Miracle on Ice
The "Miracle on Ice" is the popular nickname for the men's ice hockey game in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games, in which a team of amateur and collegiate players from the United States beat the long-dominant and heavily-favored Soviet Union, in a match held on February 22, 1980, at Lake Placid, New York. The United States went on to win the gold medal by beating Finland 4-2 in their final game. The Soviet Union took the silver by beating Sweden in their final game. Sweden received the bronze medal, and Finland finished 4th.
Miracle
The United States team entered the competition seeded seventh in the final round of twelve teams that qualified for the Lake Placid Olympics. The team was composed of young collegiate players and amateurs. The Soviet Union was the favored team. Though classed as amateur, Soviet players essentially played professionally in a well-developed league with excellent training facilities. They were led by legendary players in world ice hockey, such as Boris Mikhailov, a right-wing and team captain; Vladislav Tretiak, considered by many the best ice hockey goaltender in the world at the time; as well as talented, young, and dynamic players such as defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov and forwards Vladimir Krutov, Sergei Makarov and Valery Kharlamov. In exhibitions that year, Soviet club teams had gone 5-3-1 against NHL teams, and a year earlier the Soviet national team 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 US born professional players had been on the rise throughout the 1970s. The 1980 US Olympic team featured several young players who were regarded as highly promising, and some had signed contracts to play in the National Hockey League immediately after the tournament.
The Soviet and American teams were natural rivals due to decades-old Cold War disputes. 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 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which began the year before. Carter eventually decided in favor of the boycott.
On February 9, the two teams met for an exhibition match in order to practice for the upcoming competition. The Soviet Union won 10-3.
In Olympic group play, the United States surprised many observers with their physical, cohesive play, starting with a 2-2 tie against Sweden and followed by a stunning 7-3 victory against a strong team from Czechoslovakia. The U.S. team finished with four wins and one draw to advance to the medal round. In the other group, the Soviets stormed through their opposition undefeated, often by grossly lopsided scores – knocking off Japan 16-0, the Netherlands 17-4, and Poland 8-1 – and easily qualified for the next round although both the Finns and the Canadian amateurs actually had the USSR on the ropes before collapsing in the final period. In the end, Sweden and Finland (who overcame a disastrous start after sensationally losing to lowly Poland in their opening game of the tournament) also qualified for the medal round after defeating Czechoslovakia and Canada, respectively.
The US and USSR prepared for the medal round in different ways. Coach Viktor Tikhonov of the Soviets rested most of his best players, preferring to let them study plays rather than actually skate. U.S. coach Herb Brooks, however, continued with his tough, confrontational style, skating "hard" practices, and berating his players for perceived weaknesses.
The day before the match, columnist Dave Anderson wrote in the New York Times, "Unless the ice melts, or unless the United States team or another team performs a miracle, as did the American squad in 1960, the Russians are expected to win the Olympic gold medal for the sixth time in the last seven tournaments."
"Do you believe in miracles?"
The home crowd, reinforced by the US team's improbable run during group play and the Cold War "showdown" mentality, were in a patriotic fervor throughout the match, waving U.S. flags and singing patriotic songs such as "God Bless America." The rest of the United States (except those who watched the game live on Canadian television) would have to wait to see the game, as ABC decided to broadcast the late-afternoon game on tape delay in prime time. As in several previous games, the U.S. team fell behind early. Vladimir Krutov deflected a slap shot by Aleksei Kasatonov past U.S. goaltender Jim Craig to give the Soviets a 1-0 lead, and, after Buzz Schneider scored for the United States to tie the game, the Soviets rallied again with a Sergei Makarov goal.
Down 2-1, Craig improved his play, turning away many Soviet shots before the U.S. team had another shot on goal. (The Soviet team had 39 shots on goal in the game, the Americans only 16.) In the waning seconds of the first period, Dave Christian fired a desperate slap shot on Tretiak. The Soviet goalie saved the shot but misplayed the rebound, and Mark Johnson scooped it past the goaltender to tie the score with one second left in the period. The frustrated Soviet team played the final second of the period with just three players on the ice, as the rest of the team had retired to their dressing room for the first intermission.
Tikhonov replaced Tretiak with backup goaltender Vladimir Myshkin to start the second period, a move which surprised many players on both teams. Fetisov later identified this as the "turning point of the game." The switch seemed to work at first, as Myshkin allowed no goals in the second period. Aleksandr Maltsev scored on a power play to make the score 3-2 for the U.S.S.R.
