Do you remember where you were for the “Miracle On Ice?”

I do. I was there, sitting a dozen rows up in the cozy Olympic arena in Nagano, Japan — so close to the action that I could almost reach out and touch the Czech goalie.

Maybe you thought I meant that other miracle, the forever No. 1 on the American hit parade. Well our nation doesn’t own the patent on Olympic miracles — not even those on ice. And by any standard for the miraculous, the Czech Republic’s 1998 gold medal measures up.

The ’98 Games were the first to feature NHL pros. The Canadian and Russian teams could easily have been confused with NHL all-star teams. The Swedes, Finns and Americans were all loaded too.

The Czechs, not so much. The team had even passed on some NHLers, instead filling out its roster with national team veterans. While these players... [More]