30 Years Later, the 1980 US Hockey Team Is Still the Greatest

Throughout the history of sports, there have been many great moments that have existed throughout the sporting world.

From the four minute mile to a walk off home run to win a World Series, there have been many great moments that we have all experienced.

But despite all of these incredible moments, there is one moment that stands out to me more than any other that should be recognized: The 1980 United States Olympic Hockey Team's semifinal win over the Soviet Union.

Going into the semifinal game, American morale was at an all-time low, as for the first time in American history, Americans felt that the next five years would be worse than the previous five years.

There were many reasons why the morale of the United States was at an all-time low, as the loss of Vietnam War, the OPEC oil shortage of 1979, and the Iranian Hostage Crisis, which all made the United States look weak in the eyes of the world and caused the lower American morale.

Along with that, there was a period of stagflation that hurt America during the 1970s and along with the Watergate Crisis of 1972 through 1974, this was considered to be one of the worst times in American history.

Also during this time, the Soviet Union started to beat the Americans in pretty much everything, and with the recent Soviet invasion of Afghanistan right before 1980, the Cold War was heating up.

But the United States were determined to do better as a nation with the changing of the decade, and they were determined to make the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, to be a success.

The magical run for the United States hockey started in an office in Colorado Springs in the middle of 1979, where Herb Brooks became the coach of the United States National Hockey team.

Brooks got the job due to his fascinating plan to incorporate a hybrid style of European passing and North American dump-and-chase play that he said would revolutionize the game of hockey, and help the United States to be a contender in the Olympics.

But in their way was the Soviet Union, the winner of the last four Olympic Gold Medals for hockey, and had the likes of hockey legends such as Tretiak, Mikhailov, and Kharlamov on their team.

The reason why the Soviets were able to do this was that they got the players to have fake jobs, but they were still able to play in a well-developed league and have world class training facilities to become even better players.

Several weeks after getting the job, Brooks held tryouts for the National Team in Colorado Springs, and he quickly chose 26 players that would compete to make the Olympic team.

Immediately afterwards, he put the players to work and started a grueling 61 game schedule heading into the Olympics, and made sure that all of his players were in peak condition heading into the Olympics.

Throughout all of this, Brooks was able to become a master motivator for his players, and was able to make his final squad while getting his entire squad to be united.

On February 9, 1980, the United States went onto the ice at Madison Square Garden in New York City to face the Soviet Union, who promptly annihilated the US as they won 10-3 going into Lake Placid.

In Group Play, the United States were able to tie with Sweden 2-2 on a goal by Bill Baker and went on to beat Czechoslovakia 7-3 (who were ranked second overall in the tournament), before beating Norway, Romania and West Germany, which got the United States into the medal round, where they faced the Soviets. 

On February 22, 1980 at about 5:00 PM in Lake Placid's Field House, the Soviet Union and the United States faced off in a game that many people expected the Soviets to win.

Early on, the Soviets attacked the Americans relentlessly, and were able to get an early goal from Vladimir Krutov to take a 1-0 lead.

But the United States were able to respond as Buzz Schneider was able to score on a slapshot past Soviet goalie Vladimir Tretiak to tie the game at one, but it was a short lead as the Soviets got another goal off the stick of Sergei Makarov to take a 2-1 lead.

Towards the ending of the first period, the Americans were only down 2-1 to the Soviet Union, which was a tremendous achievement considering who they were playing. But the Americans weren't done.

With about seven seconds left, Dave Christian nailed a 100 foot slapshot at Tretiak, which he was able to stop but left a long rebound that the Soviet defensemen didn't bother to go after due to almost no time left on the clock.

But in came Mark Johnson, as he was able to get the rebound and score past Tretiak with one second remaining, which remarkably tied the game at two.

After the Soviets took the ensuing faceoff with three men on the ice and backup goaltender Vladimir Myshkin, the first period ended in a 2-2 tie.

In the second period, Myshkin took over in the goal for Tretiak, which surprised almost everybody as the second period begun.

In the second period, the Soviets were able to get another goal from Aleksandr Maltsev to take a 3-2 lead and were dominant against the Americans, but Jim Craig continued to play great in the goal, and the score was 3-2 going into the third period.

At the start of the third period, the Soviets once again were dominant but were guilty of a high-stick by Krutov, and the United States got a powerplay.

On that powerplay, the US were initially stopped by the Soviets, but got a late powerplay goal by Johnson to tie the game at three.

With that goal, the crowd at Lake Placid started to get louder, and the roof nearly flew off after the next goal.

The goal was scored by captain Mike Eruzione, who was able to shoot it past Myshkin and over his pad at the ten minute mark of the third period, giving the United States an improbable 4-3 lead.

After the goal, the Soviets continued to shoot on Craig and the American defense, but they were not able to score and it appeared that the improbable was about to happen; the United States were going to beat the Soviet Union.

As the seconds ticked down, the Soviets weren't able to get a real strong chance on Craig and 11 seconds left, here is the legendary call from ABC announcer Al Michaels:

"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!"

With the 4-3 win, the United States achieved the impossible: they had just defeated the great Soviet machine as they went onto the final.

In the final, the United States came from behind to win 4-2 over Finland, and in the worlds of Al Michaels again: "The impossible dream has come true!"

During the presentation of the Gold Medals (the only medals that were awarded inside of the Field House during the 1980 Olympics) the entire team went up to the medal stand with their captain Eruzione and held up their index finger up in the sky signaling that they were number one.

Afterwards, the players went to the White House to meet President Jimmy Carter and then went on with their lives, as some players decided to pursue a career in the NHL and Europe, while other players such as Eruzione retired, stating that his career goals had now been accomplished.

Now that it has been 30 years since the Miracle on Ice, many people look back at the spectacle that was the greatest performance in the history of United States hockey.

This game is still a moment that sends goosebumps down an American watching this game as this game revived the hurt American morale.

Today, many people remember where they were when this game happened, and there is no other sporting event in American history that could compare to this incredible spectacle.

Finally, this game was more than just a hockey game, it helped revive American spirits after the 1970s as America rebounded in the 1980s.

This game has now been immortalized in American culture more than any other sporting event, and this game rightfully is the greatest game in American history.