Sorry, Finns

Hockey Digest, Jan-Feb, 2004 by Michael J. McCormick

I think you owe an apology to the entire 1980 Finnish men's hockey team. While I certainly don't want to diminish the accomplishments of Team USA or Herb Brooks' contributions to hockey, to say the Finns didn't have a prayer in the gold medal game at Lake Placid is a ridiculous overstatement ["Golden Memories," December]. After all, didn't the Americans have to come from behind to win the game?

Michael J. McCormick

Biloxi, Miss.

Michael, you make a good point about the Finns. Perhaps toe are guilty of hyperbole, but if you remember the game and the Olympics as a whole, after beating the Russians, there was no way Brooks was going to let his team have a letdown vs. the Finns and lose out on the gold.