1 thing ex-Rangers, Miracle on Ice star would’ve changed about NHL journey
Rob McClanahan readily admits how blessed he was to be part of the 1980 United States men’s Olympic hockey team, and then to play five seasons in the NHL. However, the former New York Rangers forward concedes that there’s one thing he wished he did differently during his hockey journey.
After the incredible emotional high of helping the United States upset the Soviet Union in the semifinals and then win the gold medal game against Finland to complete the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid, McClanahan immediately started his professional hockey career with the Buffalo Sabres. His NHL debut was March 9 in Buffalo against the St. Louis Blues — less than three weeks after a gold medal was placed around his neck.
“For me, it was tough at first. What I should have done, quite honestly, after we won the gold was not to sign with Buffalo, or sign with Buffalo and not played the rest of that year. I was absolutely physically and emotionally toast, and was done for that season. I should’ve waited until the Fall and just kind of regrouped myself,” McClanahan told Forever Blueshirts on the Rink Rap podcast.
Perhaps still riding the wave of confidence forged in Lake Placid, McClanahan scored his first NHL goal in his second game, against the Winnipeg Jets. He followed that with a pair of assists in his next outing against the Los Angeles Kings. McClanahan finished the season with seven points (two goals, five assists) in 13 games for the Sabres, who were second in the League with 110 points.
McClanahan played 10 of 14 postseason games but had just one assist. The Sabres lost in the third round to the New York Islanders in six games. Yes, McClanahan was that close to winning Olympic gold and reaching the Stanley Cup Final in the same year. His Team USA teammate Ken Morrow, of course, famously accomplished that feat instead, when the Islanders won the Cup in 1980.
But back to the original point, McClanahan was exhausted by time the Sabres were eliminated. Keep in mind, not only did McClanahan have that intense two-week run in Lake Placid, but he played 63 games for the United States National Team leading up to the Olympics. And you may have heard that coach Herb Brooks didn’t exactly take it easy on his players — physically nor mentally.
So, yes, McClanahan was “toast,” as he called it. But there’s no way he — 22 years old at the time — was going to pass on achieving his NHL dream right away.
“I never grew up thinking I wanted to win a gold medal. I never thought about it. But I did think about I’d love to be a professional hockey player,” McClanahan explained. “So, the objective and the goal, even at the beginning of the Olympic year was this is just another step to make the NHL. And I would never look back and say that I wished I had done something differently because that experience that we had, that ’79-’80 season, was the most fun I ever had. And we learned so much about selfless play and about ourselves both as individuals, it just helped build our confidence, both as a team and as individuals.”
Rob McClanahan ‘ended up loving to play in New York’ with Rangers
After playing for the Sabres and Hartford Whalers, as well as spending some time in the minors, McClanahan reunited with Brooks on Broadway, where his former college coach (University of Minnesota) and Miracle on Ice mastermind coached the Rangers, in February 1982.
He also was reunited with his 1980 Olympic teammates Mark Pavelich, Dave Silk and Bill Baker in New York. And the Rangers general manager was Craig Patrick, Brooks’ assistant on that 1980 gold medal team.
McClanahan had his most success in the NHL playing for the Rangers.
“I think [Brooks] put me on [a line] with ‘Pav’ and Ron Duguay, if I’m not mistaken, early on when I got there, and I ended up loving to play in New York,” he recalled. “I had heard in the past that people didn’t like to play in the Garden and the ice was bad, it was a pain to get to. I never had a problem with the ice and I certainly didn’t have a problem playing in Madison Square Garden. It was a lot of fun and the crowd was always supportive of what the Rangers did.”
McClanahan finished the 1981-82 season with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 22 games with the Rangers. He really came to life the next season, setting career highs with 22 goals, 26 assists, and 48 points, ranking fifth on the Rangers in goals and eighth in overall scoring. He also recorded his only NHL hat trick on Nov. 24, 1982, against the Minnesota North Stars at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of his first two seasons in New York only to lose hard-fought second-round series to the Islanders each time.
“Obviously, the game against the North Stars, that definitely goes down in my memory bank for sure. But right up there with everything else is every time we played the Flyers in the playoffs,” McClanahan shared about his favorite Rangers memories. “We hammered them, we smoked them, they couldn’t skate with us. Back in those days a bunch of us were labeled Smurfs (because of their diminutive stature), and the Flyers just did not know how to play against us. They just didn’t have the guys to stay with us, and we just steamrolled them.”
‘Odd Couple’ roommate added to Rangers experience for Rob McClanahan
Off the ice, there was another highlight for McClanahan.
“Pav and I used to room together on the road when I was playing in New York, and you want to talk about the Odd Couple, Felix and Oscar! But we worked through some disagreements and were able to turn into great roommates,” he said with a smile.
McClanahan had 14 points (six goals, eight assists) and played just 41 games with the Rangers in 1983-84, the final games of his NHL career. Pavelich, twice a 30-goal scorer for the Rangers and regarded as one of the most talented players on the Miracle on Ice squad, sadly took his own life on March 4, 2021, after suffering a years-long decline due to CTE, a brain disorder leading to mental health issues.
“We played against each other in college, he was a great college player,” McClanahan pointed out. “If people watched those [Olympic] games, Pav was instrumental in assisting on a lot of really key goals. He assisted on ‘Rizzo’s’ (Mike Eruzione’s game-winning) goal over the Soviets. He assisted on Billy Baker’s tying goal against Sweden (in Team USA’s first game), and that was probably one of the most important goals of the entire tournament. He assisted on Buzzy Schneider’s goal, the first goal we scored against the Soviets. Pav was exceptional at every level he played, and with the New York Rangers, … he still holds the rookie record for points (with 76 in 1981-82).”
Pavelich’s legacy lives on, though, as it does for each member of the Miracle on Ice team, 45 years later, with a new Netflix documentary out (Miracle: The Boys of ’80) and two Rangers among NHL players wearing the U.S. sweater in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics this month.
It’s something that McClanahan, now 67, doesn’t ever take for granted.
“We’re really proud of what we did, what we accomplished,” he said. “We would’ve been just as proud if we didn’t win a gold medal, but to be able to share it with others and to have it resonate to this day is kind of amazing.”
