Happy 40th anniversary to the Miracle on Ice
February 22nd, 2020 at 8:54 AM ^
Do you believe in miracles? YES!
Do you believe in miracles? YES!
February 22nd, 2020 at 8:57 AM ^
I know some Americans who were rooting for the Soviets. Some even went on their honeymoon there I hear. I bet when our boys whopped that ass, the Soviet rooting pussies were sad.
Fuck the Soviets and all socialists and communists everywhere.
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:07 AM ^
I think you are missing the elephant in the room
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:40 AM ^
Always wondered, are their honeymoon tapes or just pee pee ones?
February 22nd, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
Haha! This isn't a "political" place!!! Trump brought out the 80 Team at his Vegas rally yesterday. Wonder if Bernie had Boris, Vlad, Fetisov (Great Red Wing), Makarov, Petrov, etc... at one of his? Thankfully some of those Soviets became great Red Wings and brought a couple CUPS to Detroit.
I"M BEING FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAKING A JOKE!!!! Something that people like Leno, Seinfeld, Carson etc.. used to do.
February 22nd, 2020 at 12:51 PM ^
Probably pretended to like team USA but had money on the Soviets
February 22nd, 2020 at 2:15 PM ^
Clearly we have different senses of humor. I find the irony of someone getting on their high horse about someone taking their honeymoon in the Soviet Union and ignoring someone else who kowtows to Putin pretty funny. Also, while their is plenty of hypocrisy in politics, pointing out hypocrisy is not inherently political.
I find it very disheartening that someone in the first place felt the need to take what should be a feel good thread that should bring us all together to support the red, white and blue felt the need to divide by focusing on the red or the blue. I probably should have just ignored it, but my response (which I apparently should have explained in all caps) was inspired by frustration about the hypocrisy, not support for either of the people being referenced (neither of whom I support).
February 22nd, 2020 at 6:20 PM ^
Dude you need to get out of DC. It's not a real town.
Bad for your health.
USA!! USA!!
February 22nd, 2020 at 7:33 PM ^
I don’t think my thinking Eli is an ass for bringing politics into this thread has anything to do with me being in DC. I’d find him an ass if I lived anywhere in this country.
February 24th, 2020 at 11:29 AM ^
Eli is not the one who ruined the 40th anniversary by bringing politics into this thread. Clearly, the players themselves ruined it.
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:07 AM ^
I was in 8th grade when that game happened. My grade school had home bball games that Friday night - the JV game was first, girls game second, and finally the varsity played last. I was on the varsity team, so stayed at home to watch the hockey game. When it ended, I ran the few blocks to the school and told a friend of mine that we had won. He went around the court to the scorers table and told them. The girls were playing, and at the next whistle they announced the final score. There was a standing ovation for about 5 full minutes!
The Gold Medal game Sunday against Finland was anti-climatic... What a Winter Games that was in Lake Placid!!
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:37 AM ^
(humble brag)
We lived in Poughkeepsie at the time and I was a freshman in college. My Dad and I had driven up (and back) to see the Sweden game. What a long ride home on the Taconic Parkway that was. I was sitting behind Pele Lindburgh when Bill Baker beat him with a shot from the point. 27 seconds left in the 3rd. I can still see the shot stretching the twine with Lindburgh's left leg, at full extension, in a futile attempt to stop it.
The following weekend we had tickets to watch the 10,000 meter speed skating event in front of the Lake Placid high school (outside). We were in Saranac Lake that Friday evening. The game with the Russians was on tape delay. I was nervously watching some sit-com waiting for the game to start. During a commercial break, the score popped up on the screen; USA 4, USSR 3, 3rd Period. I was dumbfounded. The US was winning (!!) but I had no idea how much time was left in the game. So, I knew that we had a pretty good chance to win or tie. When I finally saw it, the last ten minutes of that third period was quite a ride.
Oh, and the 10K meters? The gold was taken by Eric Heiden (he crushed it). What a great two weeks that was in February, 1980.
February 22nd, 2020 at 11:44 AM ^
Bill Bonds came on in the 2nd intermission to tell us that the US had won. (The game was played in the afternoon but aired in the evening with a tape delay.)
I was in 9th grader in middle school, so our basketball games were on Thursdays and/or the season was over for swimming, so I was home to see it.
February 22nd, 2020 at 1:26 PM ^
I was at a big party watching the game when that happened. The entire room was stunned. Grateful that the USA had won the gold metal but upset that Bonds had stolen from us the joy of watching it "live". It was a strange moment. We tried to call his TV station for the rest of the game to complain, but all we got was a busy signal. We called an operator to see if they could get through but all the operator said was that they were getting so many calls that there must be an emergency going on!
