WEST VALLEY CITY — Herb Brooks insists the Miracle on Ice is not frozen in time, saved for a day like Friday.
"There's no similarities whatsoever," the United States coach said when asked to compare what his 2002 men's Olympic hockey team is doing with what happened in 1980.
True, those were underdog college kids; these are NHL stars with high expectations.
Still, Wednesday night's 5-0 quarterfinal win over Germany has America headed for a Friday semifinal showdown with undercurrents eerily similar to the Lake Placid Games.
"It's panning out just like 1980," U.S. forward Jeremy Roenick said.
Exactly 22 years ago to the day — Feb. 22, 1980, also a Friday — Brooks' boys shocked the Soviet Union en route to eventual gold. Now, it's Russia — the former-USSR's most-prominent republic — blocking the medal most-wanted by Team USA's men.
"It should be a heckuva game," American Mike Modano said. "It was the other night."
In final-round play last Saturday, the USA and Russia tied 2-2. But when the two meet again at the E Center, someone skates away a winner.
"We had 25 million watching it last time," Roenick added with reference to American-television's highest-rated hockey game since that night in upstate New York. "This time, there will be 50 million."
The Olympic tourney is now in its single-elimination stage, which is why the U.S. was wary about surprise-qualifier Germany. "We came into it thinking of it as a Game 7," Modano said with an analogy to a typical deciding NHL playoff-series game.
Before bussing over from the Olympic Village, the Americans watched on TV as Belarus stunned Sweden — a 4-3 upset of colossal proportions.
"I wasn't planning on watching the Sweden game," U.S. forward Brett Hull said, "because I thought it was a no-brainer. . . . It shows anything can happen."
The Americans nevertheless started slow, but they did catch a break midway through the opening period: When Erich Goldmann high-sticked John LeClair, who took about a dozen stitches to close his bloody lip, the German defenseman got five penalty minutes and an ejection.
A later German penalty gave the U.S. a 5-on-3, and Roenick made good on the two-man advantage — though only after breaking his stick, grabbing a new one, then one-timing Brian Rafalski's pass past Marc Seliger.
And while Mike Richter was posting a 28-save shutout, Team USA exploded for four second-period goals: Chris Chelios' slapper that deflected off German Jan Benda's stick, Tony Amonte's nifty 2-on-1 aided by Roenick, LeClair's doorstep roof shot and an almost-unbelievable backhander Hull put between his own legs.
With that, the U.S. was done with Germany — much like 1980's Americans beat the Germans two days before facing the Soviets.
Now Team USA's focus is squarely on Russia, the 1998 silver medalists who on Wednesday eliminated the defending Nagano-champion Czech Republic.
"Bottom line," Richter said, "is you don't have to do too much analyzing to know they're shockingly talented."
Nor does it take much analysis to realize 1980's miracle — no matter how much Brooks may want it to melt away, if only for this week — remains on many American minds.
Said Modano: "That moment on TV . . . when we were all watching . . . It changed a lot of young hockey players growing up in the States."
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com