1980 : U.S. hockey team makes miracle on ice
In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the underdog
U.S. hockey team, made up of college players, defeats the four-time
defending gold-medal winning Soviet team at the XIII Olympic Winter
Games in Lake Placid, New York. The Soviet squad, previously regarded
as the finest in the world, fell to the youthful American team 4-3
before a frenzied crowd of 10,000 spectators. Two days later, the
Americans defeated Finland 4-2 to clinch the hockey gold.
The Soviet team had captured the previous four Olympic hockey golds,
going back to 1964, and had not lost an Olympic hockey game since
1968. Three days before the Lake Placid Games began, the Soviets
routed the U.S. team 10-3 in an exhibition game at Madison Square
Garden in New York City. The Americans looked scrappy, but few blamed
them for it--their average age, after all, was only 22, and their team
captain, Mike Eruzione, was recruited from the obscurity of the Toledo
Blades of the International League.
Few had high hopes for the seventh-seeded U.S. team entering the
Olympic tournament, but the team soon silenced its detractors, making
it through the opening round of play undefeated, with four victories
and one tie, thus advancing to the four-team medal round. The Soviets,
however, were seeded No. 1 and as expected went undefeated, with five
victories in the first round.
On Friday afternoon, February 22, the American amateurs and the Soviet
dream team met before a sold-out crowd at Lake Placid. The Soviets
broke through first, with their new young star, Valery Krotov,
deflecting a slap shot beyond American goalie Jim Craig's reach in the
first period. Midway through the period, Buzz Schneider, the only
American who had previously been an Olympian, answered the Soviet goal
with a high shot over the shoulder of Vladislav Tretiak, the Soviet
goalie.
The relentless Soviet attack continued as the period progressed, with
Sergei Makarov giving his team a 2-1 lead. With just a few seconds
left in the first period, American Ken Morrow shot the puck down the
ice in desperation. Mark Johnson picked it up and sent it into the
Soviet goal with one second remaining. After a brief Soviet protest,
the goal was deemed good, and the game was tied.
In the second period, the irritated Soviets came out with a new
goalie, Vladimir Myshkin, and turned up the attack. The Soviets
dominated play in the second period, outshooting the United States
12-2, and taking a 3-2 lead with a goal by Alesandr Maltsev just over
two minutes into the period. If not for several remarkable saves by
Jim Craig, the Soviet lead would surely have been higher than 3-2 as
the third and final 20-minute period began.
Nearly nine minutes into the period, Johnson took advantage of a
Soviet penalty and knocked home a wild shot by David Silk to tie the
contest again at 3-3. About a minute and a half later, Mike Eruzione,
whose last name means "eruption" in Italian, picked up a loose puck in
the Soviet zone and slammed it past Myshkin with a 25-foot wrist shot.
For the first time in the game, the Americans had the lead, and the
crowd erupted in celebration.
There were still 10 minutes of play to go, but the Americans held on,
with Craig making a few more fabulous saves. With five seconds
remaining, the Americans finally managed to get the puck out of their
zone, and the crowd began counting down the final seconds. When the
final horn sounded, the players, coaches, and team officials poured
onto the ice in raucous celebration. The Soviet players, as awestruck
as everyone else, waited patiently to shake their opponents' hands.
The so-called Miracle on Ice was more than just an Olympic upset; to
many Americans, it was an ideological victory in the Cold War as
meaningful as the Berlin Airlift or the Apollo moon landing. The upset
came at an auspicious time: President Jimmy Carter had just announced
that the United States was going to boycott the 1980 Summer Games in
Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Americans,
faced with a major recession and the Iran hostage crisis, were in dire
need of something to celebrate. After the game, President Carter
called the players to congratulate them, and millions of Americans
spent that Friday night in revelry over the triumph of "our boys" over
the Russian pros.
As the U.S. team demonstrated in their victory over Finland two days
later, it was disparaging to call the U.S. team amateurs.
Three-quarters of the squad were top college players who were on their
way to the National Hockey League (NHL), and coach Herb Brooks had
trained the team long and hard in a manner that would have made the
most authoritative Soviet coach proud. The 1980 U.S. hockey team was
probably the best-conditioned American Olympic hockey team of all
time--the result of countless hours running skating exercises in
preparation for Lake Placid. In their play, the U.S. players adopted
passing techniques developed by the Soviets for the larger
international hockey rinks, while preserving the rough checking style
that was known to throw the Soviets off-guard. It was these factors,
combined with an exceptional afternoon of play by Craig, Johnson,
Eruzione, and others, that resulted in the miracle at Lake Placid.
