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1980 Olympic Hockey Team

USA TEAM: James Craig, Kenneth Morrow, Michael Ramsey, William Baker, John O'Callahan, Bob Suter, David Silk, Neal Broten, Mark Johnson, Steven Christoff, Mark Wells, Mark Pavelich, Eric Strobel, Michael Eruzione, David Christian, Robert MeClanahan, William "Buzz" Schneider, Philip Verchota and John Harrington

U. S. Skaters Shock The Soviets, Win The Gold

Just as Innsbruck had produced a signature, for-the-ages moment four years earlier when Franz Klammer skied the most memorable downhill in history, Lake Placid would also have its moment that, with time, would overshadow all else that happened during the Winter Games of 1980. A moment that was summed up in five words uttered over and over by sportscaster AI Michaels, "Do you believe in miracles?"

Michaels was the play-by-play hockey announcer for ABC television. He called the action the early evening of Friday, February 22, when the team from the United States, a ragtag collection of college players, upset "the best ice hockey team in the world:" The United States' 4-3 win over the four-time defending Olympic champion team from the Soviet Union inspired a nation, stunned a world, and, thanks to a gold-medal clinching 4-2 win over Finland two days later, marked the Lake Placid Games as "miraculous" forevermore.

After a fifth-place finish in 1976, the United States' hockey chances were considered far from terrific coming into the Lake Placid Games. Not for a gold medal, for any color medal. The teams from Sweden and Canada were back in the lineup, and both, along with the Finns, were considered strong, and then there were the teams from Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. The Czechs had placed in the medals in four straight Olympics and the Soviets had won five of the last six gold medals, losing only in 1960 to an upstart U.S. team in Squaw Valley.

By all barometers, the Soviet national team was stronger than ever in 1980. In a preOlympic game against a team of All-Stars from the National Hockey League, it had won, 10-3. It was the defending world champion, and in a practice game held just three days before the start of the Winter Olympics, it had shut out the U.S. team, 13-0. When the Games began, the Soviets warmed up with 16-0 and 17-4 wins over Japan and Holland, respectively.

A loss to Finland would have meant a third-place showing regardless of the Americans' astonishing win over the Soviet team. Finland led the final match, 2-1, after two periods, but Team USA, in characteristic come-from-behind play, took control in the third period to win the game, 4-2, and the gold.

The U.S. wasn't even favored to make it out of its qualifying round-robin ahead of Sweden or the Czechs. But it tied the Swedes, 2-2, in its opening game and next beat the Czechs, 7-3. In both games, the American team came from behind to win, a pattern that would follow, with the exception of a 7-2 win over Romania, in every game of the Olympics.

By the time the semifinal match with the Soviets came along, the country had gotten interested, if not yet overly hopeful. The Lake Placid ice hockey hall was filled to capacity, with the requisite ticket scalpers outside, and a nation was tuned in. Michaels' play-by-play would not go unheard. As if knowing it would never have a home-ice advantage any better than this, the U.S. team responded with a hardnosed start against the Soviets. A Soviet goal by Vladimir Krutov was countered by a U.S. goal from Buzz Schneider. Next Sergei Makarov scored for a 2-1 Soviet lead. But Mark Johnson answered back for the home team one second before time expired in the first period. In the second period Aleksandr Maltsev scored for a 3-2 USSR lead. But in the third and final period, Johnson scored to tie the game and then, with 10 minutes remaining, U.S. captain Mike Eruzione slapped a 30-foot shot past Soviet goaltender Vladimir Myshkin. A stunned Soviet team, now down 4-3, could not regroup. As the crowd counted down the final seconds, Michaels gave his memorable wrapup, and Olympic hockey had its greatest upset. In the locker room, the U.S. players huddled together and sang "God Bless America."

The U.S. team could have celebrated right past its gold-medal match two days later against Finland. It did not, however. Finland took the requisite early lead, at 2-1, but then the Americans came back, scoring three straight goals to win, 4-2. On the victory podium, after the Star Spangled Banner was played and Eruzione had accepted his team's gold medals, every member of the U.S. team mounted the victory podium while the crowd cheered.

The United States' hockey triumph underscored yet another Lake Placid Olympics that smiled on the home country. Just as in 1932, when the Games first visited the New York resort, the U.S. won six gold medals and 12 medals overall - all-time highs in both cases. And just as in 1932, it was the speed skaters who set the pace, as well as the hockey team (in 1932 the U.S. won a silver medal after tying the gold-medal winning Canadians in a three-overtime final game).

