Millions of Americans who watched Team USA lose an overtime thriller to rival Canada in the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off hockey championship this week got a taste of what it was like in 1980 — but with a much different result.
Saturday marks the 45th anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice,” when the U.S. Hockey Team defeated the Soviet Union 4-3 in Lake Placid, N.Y., during the 1980 Winter Olympic Games, en route to winning the gold medal.
The U.S. team, led by the legendary coach Herb Brooks and made up of amateur collegiate players, were the underdogs against the Soviet Union, the four-time defending gold medalist, in the medal round.
It wasn’t easy. The U.S. fell behind three times (1-0, 2-1 and 3-2) heading into the third period, before scoring twice, to take a 4-3 lead with 10 minutes left — and managed to hold off the Soviet squad to secure the victory.
Sportscaster Al Michaels, who was doing play-by-play on ABC, delivered the now-iconic call as the final seconds ticked away: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
The win, coming at the height of the Cold War, captured the imagination of Americans and has been credited with transforming the sport of hockey in the United States, which went on to produce numerous star hockey players in the 1980s and '90s.
The unlikely victory also inspired the 2004 Disney movie, Miracle.
It did not inspire more gold medals, however: The “Miracle on Ice” team was the last to win Olympic gold in men’s hockey for the U.S. — which makes what they accomplished all the more remarkable.Last October, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to award Congressional Gold Medals to the “Miracle on Ice” team members.
"What they did for our country at that moment, I'll never forget," Rep. Pete Stauber, a Republican from Minnesota who introduced the Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act, told the Associated Press. "It's one of the defining sports moments in my lifetime, and I am so proud that we can give this Congressional Medal to each member of that Olympic team, to say thank you for the memories we will never forget as a nation."
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