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 on February 22, 1980, in 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 bronze over Sweden by beating the Swedes in their final game. Sweden finished 4th.

The United States team entered the competition seeded seventh in the final round of 12 teams that qualified for the Lake Placid Olympics. The team was composed of collegiate players and amateurs, some of whom had signed contracts to play in the National Hockey League. 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. 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.

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 Alexei 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. Viacheslav 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.

8:39 into the final period, Johnson scored again for the U.S., 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. Morrow, up to Silk...five seconds to go in the game...Do you believe in miracles? YES!!! ”

This victory was voted the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated