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 hockey tournament. Though the Soviet Union was a four-time defending gold medalist and heavily favored, the United States upset them and won 4–3.
The Soviet Union had won the gold medal in five of the six previous Winter Olympic Games, and they were the favorites to win once more in Lake Placid. The team consisted primarily of veteran players with significant experience in international play. By contrast, none of the young players on the United States' team, led by head coach Herb Brooks, had any National Hockey League experience, and largely came from college hockey ranks. With only four players with minimal professional experience, the United States was the youngest team in the tournament and in U.S. national team history. In the group stage, both the Soviet and U.S. teams were unbeaten; the U.S. achieved surprising results, including a 2–2 draw against Sweden, and a 7–3 upset victory over second-place favorite Czechoslovakia.
For the first game in the medal round, the United States played the Soviets. Finishing the first period tied at 2–2, and the Soviets leading 3–2 following the second, the U.S. team scored two more goals to take their first lead midway in the third and final period, then held on and won 4–3. Two days later, the U.S. won the gold medal by beating Finland in their final game. The Soviet Union took the silver medal by beating Sweden.
The victory became one of the most iconic moments of the Games and in U.S. sports. Equally well-known was the television call of the final seconds of the game by Al Michaels for ABC, in which he declared: "Do you believe in miracles? YES!" In 1999, Sports Illustrated named the "Miracle on Ice" the top sports moment of the 20th century. As part of its centennial celebration in 2008, the International Ice Hockey Federation named the "Miracle on Ice" as the best international ice hockey story of the past 100 years.

History

The Soviet and American teams

The Soviet Union entered the Lake Placid games as the heavy favorite, having won four consecutive gold medals dating back to the 1964 games. In the four Olympics following their 1960 bronze-medal finish at Squaw Valley, Soviet teams had gone 27–1–1 and outscored their opponents 175–44. In head-to-head matchups against the United States, the cumulative score over that period was 28–7. The Soviet team had not lost a game in Olympic play since 1968.
The Soviets were led by legendary players in world ice hockey, such as Boris Mikhailov, Vladislav Tretiak, the speedy and skilled Valeri Kharlamov, and talented, dynamic players such as defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov and forwards Vladimir Krutov and Sergei Makarov. From that team, Tretiak, Kharlamov, Makarov, and Fetisov were eventually enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Many of the Soviet players had gained attention in the Summit Series eight years before and, in contrast to the American players, were de facto professionals with long histories of international play, employed by industrial firms or military organizations for the sole purpose of playing hockey on their organization's team. Western nations protested the Soviet Union's use of full-time athletes, as they were forced to use amateur players due to the International Olympic Committee's amateur-only policy. The situation even led to Canadian withdrawal from the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, but the IOC did not change the rules until the late 1980s.
U.S. head coach Herb Brooks held tryouts in Colorado Springs in the summer of 1979. Of the 20 players who eventually made the final Olympic roster, Buzz Schneider was the only one returning from the 1976 Olympic team. Nine players had played under Brooks at the University of Minnesota, while four more were from Boston University. As Boston University and Minnesota were perennial rivals in college hockey, Brooks' selection process was a 300-question psychological test that would give him insight on how every player would react under stress; anyone who refused to take the test would automatically fail. Brooks had to select from 68 players who started the tryout.
The average age of the U.S. team was 21 years old, making it the youngest team in U.S. history to play in the Olympics, but Brooks had selected carefully and he knew the limits of every player. As forward John Harrington said, "He knew exactly where to quit. He'd push you right to the limit where you were ready to say, 'I've had it, I'm throwing it in' — and then he'd back off." Brooks continued the organization by campaigning for the players' selection of Eruzione as the captain, and Craig had been the goalie for him in the 1979 World Championship tournament. Assistant coach Craig Patrick had played with Brooks on the 1967 U.S. national team.
The Soviet and American teams were natural rivals due to the decades-old Cold War. In addition, President Jimmy Carter was at the time considering a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, to be held in Moscow, in protest of the December 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. On February 9, the same day the American and Soviet teams met in an exhibition game in New York City, U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance denounced the impending Moscow games at an IOC meeting. President Carter eventually decided in favor of the boycott.