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:12 AM ^
It is one of those very few events in your life where you remember exactly where you were when it happened.
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:59 AM ^
I was crawling around the floor with a full diaper.
February 22nd, 2020 at 1:19 PM ^
I wasn’t born for another 14 years... my mom was in 1st grade.
February 22nd, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^
I was 7. My dad (RIP) called me out of my bedroom to watch the third period with him. Will never forget it.
February 22nd, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
My brother and I were watching while playing "air hockey" on the kitchen table with a skoal can (we couldn't afford the real thing)
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:18 AM ^
I was not yet alive but my Mom remember being at her high schools basketball game and when they announced that the US had won everyone stormed the court dead in the middle of the 3rd quarter during play. She doesn't even remember if they finished the game or not
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:22 AM ^
saw it live because we were close enough to canada to get the live feed (in french) from canada. i think it was channel 42, but that was a long, long, time ago...
extra hat tip to the OP, who must have been crest-fallen that day, lo those many years ago.
this picture hangs in our garage....
USA! USA! USA!
February 22nd, 2020 at 3:00 PM ^
You are correct --- Channel 42 out of Sarnia, Ontario.
CTV had the Canadian rights to the Olympics that year, NOT CBC.
So the game was sort of available live for Detroiters that Friday Afternoon - but you really had to be on the East Side of town.
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:56 AM ^
Still remember watching that game like it was yesterday. That was one of the most exciting sporting events I can ever remember watching and how proud everyone was after that miracle.
February 22nd, 2020 at 9:59 AM ^
It’s always good to see Communism lose in any fashion.
February 22nd, 2020 at 10:20 AM ^
The Miracle on ice was incredible and as a youngster in Canada in 1972, the Summit Series was a similarly iconic sporting event. The ENTIRE country watched Game 8 in which Paul Henderson scored the winning goal with 34 seconds left thereby clinching the series 4-3-1 for Canada. It’s probably the greatest sports memory of my life. In a way it set the stage for the Miracle 8 years later.
Bottom line, any time the Soviets lost back then it was a good thing.
February 22nd, 2020 at 1:24 PM ^
This is about the USA game. Not about some best of 8 series that nobody outside of Canada cares about.
February 22nd, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
My dad was from Toronto and came to the States to go to school. He called the Summit Series his proudest moment as a Canadian.
I picked up a DVD collection of the entire series at the Hockey Hall of Fame years ago. In early February in 03 I put the game 8 DVD in and watched it with my dad.
We talked about life, relationships, good stuff. Connected. I was dating a girl seriously, and my dad's insights (and they were many, his occupation was family counseling and he was excellent at it) into relationships held a fresh interest to me.
We sat through the whole thing. Canada was down 2 goals going into the third period; the Soviets would claim victory with a win or a tie. Canadian officials were getting threatened and harassed, to the point that the players had to escort one of them across the ice to the bench during the game.
It was, of course, Phil Esposito who did the work. He was brilliant all series and brought Canada back into the game almost on his own. And then, playing the series of his life, Paul Henderson in the final minute. "Henderson has scored for Canada!" Victory.
A father and son, talking about life, relationships. Watching an old game.
Dad died 9 days later. It was our last real time together.
On his deathbed, I told him that I was going to marry the girl. I did, that September, and we're still going strong, happy and with four kids. He taught me well.
Sports events like this matter sometimes.
February 22nd, 2020 at 4:43 PM ^
wow, that's a story. thank you for sharing.
February 22nd, 2020 at 10:23 AM ^
Glorious
February 22nd, 2020 at 10:26 AM ^
I was in my senior year at Michigan. I was driving up to Traverse City to watch the game with family and some friends. I heard the whole game on Canadian radio, I think it was CKLW am 800. Pulled over in Clare Mi to listen to the end as the signal was failing. I sat there and cried like a baby. What a Victory, what an impact!! I had to keep my mouth shut when I got home and watched on tape delay. My dad broke out the bottle of Stoli he had bought in Canada and he was saving for the day we beat the Russians in anything! We got smashed drinking in the spoils of Victory. Amazing it was.
February 22nd, 2020 at 10:37 AM ^
Very gracious of you, Hotel Putingrad, to acknowledge this difficult time in your nation's hockey history.
I was a bit too tiny to remember it live, but have gotten to see it plenty of times since.
February 22nd, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^
Ha! A much bigger upset than The Horror. A collection of college kids beating an all-star pro team.
February 22nd, 2020 at 11:54 AM ^
Your description of “The horror” is spot on.