Mark Johnson scored again for the U.S., 8:39 into the final period, firing a loose puck past Myshkin to tie the score just as a power play was ending. Only a couple shifts later, Mark Pavelich passed to U.S. captain Mike Eruzione, who was left undefended in the high slot. Eruzione fired a shot past Myshkin, who was screened by his own defenseman. This goal gave the U.S. a 4-3 lead with exactly 10 minutes to play in the contest.
Craig withstood another series of Soviet shots to finish the match, though the Soviets did not remove their goalkeeper for an extra attacker. As the U.S. team tried desperately to clear the zone (move the puck over the blue line, which they did with seven seconds remaining), the crowd began to count down the seconds left. Sportscaster Al Michaels, who was calling the game on ABC along with former Montreal Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden, picked up on the countdown in his broadcast, and delivered his famous call:
...Eleven seconds, you've got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk...five seconds left in the game...Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!
This victory was voted the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated. [1]
The US aftermath
Many people incorrectly recall that the US won the Gold Medal that night. In fact, the medal round was a round-robin, not a single elimination format like it is today. The US team went on to defeat Finland 4-2 in the other medal round game, needing to win to secure the gold. 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, Mike Eruzione motioned for his teammates to join him on the podium. Today, the podiums are large enough to accommodate all of the players.
The victory bolstered many US citizens' feelings of national pride which had been severely strained during the turbulent 1970s. The match versus the Soviets popularized the "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chant, which has been used by U.S. supporters at many international sports competitions since 1980.
Of the 20 players on the US team, 13 eventually played in the NHL. Five of them would go on to play over 500 NHL games.
- Neal Broten had arguably the most successful pro career, appearing in 1099 NHL games over 17 seasons, mostly with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars franchise. A two-time All-Star, he tallied 923 career points (289 goals, 634 assists) and won a Stanley Cup as a member of the New Jersey Devils in 1995. Having already won the 1979 NCAA championship at the University of Minnesota, he became the only player to win a hockey championship at the collegiate, professional, and Olympic levels in his lifetime.
- Ken Morrow won a Stanley Cup in 1980 as a member of the New York Islanders, becoming the first hockey player to win an Olympic gold medal and the Cup in the same year. He went on to play 550 NHL games and win three more Cups, all with the Islanders.
- Mike Ramsey had the longest NHL career, playing in 1070 games over 18 years. Fourteen of those years were spent with the Buffalo Sabres, for whom he was a five-time All-Star and served as team captain from 1990-92. In 2000 he became an assistant coach for the Minnesota Wild.
- Dave Christian spent 14 years in the NHL, the bulk of them for the Winnipeg Jets (for whom he served as team captain) and Washington Capitals. He ended his career with 773 points (340 goals, 443 assists) in 1009 games and made the All-Star team in 1991.
- Mark Johnson bounced around the NHL for several years before finding a home in New Jersey, but he was a scoring threat wherever he went, tallying 508 career points (203 goals, 305 assists) in 669 games over 11 seasons. Like Christian, Ramsey, and Broten, he became an NHL All-Star (in 1984) and served as team captain with the Hartford Whalers. In 2002 Johnson became the coach of the University of Wisconsin Women's Hockey team, leading the team to consecutive National Championships in the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons.
- Jack O'Callahan, Steve Christoff, Rob McClanahan, Mark Pavelich, Dave Silk, Bill Baker, Jim Craig, and Steve Janaszak also went on to have modestly successful pro careers. The "Miracle on Ice" generation of US players (i.e. athletes born in the mid to late-1950s) also spawned other American stars such as Mark Howe, Rod Langway, Joe Mullen and Reed Larson.
One of Brooks's assistant coaches, Craig Patrick, went on to become a successful general manager in the NHL and is now in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Brooks himself would coach several NHL teams following the Olympics, with mixed results. Both Patrick and later Brooks would coach (and in Patrick's case, become GM) of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He would also return to the Olympics as coach of the 2002 team, winning the silver medal. Brooks died in a car crash in 2003 at the age of 66. The ice arena in Lake Placid is now named in his honor.
Long NHL careers were not in the cards for every member of the team, however. Most notably, team captain Mike Eruzione played his last high-level hockey game in the 1980 Olympics, as he felt that he had accomplished his hockey goals with the gold medal win.
Michaels was named "Sportscaster of the Year" in 1980 for his coverage of the event, and the team received Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsmen of the Year" award, as well as being named as ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year.