Exhibitions

In exhibitions that year, Soviet club teams went 5–3–1 against National Hockey League teams and, a year earlier, the Soviet national team had routed the NHL All-Stars 6–0 to win the Challenge Cup. In 1979–80, virtually all the top North American players were Canadians, although the number of U.S.-born professional players had been on the rise throughout the 1970s. The 1980 U.S. Olympic team featured several young players who were regarded as highly promising, and some had signed contracts to play in the NHL immediately after the tournament.
In September 1979, before the Olympics, the American team started exhibition play. They played a total of 61 games in five months against teams from Europe and the United States. Through these games, Brooks instilled a European style of play in his team, emphasizing wide-open play with sufficient body contact. He believed it would be the only way for the Americans to compete with the Soviets. From the start of the exhibition matches, he conducted the team through skating wind sprints consisting of end line to blue line and back, then end line to red line and back, then end line to far blue line and back, and finally end line all the way down and back. Some of the players took to calling these "Herbies". On September 17, the team played to a 3–3 tie in Norway. Believing the team wasn't putting up sufficient effort, an angry Brooks had them skate Herbies after the game and, after a while, arena custodians turned the lights off and the Herbies continued in the dark. The two teams played again the next night, with the US winning handily 9-0. Near the end of the exhibition season, Brooks, because of subpar play, threatened to cut Eruzione from the team and replace Craig with Steve Janaszak as the starting goaltender, although he had supported them throughout.
In their last exhibition game, against the Soviets at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, February 9, the Americans were crushed 10–3. Soviet head coach Viktor Tikhonov later said that this victory "turned out to be a very big problem" by causing the Soviets to underestimate the American team. The game was also costly for the Americans off-ice, as defenseman Jack O'Callahan pulled a ligament in his knee; however, Brooks kept O'Callahan on the roster, which meant the U.S. was virtually playing with only 19 players throughout the tournament. O'Callahan eventually returned for the game against the Soviets, playing limited minutes.

Olympic group play

In Olympic group play, the Americans surprised many observers with their physical, cohesive play. In their first game on February 12 against favored Sweden, Team USA earned a dramatic 2–2 draw by scoring with 27 seconds left after pulling goalie Jim Craig for an extra attacker. Then came a stunning 7–3 victory over Czechoslovakia, who were a favorite for the silver medal. With its two toughest games in the group phase out of the way, the U.S. team reeled off three more wins, beating Norway 5–1, Romania 7–2, and West Germany 4–2 to go 4–0–1 and advance to the medal round from its group, along with Sweden.
In the other group, the Soviets stormed through their opposition undefeated, often by grossly lopsided scores. They defeated Japan 16–0, the Netherlands 17–4, Poland 8–1, Finland 4–2, and Canada 6–4 to easily qualify for the next round, although both the Finns and the Canadians gave the Soviets tough games for two periods. In the end, the Soviet Union and Finland advanced from their group.

Game summary

Prior to the Friday game, ABC requested that it be rescheduled from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST, so that it could be broadcast live in primetime. However, the IIHF declined the request after the Soviets complained that it would cause the game to air at 4 a.m. Moscow Time, as opposed to 1 a.m. As a result, ABC decided not to broadcast the game live for the U.S. audience and tape delayed it for broadcast during its primetime block of Olympics coverage. Before the game aired, ABC's Olympics host Jim McKay openly stated that the game had already occurred but that they had promised not to spoil its results. In order to accommodate coverage of the men's slalom competition, portions of the game were also edited for time. ABC's 8 to 8:30 p.m. timeslot was instead, devoted to the animated special . To this day, some who watched the game on television still believe that it was live.
With a capacity of 8,500, the Field House was packed. The home crowd waved U.S. flags and sang patriotic songs such as "God Bless America". Before the game, Brooks read his players a statement he had written out on a piece of paper, telling them that "You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours." Brooks believed they could win and later said, "The Russians were ready to cut their own throats. But we had to get to the point to be ready to pick up the knife and hand it to them. So the morning of the game I called the team together and told them, 'It's meant to be. This is your moment and it's going to happen.' It's kind of corny and I could see them thinking, 'Here goes Herb again....' But I believed it."

First period

As in several previous games, the U.S. team fell behind early. Vladimir Krutov deflected a slap shot by Alexei Kasatonov past U.S. goaltender Jim Craig at the 9:12 mark to give the Soviets a 1–0 lead. At the 14:03 mark, Buzz Schneider scored for the United States on a 50-foot shot from the left boards to tie the game. The Soviets struck again when Sergei Makarov scored with 17:34 gone. With his team down 2–1, Craig improved his play, turning away many Soviet shots before the U.S. team had another shot on goal.
In the waning seconds of the first period, Dave Christian fired a slap shot on Tretiak from away. The Soviet goalie saved the shot but misplayed the rebound, which bounced out some in front of him. Mark Johnson sliced between the two defenders, found the loose puck, and fired it past a diving Tretiak to tie the score with one second left in the period. The first period ended with the game tied 2–2.