February 22nd, 2020 at 10:43 AM ^
I saw this hanging in a TJ Maxx a few years ago and thought I was going to get a 1980 hockey jersey on the cheap. Nope, $900!!!. Flipped it over and it had been signed by the team. Why the fuck is this thing at TJ Maxx?! The team signed a bunch of jerseys when the movie came out and they’re for sale all over online. It was still a bit of shock to flip a jersey over in a TJ Maxx and feel that close to history.
February 22nd, 2020 at 11:14 AM ^
I don’t think there will ever be a sports or for that matter, any event that will unite this nation like the Miracle on Ice did. It truly is the magnum opus of sports events.
February 22nd, 2020 at 12:06 PM ^
I think about this often.
The only time in my adult life when I truly felt we were all just Americans was 9/11.
Sad.
February 22nd, 2020 at 11:22 AM ^
Seen on the internet today -- the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team's captain talking about that game.
February 22nd, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^
Was 16, sophomore in HS, home on a Friday night as friends on hoop team were away getting crushed in Flint. Still get chills whenever I hear Al's call. Think about how fast that 40 have gone by. Then ESPN wasn't ESPN. No internet. ABC asked for game in prime time, hockey federation said "no". Game shown on tape delay. Not that you thought about going elsewhere to see what the final was. Thought we were "advanced" because we could pull Gilligan's Island reruns, Godzilla and Benny Hill on Channel 50!! Greatest sports upset and win in history!
February 22nd, 2020 at 11:31 AM ^
The greatest upset in sports history and the greatest moment in American sports history. It’s in a category of its own
February 22nd, 2020 at 11:36 AM ^
There were fireworks in Lake Placid last night. Free s'mores on the sidewalks during the week, lots of skating on the Oval, etc. They are doing a good job of commemorating the Olympic games.
February 22nd, 2020 at 12:00 PM ^
My god, I'm old. *Sigh*
February 22nd, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
So am I. But at least there aren't pictures of me as an adult in those Herb Tarlek pants that Herb Brooks was wearing 40 years ago today.
February 22nd, 2020 at 12:55 PM ^
Hey, Herb Tarlek was a great American.
He just thought turkeys could fly
February 22nd, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
Wow, this 40 years have went by fast. I was a junior in High School at the time and remember watching all the US Hockey team games during the 1980 winter Olympics. Not the best football season. Bo had a Harbaugh type season in '79. Losing to ND and OSU at home, Purdue on the road, and a loss to North Carolina in the Gator Bowl.
February 22nd, 2020 at 1:09 PM ^
My first sports memory. I was only 5, but recall the whole family crowded into our living room watching the game. Everyone cheering loudly. Awesome stuff!
February 22nd, 2020 at 2:09 PM ^
More than any other, the sporting event that I: 1. Wish I remembered (I was four months old); 2. Would go back in time to attend.
One of my favorite ever sporting memories was the 2002 NCAA regional at Yost. And as wild and unprecedented as the Molly game was, only once or twice have I ever felt the exultation felt as Michigan took a late lead and closed out Denver the next day. The nervousness, the action, the noise, the team raising its sticks in the air... magical.
It's like 1/100th the moment of the Miracle. The cold war, the unbeatable Soviets, the college players, the small arena, the magnitude... the greatest sporting event in American history.
What it would have been to be there.
February 22nd, 2020 at 2:25 PM ^
Here's a very interesting article describing how, by using modern tracking methods and evaluation metrics, it show the Soviets completely outshot, outpossesed, pretty much out-everythinged and this game was an even bigger miracle than everyone thought. Team USA only had 7 scoring chances the entire game and cashed in on 4 of them! While the USSR had 20 scoring chances. I still can't believe that Tikhonov pulled Tretiak after that goal right at the end of the 1st period. but I'm sure glad he did.
Key revelations:
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In all situations, the USSR had 52 shot attempts, while the U.S. recorded just 25 (67.5% of the total attempts).
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When taking that same statistic and looking at only 5-on-5 situations, the USSR held a 46-21 shot attempt advantage (68.7% shot share).
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When looking at shots that hit their target, the official box score credited the USSR with 39 total shots on goal, and we determined it had 31 at 5-on-5. The United States? Try 16, and just seven at 5-on-5. We actually classified six of those 16 American shots as dump-ins on goal, too, meaning there were really 10 true shots from Team USA. A ridiculous 71% of shots on goal in the game came from the Soviets, and that number jumped to 81.6% at 5-on-5.
February 22nd, 2020 at 3:44 PM ^
Goalie Jim Craig stood on his head during that entire game. I was 11 sitting at our kitchen counter watching it on a 12” TV with my parents and their friends playing nickel/dime poker on the dining room table behind me. Will never forget Al Michaels legendary call. What a great, uniting moment in US sports history.