This improbable victory was later memorialized in a 2004 film,
Miracle, starring Kurt Russell.
history.com/tdih.do
General Interest
1980 : U.S. hockey team makes miracle on ice
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=6815
1819 : The U.S. acquires Spanish Florida
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4779
1847 : Battle of Buena Vista begins
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4780
1967 : Suharto takes full power in Indonesia
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4781
1968 : Tet Offensive ends
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=50498
###########################################
In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the underdog
U.S. hockey team, made up of college players, defeats the four-time
defending gold-medal winning Soviet team at the XIII Olympic Winter
Games in Lake Placid, New York. The Soviet squad, previously regarded
as the finest in the world, fell to the youthful American team 4-3
before a frenzied crowd of 10,000 spectators. Two days later, the
Americans defeated Finland 4-2 to clinch the hockey gold.
The Soviet team had captured the previous four Olympic hockey golds,
going back to 1964, and had not lost an Olympic hockey game since
1968. Three days before the Lake Placid Games began, the Soviets
routed the U.S. team 10-3 in an exhibition game at Madison Square
Garden in New York City. The Americans looked scrappy, but few blamed
them for it--their average age, after all, was only 22, and their team
captain, Mike Eruzione, was recruited from the obscurity of the Toledo
Blades of the International League.
Few had high hopes for the seventh-seeded U.S. team entering the
Olympic tournament, but the team soon silenced its detractors, making
it through the opening round of play undefeated, with four victories
and one tie, thus advancing to the four-team medal round. The Soviets,
however, were seeded No. 1 and as expected went undefeated, with five
victories in the first round.
On Friday afternoon, February 22, the American amateurs and the Soviet
dream team met before a sold-out crowd at Lake Placid. The Soviets
broke through first, with their new young star, Valery Krotov,
deflecting a slap shot beyond American goalie Jim Craig's reach in the
first period. Midway through the period, Buzz Schneider, the only
American who had previously been an Olympian, answered the Soviet goal
with a high shot over the shoulder of Vladislav Tretiak, the Soviet
goalie.
The relentless Soviet attack continued as the period progressed, with
Sergei Makarov giving his team a 2-1 lead. With just a few seconds
left in the first period, American Ken Morrow shot the puck down the
ice in desperation. Mark Johnson picked it up and sent it into the
Soviet goal with one second remaining. After a brief Soviet protest,
the goal was deemed good, and the game was tied.
In the second period, the irritated Soviets came out with a new
goalie, Vladimir Myshkin, and turned up the attack. The Soviets
dominated play in the second period, outshooting the United States
12-2, and taking a 3-2 lead with a goal by Alesandr Maltsev just over
two minutes into the period. If not for several remarkable saves by
Jim Craig, the Soviet lead would surely have been higher than 3-2 as
the third and final 20-minute period began.
Nearly nine minutes into the period, Johnson took advantage of a
Soviet penalty and knocked home a wild shot by David Silk to tie the
contest again at 3-3. About a minute and a half later, Mike Eruzione,
whose last name means "eruption" in Italian, picked up a loose puck in
the Soviet zone and slammed it past Myshkin with a 25-foot wrist shot.
For the first time in the game, the Americans had the lead, and the
crowd erupted in celebration.
There were still 10 minutes of play to go, but the Americans held on,
with Craig making a few more fabulous saves. With five seconds
remaining, the Americans finally managed to get the puck out of their
zone, and the crowd began counting down the final seconds. When the
final horn sounded, the players, coaches, and team officials poured
onto the ice in raucous celebration. The Soviet players, as awestruck
as everyone else, waited patiently to shake their opponents' hands.
The so-called Miracle on Ice was more than just an Olympic upset; to
many Americans, it was an ideological victory in the Cold War as
meaningful as the Berlin Airlift or the Apollo moon landing. The upset
came at an auspicious time: President Jimmy Carter had just announced
that the United States was going to boycott the 1980 Summer Games in
Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Americans,
faced with a major recession and the Iran hostage crisis, were in dire
need of something to celebrate. After the game, President Carter
called the players to congratulate them, and millions of Americans
spent that Friday night in revelry over the triumph of "our boys" over
the Russian pros.
As the U.S. team demonstrated in their victory over Finland two days
later, it was disparaging to call the U.S. team amateurs.
Three-quarters of the squad were top college players who were on their
way to the National Hockey League (NHL), and coach Herb Brooks had
trained the team long and hard in a manner that would have made the
most authoritative Soviet coach proud. The 1980 U.S. hockey team was
probably the best-conditioned American Olympic hockey team of all
time--the result of countless hours running skating exercises in
preparation for Lake Placid. In their play, the U.S. players adopted
passing techniques developed by the Soviets for the larger
international hockey rinks, while preserving the rough checking style
that was known to throw the Soviets off-guard. It was these factors,
combined with an exceptional afternoon of play by Craig, Johnson,
Eruzione, and others, that resulted in the miracle at Lake Placid.
This improbable victory was later memorialized in a 2004 film,
Miracle, starring Kurt Russell.
history.com/tdih.do
General Interest
1980 : U.S. hockey team makes miracle on ice
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=6815
1819 : The U.S. acquires Spanish Florida
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4779
1847 : Battle of Buena Vista begins
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4780
1967 : Suharto takes full power in Indonesia
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4781
1968 : Tet Offensive ends
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=50498
###########################################
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