Herb Brooks: Red line, back. Blue line, back. Far blue line, back. Far red line, back. And you have 45 seconds to do it. Get used to this drill. You'll be doing it *a lot*. Why? Because the legs feed the wolf, gentlemen. I can't promise you we'll be the best team at Lake Placid next February. But we will be the best conditioned. That I can promise you.
Herb Brooks: You don't defend them, you ATTACK them. You take their game and you shove it right back in their face!
Herb Brooks: Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the world.
Herb Brooks: When you pull on that jersey you represent yourself and your teammates. And the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back.
Herb Brooks: No one has ever worked hard enough to skate with the Soviet team for an entire game. Gentlemen, we are gonna work hard enough.
Bill Baker: These guys ever smile?
Jack O'Callahan: They're Russians. They get shot if they smile.
Al Michaels: Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? YES!
Herb Brooks: When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates. And the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back! Get that through your head!
Herb Brooks: If we play 'em 10 times, they might win nine. But NOT this game.
Answer: Since they all came from different, sometimes rival, universities, and thus had no commonality, he wanted to give them someone to dislike together, instead of fighting with one another. If they could all bond over what a bastard Brooks was, they'd come together faster as a team and have a chance of winning.