In 2002, the members of the team jointly lit the Olympic Flame at the climax of the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In 2004, ESPN, as part of their 25th anniversary, declared the Miracle on Ice to be the top sports headline, moment, and game of the period 1979–2004.
Soviet reaction
Though their immediate public reactions were generally sportsmanlike, the Soviet players' primary postgame emotion was despair, accentuated by coach Viktor Tikhonov's rage. There was also fear involved; a position on the national team was a high-status placement in Soviet society, affording a better lifestyle to the players in return for the perceived propaganda value of international sporting dominance. A loss to the humble U.S. team negated this goal. Though the game was on live television in the Soviet Union, it was played at 1:00 AM Moscow time. This afforded CPSU officials some ability to squelch news and discussion; Pravda did not carry a game report or mention the match in its post-Olympic wrap-up, and the hockey players were quickly and quietly herded away from the arrival reception for Olympic athletes at Moscow's airport.
Despite the loss, the Soviet Union remained the pre-eminent force in international ice hockey for more than ten years, up until the country's break-up on December 25, 1991. NHL teams continued to draft Soviet players in hopes of enticing them to eventually play professionally in North America, but the first would not be permitted do so until 1988-89, when veteran Sergei Priakin joined the Calgary Flames. The following season (1989-90), the Soviet Union allowed many of its veteran stars to play in the NHL. This list included many members of the 1980 Olympic Squad (Viacheslav Fetisov, Aleksei Kasatonov, Vladimer Krutov, Helmut Balderis, Sergei Makarov). Young star Alexander Mogilny defected to play for the Buffalo Sabres, as the Soviets did not allow younger players to emigrate. Soon thereafter, the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a flood of ex-Soviet stars in the NHL. From the time the Soviets first allowed players to play in the NHL, many of the NHL's top players, led by Igor Larionov, Alexander Mogilny, Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Bure, Sergei Zubov, Alexei Kovalev, Alexei Yashin, Sergei Gonchar, Maxim Afinogenov, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexander Ovechkin, and Evgeni Malkin have come from the former Soviet Union.
Cultural references
A movie, Miracle, starring Karl Malden as Brooks and Steve Guttenberg as Craig, aired on television in 1981, and was released in theaters in 1989. It incorporates actual game footage and original commentary from the 1980 Winter Games.
A second movie about the hockey victory called Miracle, starring Kurt Russell as Brooks, was released in 2004. 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.
In the X-Files episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man," it is said that the Soviet Union lost because the Cigarette Smoking Man rigged the game by drugging the Soviet goaltender (Tretiak).
The Miracle on Ice features in the last episode of Peoples Century, "Fast Forward." to illustrate Soviet/US rivalries.
The documentary film Do You Believe in Miracles?, narrated by Liev Schreiber, appeared on HBO in 2001.
In an episode of Scrubs, Dr. Cox—in one of his near-trademarked rants—states that Elliot’s stories have pushed the memory of the Miracle on Ice out of his mind.
During the episode of The Simpsons "She Used to Be My Girl", Marge, while thinking on what her life would have been like had she taken a job as a news reporter visualizes herself reporting that the Miracle on Ice never happened.
Team Rosters
* Starters
Officials
U.S. vs. USSR
- Referee: Karl-Gustav Kaisla (
Finland) - Linesmen: Nico Toemen (
Netherlands), Francoise LaRochelle (
Canada)
References
- Coffey, Wayne. The Boys of Winter. New York City: Crown Publishers, 2005.
- Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team. HBO Home Video, 2001.
- Dolezar, Jon A (2002). "Russian hockey looked different after '72 Summit Series". Sports Illustrated. Sep. 27, 2002.
- "Herb Brooks killed in car accident". Sports Illustrated. Aug. 11, 2003.
- Kindred, Dave. "Born to Be Players, Born to the Moment". Washington Post. February 23, 1980, Page A1.
- Shapiro, Leonard. "U.S. Shocks Soviets in Ice Hockey, 4-3". Washington Post. February 23, 1980, Page D1.
- Swift, E.M (1980). "With one seemingly harmless shot, Mike Eruzione staked the U.S. to a lead and a Miracle on Ice". Sports Illustrated. Mar. 3, 1980.
- Box score. This is a PDF file containing the official results for the entire 1980 Winter Olympics. The section on the hockey medal round begins on page 105 and the box score for the 22 February 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game is on page 111.