Miracle On Ice — A Faded Glory?

For those of us sports fans who were there, it was an indelible moment. For those of us who remember, you can tell exactly where you were when it happened. You know where you were and what you were doing when the Americans beat the Russians. If you are like me, you probably remember where you were and what you were doing when team USA beat Finland for the gold medal two days later as well. The sad thing is, if you are under about age 40, or maybe 38, you really can have no appreciation of what has become known as the “Miracle on Ice”.

And that’s a shame.

Oh sure, you have heard about it. You have seen the movies. The one with Karl Malden and then the one with Kurt Russell playing coach Herb Brooks. As good as those movies were though, it is hard to fully explain the magnitude of that event. It beccame a microcosm of all things great about this country. Sure the Berlin Wall didn’t fall officially until a few years later, but in some ways, it began to crumble that day in February of 1980.

I was a 13 year old boy at the time. Full of vim and vigor, and a huge sports fan, in many ways, it was the first Olympic winter games I had really truly followed in my life. Oh I remember Franz Klammer winning the downhill and Dorothy Hamill winning womens figure skating in 1976, but in ’80, I was more mature. More aware. More “into it”.

I remember staying up late, laying in bed and watching Bill Baker score on a slap shot from the point to tie the heavily favored Swedes 2-2 in their first game. It gave the US team confidence–confidence that would grow two days later when the US walloped favored Czeckoslavakia 7-3. A 5-1 win over Norway and a 7-2 win over Romania would follow. Eyebrows began to be raised and expectations began to grow. A 4-2 win over the favored Germans would get team US into the medal round.

At that point, reality sunk in. The US team going 4-0-1 in preliminary play was a nice story, but now, it was time to play the Russians. The mighty Soviet Union. C.C.C.P. The red menace. The best hockey team in the world. The team that had toyed with the American boys in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden 10-3, in a game played just two weeks before the Olympic matchup.

The Russians were MEN. Grown men who had gone 5-3-1 in an exhibition tour against NHL teams in the previous year, and had beaten an NHL Allstar team 6-0. Team USA was just a bunch of kids. Most of them 19-22 year old college kids. Heading into this medal round semi-final game, it wasn’t a matter of win or lose. It was a matter of how embarrassed the US team would be after losing to the Russians. Would they take it easy on us, and only beat us 7-3 or would it be just like the previous outcome?

I remember the game was on a Friday. I don’t even have to look up a schedule of 1980. I just know that. The game was played in the late afternoon hours, and I remember it was snowing in Rochester, New York. The game was being shown on tape delay in prime time on the network that was covering the games, so by the time most Americans actually saw the game, they knew the outcome. Most didn’t care. I somehow was able to turn the channel whenever anyone was about to mention the result, so honestly, I didn’t know who won until I watched it.

In 1980, the United States was much like it was in 2009 economicallly. It was just coming out of a horrible recession under the Carter administration, and the country’s mood was in the doldrums. The US had just dealt with the Iranian hostage crisis, botched attempts at rescues, and was still less than a decade removed from the Vietnam war ending. Tensions were still at an all time icy high in the Cold War between the US and the USSR. There had not been a lot to cheer about for a long time in this country.

That all changed in the late afternoon hours of February 22nd, 1980. The Russians jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the first period, and then the magic happened. Mark Johnson jumped off the bench on a change, gathered in a dump in shot, and with a second left in the period, slipped the puck past Vlad Tretiak, who happened to be possibly the best goaltender to ever play the game. Tretiak was inexplicably pulled after that, and the Americans started thinking, “hey, we might have a shot here!”

After a Russian goal made it 3-2, Johnson scored again on a power play to tie it at 3, which set up the “goal heard round the world”. Captain Mike Eruzione gathered in a loose puck at the edge of the right circle and fired it past Myushkin, the backup goaltender, and the US had a lead with exactly ten minutes left in the 3rd period.

What followed was the longest, and most gut wrenching, edge of your seat nervousness I have EVER felt in the history of sports. The US went into a defensive shell, and withstood an onslaught of shots and pressure. Russia out shot the US 39-16 in the game, and it seemed like 29 of those 30 came in those ten minutes. As the clock wound down to zero, you can still hear Al Michaels yelling “Do you believe in miracles…..YES” in the back of your mind as if it was yesterday.

I will never forget the US players jubilation on that ice surface after the game. I will never forget the entire country’s jubilation either.

When you think about it 34 years later, it gets even more remarkable. Add in the fact that of that whole Olympic team, only a handful of those players had decent NHL careers (Ken Morrow, Mark Johnson, Mike Ramsey, Neal Broten, Dave Christian), it becomes even more impressive. The US winning that game would be like the University of Rochester beating Alabama for the National title in football. It would be like the Batavia Muckdogs beating the New York Yankees in the World Series. It is the mother of all upsets in the history of sports, and probably always will be.

Since 1980, the International Olympic Committee decided to allow professional hockey players to play in the Olympic games. Dream teams. That is an ironic term really. It seems that now, it doesn’t allow us to dream.

Like it did in 1980.

Now it seems like every four years that goes by, that accomplishment of the 1980 US mens Olympic hockey team gets mentioned less and less. Every four years it gets more and more forgotten.

And to me, that is very sad.

That team showed us what is great about America. It brought us out of the doldrums as a nation. It gave us all hope and belief. It made us all realize that with hard work and determination, that any obstacles can be overcome. In some ways, it was the beginning of the end of the Cold War, and the start of national prosperity.

It will never happen again.

The United States hockey team is playing very well in these Olympics. Maybe team USA might even be the team to beat for the gold medal. It will be fun to see if it happens, but I know I won’t feel that same excitement that I felt on that Sunday afternoon on February 24th 1980, when the US beat Finland 4-2 to wrap up the gold medal game.

It just can’t. And that’s alright by me.