Premiere Speakers Bureau

Jim Craig has been called the backbone of a team that accomplished one of the most extraordinary and memorable sports victories of all time. He then went on to achieve tremendous success as a marketing and sales manager and strategist.

Today, in addition to serving as president of the Hat Trick Group (HTG), a promotions and marketing firm based in the Boston area, Jim Craig travels the country speaking in front of corporate audiences and non-profit groups. His talks have motivated, inspired, and instructed employees of Coca-Cola, Coors, Walt Disney, Fidelity, Dunkin’ Donuts, John Hancock, KPMG, NBC, Ocean Spray, Evergreen Financial, Sun Life Financial, and other companies that hold some of the world’s most recognized brands.

An All-American goalie at Boston University and standout for the Terriers’ 1978 NCAA championship squad, Jim Craig was selected as the starting goaltender for the U.S. 1980 Olympic hockey team. At the Lake Placid games his performance was phenomenal. Indispensable to Team U.S.A.’s epic – what some have called miraculous – upset of the Soviet Union was the play of Jim Craig. In the game against the Soviets, the Americans were outshot 39-16, but Jim made 36 saves, many of the spectacular variety, and his teammates scored four times. Two days later, against Finland, Jim was again superb, and the Yanks won, 4-2, to take Olympic gold.

How miraculous, how historic, was the victory? Consider that as the 20th century came to a close, most major media sports polls selected what happened two decades prior on an ice rink in upstate New York as the greatest sports achievement of the previous 100 years.

“It may just be the single most indelible moment in all of U.S. sports history,” said Sports Illustrated of Team USA's miraculous gold medal run at the 1980 Winter Olympics. “One that sent an entire nation into frenzy.”

The Olympic victory came at a time when the United States needed good news and something to lift its spirits. America had 52 hostages in Iran, and the Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan to put the Cold War on a deep freeze. Inflation was high and there was a shortage of oil for our cars, industries, and homes.

The USA was down in spirit, in a societal funk.

What happened at Lake Placid got us cheering and on our feet. We felt good about ourselves.

Following the Olympic Games, Jim Craig played in the NHL for the Atlanta Flames, Minnesota North Stars, and Boston Bruins. An injury ended his professional hockey career.

Jim is enshrined in the Boston University Athletic Hall of Fame, the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame, the United State Hockey Hall of Fame, and the United States Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.

When Jim Craig retired from pro hockey, he pursued a marketing and sales career with the same passion, focus, work ethic, and dedication that he put forth on the ice. He signed on as marketing and sales consultant for Valassis Inserts (later Valassis Communications), owned by Australian media magnet Kerry Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings and the largest freestanding newspaper insert company in the U.S. While with Valassis, Jim took an operating unit that had $300,000 in annual sales and over a 10 year period built it to unit that did $50 million in annual sales, the top sales-producing division of the corporation.

Among the many sales and marketing awards that Jim has garnered are “Salesman of the Year” from the Marketing Corporation of America and Valassis Communications.

In 2005, Jim Craig was named president of HTG. Under his guidance and direction – and fueled by his competitive zeal and devotion to innovation and teamwork – HTG is growing rapidly and increasing sales, introducing new products, and pursuing new business opportunities.