I’ll share just this one:

There were 12 hockey teams at the Olympics, 20 players per team, 240 players in all. Steve Janaszak was the only one of them who did not play. The closest he got to action was when Craig got dinged by a Mike Eruzione shot in warm-ups before the West Germany game – and then allowed two soft goals in the first period. Janaszak had the hardest and most thankless role on the team, having gone from standout goalie to spare part, All-American to skate sharpener. Brooks had forewarned him that this could happen, and Janaszak appreciated the heads-up. He stayed ready and positive, the epitome of a team player, putting aside his own agenda for the larger good. One of the first things Jim Craig did in the final press conference was to publicly thank Janaszak and acknowledge his contributions to the team. Then the two Olympic goaltenders, the Olympic poster boy and the answer to a trivia question, embraced.

“In his own way, Janaszak was as important as Craig, because of the way he handled not playing,” Lou Vairo said. “The way he supported him and the team and the coach’s decision was something special. Imagine if he was a whining, miserable creature in that position? He was perfect.”

“I had the best seat in the arena and in the locker room for the greatest sporting event of the twentieth century,” Janaszak said.

The book is crammed full of similar stories of sacrifice, commitment, love and courage. The game itself is an inspiration for the ages. Wayne Coffey multiplies that by dozens with his stories of the people who made it a reality.