Second period

Tikhonov replaced Tretiak with backup goaltender Vladimir Myshkin immediately after Johnson's tying goal, a move that shocked players on both teams. Tikhonov later identified this as the "turning point of the game" and called it "the biggest mistake of my career". Years later, when Johnson asked Viacheslav Fetisov, now an NHL teammate, about the move, Fetisov responded with "Coach crazy." Myshkin allowed no goals in the second period. The Soviets dominated play in the second period, outshooting the Americans 12–2, but scored only once, on a power play goal by Aleksandr Maltsev 2:18 into play. After two periods the Soviet Union led, 3–2.

Third period

Vladimir Krutov was sent to the penalty box at the 6:47 mark of the third period for high-sticking. The Americans, who had managed only two shots on Myshkin in 27 minutes, had a power play and a rare offensive opportunity. Myshkin stopped a Mike Ramsey shot, then U.S. team captain Mike Eruzione fired a shot wide. Late in the power play, Dave Silk was advancing into the Soviet zone when Valeri Vasiliev knocked him to the ice. The puck slid to Mark Johnson. Johnson fired off a shot that went under Myshkin and into the net at the 8:39 mark, as the power play was ending, tying the game at 3. Only a couple of shifts later, Mark Pavelich passed to Eruzione, who was left undefended in the high slot. Eruzione, who had just come onto the ice, fired a shot past Myshkin, who was screened by Vasili Pervukhin. This goal gave Team USA a 4–3 lead, its first of the game, with exactly 10 minutes remaining to play.
The Soviets, trailing for the first time in the game, attacked ferociously. Moments after Eruzione's goal, Maltsev fired a shot which ricocheted off the right goal post. As the minutes wound down, Brooks kept repeating to his players, "Play your game. Play your game." Instead of going into a defensive crouch, the United States continued to play offense, even getting off a few more shots on goal. The Soviets began to shoot wildly, and Sergei Starikov admitted that "we were panicking." As the clock ticked down below a minute, the Soviets got the puck back into the American zone, and Mikhailov passed to Vladimir Petrov, who shot wide. The Americans fully expected Tikhonov to pull the goalie in the waning seconds. To their surprise, Myshkin stayed in the game. Starikov later explained that "We never did six-on-five," not even in practice, because "Tikhonov just didn't believe in it." Craig kicked away a Petrov slap shot with 33 seconds left. Kharlamov fired the puck back in as the clock ticked below 20 seconds. A wild scramble for the puck ensued, ending when Johnson found it and passed it to Ken Morrow. As the U.S. team tried to clear the zone, the crowd began to count down the seconds left. Sportscaster Al Michaels, who was calling the game on ABC along with former Montreal Canadiens goaltender Ken Dryden, picked up on the countdown in his broadcast, and delivered his famous call:
As his team ran all over the ice in celebration, Herb Brooks sprinted back to the locker room and cried. In the locker room afterwards, players spontaneously broke into a chorus of "God Bless America". After the gold medal-securing victory over Finland, they received a congratulatory phone call from President Jimmy Carter.
During the broadcast wrap-up after the game, ABC Olympic sports anchor Jim McKay compared the American victory over the Soviet professionals to a group of Canadian college football players defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers.

American aftermath

Gold medal

The United States did not win the gold medal by defeating the USSR. In 1980, the medal round was a round-robin, not a single elimination format as it is today. Under Olympic rules at the time, the group game with Sweden was counted along with the medal round games versus the Soviet Union and Finland, so it was mathematically possible for the United States to finish anywhere from first to third.
Needing to win to secure the gold medal, Team USA came back from a 2–1 third-period deficit to defeat Finland 4–2. According to Mike Eruzione, coming into the dressing room for the second intermission, Brooks turned to his players, looked at them, and said, "If you lose this game, you'll take it to your fucking graves." He then walked towards the locker room door, paused, looked over his shoulder, and said to them again, "Your fucking graves."
At the time, the players ascended a podium to receive their medals and then lined up on the ice for the playing of the national anthem, as the podium was only meant to accommodate one person. Only the team captains remained on the podium for the duration. After the completion of the anthem, Eruzione motioned for his teammates to join him on the podium. Today, podiums are not used for ice hockey; the teams line up on their respective blue lines after the final game.
The cover of the March 3, 1980, issue of Sports Illustrated was a photograph by Heinz Kluetmeier of the American players celebrating and waving an American flag; it did not feature any explanatory captions or headlines, because, as Kluetmeier put it, "It didn't need it. Everyone in America knew what happened." The U.S. team also received the magazine's "Sportsmen of the Year" award, and were also named Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press and ABC's Wide World of Sports. In 2004, ESPN, as part of its 25th anniversary, declared the Miracle on Ice to be the top sports headline moment and game of the period 1979–2004. The victory was voted the greatest sports moment of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated.
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After the 1980 Winter Olympics

At the 1981 Canada Cup, the United States, with seven players from their 1980 Olympic team, again faced the Soviet Union. The Soviets took the opening round encounter 4–1 in Edmonton. At the 1982 World Championship in Finland, with Mike Ramsey, Mark Johnson, Buzz Schneider, and John Harrington, the Americans again met the Soviets, but once again the U.S. lost, 8–4.

