Robert Bruce McClanahan (born January 9, 1958) is an American former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player who played 224 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) for the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its 25-year existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1 ...

and

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

between 1980 and 1983. McClanahan was a member of the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team that beat the Soviet Union en route to a gold medal at Lake Placid in 1980.

Amateur and international career

McClanahan attended Mounds View High School and went on to play three seasons for the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, winning the 1979 NCAA national championship. After representing the US at the 1979 World Championship tournament in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, McClanahan joined the US Olympic team on a full-time basis and scored 34 goals in 63 exhibition games. The culmination of McClanahan's amateur career came at the 1980 Olympics in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. In 2020, its population was 2,205. The village of Lake Placid ...

, when he scored five goals in seven games while helping his country win the gold medal. He scored the winning goal in the gold medal game against Finland (which the U.S. came back to win 4–2) two days after the historic American victory over the Soviets. During the opening game of the Olympic tournament against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, McClanahan sustained a bruise on the upper thigh, which left the US team's roster short a second player, as teammate Jack O'Callahan had been injured during the exhibition game against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

only three days prior to the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

. A now famous argument between McClanahan and Team USA's coach

Herb Brooks Herbert Paul Brooks (August 5, 1937 – August 11, 2003) was an American ice hockey player and coach (ice hockey), coach. His most notable achievement came in Ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics, 1980 as head coach of the gold medal-winning Un ...

during the intermission helped motivate McClanahan to return to the game and play through his injury, inspiring his team to a come-from-behind draw against

that proved vital to achieving gold medal success later in the tournament.

Professional career

McClanahan was selected forty-ninth overall in the 1978 NHL Entry Draft by the

but did not begin playing with the Sabres until 1980, shortly after the Olympics. His NHL career was comparatively short-lived as he was mostly used as a role player. He bounced between the NHL and the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

and played part of the 1983/1984 season in the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

with the

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tulsa ...

before finishing his NHL career under his old Olympic coach Herb Brooks with the

in 1984 (he also represented the

in 1981–82). During his professional career, McClanahan also was a member of Team USA at the

1981 Canada Cup The 1981 Labatt Canada Cup was the second best-on-best ice hockey world championship and involved the world's top six hockey nations. Tournament games were held in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal and Ottawa. The Soviet Union defeated Canada in a s ...

Post-playing career

McClanahan became a financial broker after retirement, beginning his career with

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

in 1985, then working for

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was an American investment bank, securities trading, and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 during the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. After its closure it was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chas ...

and Piper Jaffray, where he was managing director. He joined the Minneapolis office of ThinkEquity Partners in March 2002 as Principal and became the company's Head of Trading. He also was featured in ''

American Dad! ''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker (producer), Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on February 6, 2005, following Super Bowl XXXIX, with the r ...

'' season 6 episode '' Return of the Bling''. McClanahan is currently the head coach of The Blake School boys varsity hockey team.

In popular culture

McClanahan was played by Nathan West in the 2004

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

movie ''

Miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

'', which told the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic gold medal win. West had been a goalie for the junior hockey team the Detroit Whalers in the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; ) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League, alongside the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. The league is for players ag ...

and has a tattoo of the

logo on his arm.Nathan West
Internet Movie Database In a

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

TV movie about the same subject called ''

Miracle on Ice The "Miracle on Ice" was an ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. It was played between the hosting United States and the Soviet Union on February 22, 1980, during the medal round of the men's ice hockey t ...

'', McClanahan is portrayed by Ken Stovitz.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*
Hockeydraftcentral bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McClanahan, Rob 1958 births Living people 1980 US Olympic ice hockey team American men's ice hockey forwards Binghamton Whalers players Buffalo Sabres draft picks Buffalo Sabres players Hartford Whalers players Ice hockey people from Saint Paul, Minnesota Ice hockey players at the 1980 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players NCAA men's ice hockey national champions New York Rangers players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in ice hockey Rochester Americans players Springfield Indians players 20th-century American sportsmen Tulsa Oilers (1964–1984) players Bear Stearns people