For a goalie so competitive he beat the best the world had to offer - the Russians in the 1980 Olympics for the gold medal - playing goal in a celebrity game presents a tough choice.
"It's very difficult to play charity games in goal," says Jim Craig, once that flag-draped kid in Lake Placid searching for his father amid the chaos following the "Miracle on Ice.""What you did for a living," says Craig, "now, it's more fun to score lots of goals."
That's what the audience pays to see. High scores and good times by celebrities.
But what goalie wants to get beat?
Craig rationalizes it because "the cause is the most important thing. I've got two healthy kids. You try to give something back," he says.
Craig, four of his 1980 Olympic teammates and nearly a dozen actors and Hollywood types probably including Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver), Alan Thicke (Growing Pains), Jason Hervey (Wonder Years) and Kelsey Grammer (Cheers) will play such a game in the Delta Center Saturday night.
The Celebrity All-Star Hockey Team meets a team of Golden Eagle alums headed by Doug Palazzari, Charlie Simmer and Lyle Bradley at 7 o'clock in the Delta Center. Proceeds from the $10-a-seat game go to Salt Lake City's disadvantaged youth. Tickets are on sale at the Delta Center and Smith's Tix.
The Celebrity All-Star Team gets together about six or eight times a year, says Craig, in NHL, IHL or AHL towns and plays the home team's alumni for charity. He got involved when the celebrity team played the Boston Bruins' alumni, of which he was one. Transportation and accommodations are usually donated by airline and hotel sponsors, and they donate their time.
Craig jumped at the chance to return to Salt Lake City, where he played in the 1983-84 season when the Eagles were a Minnesota North Stars' affiliate.
This is where Craig met his wife, the former Sharlene Pettit. The trip gives his family a chance to see relatives.
Craig met his future wife after an Eagle game. He had extra tickets to the game, and Eagle clubhouse attendant Kory Hasegawa, now a KSL-TV photographer, got the tickets to Sharlene.
Craig's professional career ended in an April 14, 1984, 6-3 playoff loss in the Salt Palace to the Homeless (formerly Tulsa) Oilers. His last few moments were spent in an ugly incident with the Oilers' Steve Martinson, who later briefly played with the Eagles and is now with San Diego of the IHL. As the last few seconds ticked out, Martinson and Craig swung their sticks likes axes at one another's heads.
Neither was hurt.
While Craig tried to catch on as a free agent and continue his career, he went on a speaking engagement. The Boston company that hired him to speak offered him a job selling advertising for newspaper inserts. Now he's responsible for $21 million worth of accounts in ad inserts that go nationwide 48 times a year.
He plays forward in an over-30 league with his brother and tends goal only for the celebrity team.