Steven James Janaszak (born January 7, 1957) is an American former

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 ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

who played three 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) with the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

and

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

between 1980 and 1982.

Amateur career

Janaszak first became known in the hockey world as the star goaltender for Hill-Murray School on the East Side of

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

. Janaszak attended 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 ...

where he was a goaltender for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

. He was voted most valuable player in the 1979 national championship tournament as the Gophers won the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

title. Janaszak is best known for being the back-up goalie to Jim Craig on the

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 ...

1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

. Janaszak was the only member of the team to not appear in any of the games at the Olympics.

Professional career

Janaszak signed a free agent contract with the North Stars after the Olympics and appeared in one regular season game that season, a solid 2–2 draw against 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 ...

. Unfortunately for Janaszak, the North Stars already had two quality goaltenders in

Gilles Meloche Gilles Emile Meloche (born July 12, 1950) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach, scout and former player. Meloche played as a goaltender in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Black Hawks, California Golden Seals, Cleveland Ba ...

and Gary Edwards, so there was no room for him. After spending the next season in the minor leagues, Janaszak returned to the NHL with the Colorado Rockies, who had signed him as a free agent soon after the end of the 1979-80 season. He also played three games for

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

as Glenn Resch's backup at the 1982

Ice Hockey World Championship The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the E ...

tournament in Helsinki, before retiring from the game after the 1982–83 season.

In popular culture

In the 1981 TV movie about the gold medal-winning U.S. hockey team called ''

'', Janaszak does not appear as a character, but rather in archival footage of the gold medal ceremony. He is played by Sam Skoryna 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 ...

film ''

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 ...

''.

Life outside sports

He met his future wife, who was working as an interpreter during the 1980 Olympics in the athlete village, and they were married a year later. He works as an investment manager on Long Island, N.Y.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Janaszak, Steve 1959 births 1980 US Olympic ice hockey team American men's ice hockey goaltenders Baltimore Clippers (1979–81) players Colorado Rockies (NHL) players Fort Wayne Komets players Fort Worth Texans players Ice hockey people from Saint Paul, Minnesota Ice hockey players at the 1980 Winter Olympics Living people Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players Minnesota North Stars players Oklahoma City Stars players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in ice hockey Tulsa Oilers (1964–1984) players Undrafted National Hockey League players Wichita Wind players NCAA men's ice hockey national champions