Later careers

Of the 20 players on Team USA, 13 eventually played in the NHL. Five of them played over 500 NHL games, and three of them played over 1,000 NHL games.
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Silver medal

In the Soviet locker room, Tikhonov singled out first-line players Tretiak, Kharlamov, Petrov, and Mikhailov, and told each of them, "This is your loss!" Two days after the Miracle on Ice, the Soviet team defeated Sweden 9–2, winning the silver medal. The Soviet players were so upset at their loss that they did not turn in their silver medals to get their names inscribed on them, as is custom. The result stunned the Soviet Union and its news media.

After the 1980 Winter Olympics

Despite the loss, the USSR remained the pre-eminent power in Olympic hockey until its 1991 break-up. The Soviet team did not lose a World Championship game until 1985 and did not lose to the United States again until 1991. Throughout the 1980s, NHL teams continued to draft Soviet players in hopes of enticing them to eventually play in North America. Soviet emigrant Victor Nechayev made a brief appearance with the Los Angeles Kings in the 1982–83 season and, during the 1988–89 season, the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation agreed to let veteran Sergei Pryakhin join the Calgary Flames.

NHL careers

In the 1989-90 season, Soviet authorities permitted six more 1980 Olympians - Helmuts Balderis, Viacheslav Fetisov, Alexei Kasatonov, Vladimir Krutov, Sergei Makarov, and Sergei Starikov - to join NHL clubs, but only after they agreed to play in their final World Championship. Makarov won the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year in 1989–90, becoming the oldest player to win that award. Fetisov was a teammate of Mike Ramsey on the 1995 Detroit Red Wings team that lost the Stanley Cup Final to Neal Broten and the New Jersey Devils. Fetisov completed his career by winning Cups with the Red Wings in 1997 and 1998; the first Cup win also made Fetisov a member of the Triple Gold Club, consisting of individuals who have won a Stanley Cup plus gold medals at the Olympics and World Championships.

Notable rematches

The U.S. and the Soviet Union next met at the Winter Olympics in 1988. As in 1980, the Soviets were represented by their star-studded veterans, while the Americans fielded a team of college players. The Soviets won the encounter 7–5 and won the gold medal, while the U.S. placed seventh.
The two teams met again at the 1992 Olympics in a semi-final match. There, the Unified Team won 5–2. While some stars had left the Soviet Union to play in the NHL, the Unified Team still boasted many veterans from their domestic professional league, while the Americans were represented primarily by college players. The Unified Team eventually won the gold medal, while the U.S. placed fourth.
The U.S., coached by Herb Brooks, and Russia, coached by Viacheslav Fetisov, met twice in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, which included a 2–2 round-robin draw and a 3–2 semi-final win for the Americans. The semi-final match was played 22 years to the day after the "Miracle on Ice" game. The U.S. eventually won silver, while Russia won bronze.
The U.S. and Russia played each other in a round-robin game at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The game was tied 2–2 after overtime before the Americans prevailed in an eight-round shootout, with T.J. Oshie scoring on 4 of 6 attempts for the United States. The match has been dubbed by some as the "Marathon on Ice" due to its length. Both teams, however, failed to medal; the Americans finished fourth, while the Russians placed fifth.

Popular culture

A made-for-TV movie Miracle on Ice, starring Karl Malden as Brooks and Steve Guttenberg as Craig, aired on ABC television in 1981. It incorporated actual game footage and original commentary from the 1980 Winter Games.
The final episode of People's Century, "Fast Forward", featured the Miracle on Ice as illustrating the Cold War.
The documentary film Do You Believe in Miracles?, narrated by Liev Schreiber, premiered on HBO in 2001 and was subsequently released on home video.
In 2004, Walt Disney Pictures released the film Miracle, directed by Gavin O'Connor and starring Kurt Russell as Brooks. Al Michaels recreated his commentary for most of the games. The final ten seconds, however, and his "Do you believe in miracles? YES!" call, were from the original broadcast and used in the film since the filmmakers felt that they could not ask him to recreate the emotion he felt at that moment. The film was dedicated to Brooks, who died shortly after principal photography completed.
The documentary Of Miracles And Men, which was directed by Jonathan Hock, premiered on ESPN in 2015 as part of the channel's 30 for 30 series. The story of the 1980 matchup is told from the Soviet perspective.

Team rosters

United States

Soviet Union

* Starting line up

Box score