They dominated ice hockey beginning in 1956, when they took the reigns from Canada, until 1992, when they won the gold as the "Unified Team." The Soviet ice machine was stopped twice, both times by an unheralded American team, once in 1960 and again in 1980 by a young team (average age 22) who accomplished the unthinkable. They beat the Soviet Union, 4-3, the same team, that had only three days before the Winter Games at Lake Placid opened, baptized the USA team, 10-0, in a practice game.

Miracle On Ice: The Legacy

America's 1980 Olympic hockey team looms large in the sporting imagination.

History has framed the Miracle On Ice as one of those rare sporting achievements that transcend sport. The two hockey games that comprise the “miracle” – the 4-3 win over the mighty Soviets and the 4-2 gold medal clincher against Finland – are credited with lifting Americans from a decade of gloom and despair, reviving patriotism and foreshadowing a national renewal.

In 1980, the United States was emerging from a troubled decade. The 1970s had been marked by an ugly end to the Vietnam War, the demoralizing Watergate spectacle, rampant inflation, unemployment and an energy crisis. The Soviets had just invaded Afghanistan, rejuvenating the Cold War. As the Lake Placid Olympics opened, 52 Americans were held hostage in Iran, their nation seemingly helpless against a gang of student radicals. The line commonly associated with the Miracle On Ice is, “it gave the country a reason to feel good again.”

Could all this be media spin, a storyline conjured by reporters swept up in the moment and pundits trying to squeeze great meaning from an isolated event? To some extent, perhaps. But there is no doubt that Americans were touched deeply by a hockey team as never before. Following the victory over the Soviets, one woman told Sports Illustrated she had never seen so many American flags since the sixties, “And we were burning them then.” In the weeks to follow, the players received bags of mail. To this day, they hear stories that begin, “I remember where I was when…” The team captain, Mike Eruzione, remains in demand on the after-dinner speaking circuit.

Whatever it’s role in the larger cultural context, one thing is beyond dispute: the Miracle On Ice raised the profile of American hockey, giving it an adrenalin shot that is still felt today.

In 1980, there were 10,490 hockey teams in the United States. In 1990, the total was up to 14,969. Then the game really took off. By 1997, USA Hockey had registered 29,479 teams and 449,168 players. Those numbers have since continued to rise.

The fact that the 1990s were the greatest period of growth for American hockey suggests that the 1980 Olympics did not inspire thousands of kids to strap on the blades right away. But the event certainly took its place in American sports mythology, giving young hockey players a heritage to celebrate and icons to look up to. That kind of legacy is the lifeblood of any sport.

I was 8-years-old when the U. S. won gold at the 1980 Olympics. I remember watching the games and celebrating each victory. I worked very hard on my game as a result, hoping to one day be a part of something as special as winning an Olympic gold medal.

NHL veteran Steve Konowalchuk

There was a prejudicial feeling toward American players that the 1980 Winter Olympics helped to turn around. Before then, the criticism of American players was that they weren't tough enough, couldn't score when they had to, and couldn't win big games for you or with you. That mentality began to change after 1980.

Bill Clement, a Canadian who was playing in the NHL in 1980

Memories are inexact, and legend can obscure fact. People tend to exaggerate the underdog factor, thinking of the 1980 Olympic team as a rag-tag bunch, not a fast and disciplined group that produced several excellent NHL players. They forget that after the amazing upset of the Soviet Union, Team USA had to beat Finland to win gold. Even some sports reporters have written erroneous articles, combining events and images from the two games into one.

The details are important to the hockey community, where the Miracle On Ice represents an international breakthrough and a huge step forward for the domestic game. But in the country's sporting imagination, the Miracle On Ice endures because it stands as that rarest of fairy tales: the one that came true.

Jamie Fitzpatrick. Miracle On Ice: The Legacy. Your Guide to Pro Ice Hockey.

HBO Home Video 'Do You Believe In Miracles' DVD In February of 1980 amidst growing Cold War fears, the U.S. hockey team created an unforgettable moment of national pride when they miraculously beat the Soviets on the ice-a win selected by Sports Illustrated as the #1 sports moment of the century. Revisiting lake Placid twenty-one years later, Do You Believe In Miracles? takes a look at the team's emotional climb to gold while exploring the tumultuous political and social landscape of the time.

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