I may have shared with you that I had a journalism teacher in college who would often stop her lecture and start talking about her “Where Were You When” moments in time.

Her name was Hazel Heiman, and to get any grade more than a “C” you had to work hard, and be prepared to have your work (she taught Journalism 101- Writing) put on an overhead projector where she would either praise you for the paper you turned in, or create a total mess by circling and crossing out portions of your “terrible and not well thought out” story.

But, as all of you know, a teacher like Ms. Heiman did a lot to create a passion and desire to “do your best” instead of just “getting by” in her class.

The very first time Ms. Heiman told us that there would be moments in time that would define our lives, she talked about being in her dorm room on a Sunday morning, working on an assignment for you guessed it, Journalism 101- Writing. Her small radio was creating a bit of a diversion as she was listening to a local station playing in her words “hit tunes of the day”.

She said that “in the middle of a song the announcer broke in and made the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I can and will remember that moment for the rest of my life. That moment is burned in my memory, right down to the color of the paint on my dorm room walls.”

Such is the case of Sunday morning…and the moment that Jack Hughes, #86 for the Americans, scored the game winning goal as the Americans beat the Canadians to take gold in the 2026 Olympic games. Although not as monumental as the December 7th, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, yesterday’s gold medal hockey game, and the victorious outcome for the Americans will be one of those defining moments for me.

And Now…The Rest of the Story
Hockey fans probably heard over and over that is has been 46 years since the United States won the gold medal at the Olympics. That, too, was a pretty defining moment for me. Through my association as a television production coordinator with the University of North Dakota, then Fighting Sioux hockey team, I had met Herb Brooks who was the coach of the 1980 team. In an interview with Mr. Brooks, he was asked the question “Do you really think the U.S. has a chance to win gold?” Mr. Brooks replied “Do you think that anyone else is talking about their chances of winning a gold medal? Of course not. If they are going to put on the sweater of the United States of America and play for me they better not think they are underdogs. They better have a vision of themselves wearing the gold medal.” I’ll never forget that interview. Even though I was but a lowly camera person, Herb Brooks walked over to me after the interview and thanked me for my time, and then he said, “Do you believe we can win?” From that moment forward I had no doubt, even though the rest of the world probably did, that the U.S.A. would bring home the gold. My answer to Herb Brooks was “yes, of course we can.”

In The Moment
It will be easy for Jack Hughes to remember the exact moment that the puck went into the net, and the gold medal game ended with the U.S. victorious. As I watched various sports channel reports that said the gold medal game broke records for the number of viewers, my thoughts went back to Journalism-101. We all have moments that will define our lives, some good and unfortunately some bad. Time erodes some of the details of those defining moments. Dates and times become a little blurry. We can’t have a defining moment like yesterday’s gold medal winning goal every day. And it may be that the next gold medal for the United States will be 46 years from now. But how lucky we were to see that moment that galvanized us all as Americans. Many of us saw the gold medal game in person and many others watched replays on TV, social media or even Facebook. But the results were probably the same for those who were cheering on the red, white & blue clad Team U.S.A. This will be a moment that we won’t soon forget.

Still Time To Enjoy…
A couple of phone calls to local ski areas quickly confirmed that there is still snow even though we had some rather warm weather in Minot. Bottineau Winter Park and Frost Fire reporting good conditions, and Huff Hills still has runs open so call for current conditions.

Today’s Chuckle
Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s little nut that held its ground.