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A piece of ‘Miracle’ history headed to Sochi

When Kenny McCudden travels to Sochi this week, part of the “Miracle on Ice” will be going with him.

McCudden is the skating and skills coach for the United States women’s hockey team, a medal favorite in the upcoming Winter Olympics.

The 1980 men’s hockey team authored one of the most memorable stories in sports history when it beat the heavily favored Soviet Union team on the way to winning the gold medal against Finland.

One of the Miracle players, defenseman Jack O’Callahan, played in the NHL for the Blackhawks and he gave McCudden a prized memento: his lapel pin from 1980.

“That lapel pin is going all the way over to Sochi because there was a reason he gave it to me,” McCudden said. “So it’s going from Lake Placid to Sochi, from 1980 to 2014.”

O’Callahan sent McCudden a note along with the pin.

“The team will be very well served under your guidance,” the note read, in part. “Miracles happen at the Olympics … make yours.”

Needless to say, McCudden was beyond touched.

“I’ll never forget opening that card up,” he said. “I had a little tear in my eye when I opened that up. I’m bringing that pin and putting it as a lapel pin on my suit. Hopefully, it’s part of a gold medal and brings a little luck, that lapel pin.

“Those words meant so much to me, when he said, ‘You’re an Olympian.’ That meant the world to me.”

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