Article: Kurt Russell did his best to capture coach Herb Brooks in `Miracle'.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Chris Hewitt

LOS ANGELES _ Kurt Russell says the most surprising thing he learned about hockey legend Herb Brooks is this: Brooks hand-picked the against-all-odds gold-medal-winning 1980 Olympic hockey team, taught its players a new system and guided them to the top spot on the podium. Herb Brooks won the gold medal for America. But he never officially got one for himself.

"People don't know that," says Russell, who met with Brooks twice while preparing to play him in "Miracle," which opens Friday. "When I asked him about his gold medal, he looked at me like I had three heads. He said, `No. Coaches don't get medals. Players get medals.'"

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