If you are sports fan 50 or older, you remember where you were on Feb. 22, 1980. If you are younger, you should remember that date from your Greatest Moments in Sports History class. If you do not, here is a refresher.
On that Friday afternoon in Lake Placid, N.Y., the United States Olympic hockey team shocked the might Soviet Union, 4-3, in what was truly a game for the ages.
A team of college kids from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Massachusetts beat the best hockey team in the world, the 1980 model of a machine that had won four consecutive Olympic gold medals.
I was in the Olympic Fieldhouse that day, covering the Olympics for The Providence Journal. After Carlton Fisk’s 12-inning home run that won Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, this was the most exciting and most memorable game of my 40-year sports writing career.
Nobody saw this coming. The Soviets had pounded the Americans, 10-3, 13 days earlier in Madison Square Garden. They had scored 51 goals in their five victories at Lake Placid and had every reason to believe they would close in on 60 in the semifinals. The U.S. was 4-0-1 in the tournament. They had salvaged a 2-2 tie with Sweden by scoring with 27 seconds remaining in the third period.
And there was more to this showdown than ice hockey. As I recalled for The Public’s Radio in 2015:
“Emotions were running high that winter, and more than a hockey game was at stake that day. America’s psyche was bruised. Iranian rebels held Americans hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan in December. The Cold War simmered, and the U.S. economy sputtered. President Jimmy Carter, desperate for solutions, threatened to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.”
You should know the rest of this story. The game started at 5 o’clock because the Soviets wouldn’t approve a change. ABC taped it for broadcast at 8. A crowd of 8,500 packed the arena and stood five deep in the hallways. The Soviets scored first. The Americans tied it. The Soviets regained the lead, 2-1, and were about to head to the locker room when Mark Johnson collected a rebound and beat Vladislav Tretiak, the best goalie in the world, with a 20-footer with one second on the clock.
In the second period the Soviets scored on a power play and held the Americans to two shots. They continued to dominate in the third until Johnson tied the score, 3-3, at 8:39 on a power play. Then, 81 seconds later, Mike Eruzione, the captain, the Boston University kid from Winthrop, Mass., went over the boards, and “got his stick on the puck in the slot, used a Russian defender as a screen and beat the backup Soviet goalie Vladimir Myshkin with the most famous goal in Olympic hockey history,” I wrote in 2015.
“The crowd went crazy. Instant bedlam. “USA! USA! USA!” caromed off the rafters. Fans waved flags and homemade posters. We couldn’t believe it. The Americans were ahead. WE were ahead!”
Yes, WE. For this hockey game was US versus THEM. The American way of life against Soviet totalitarianism. GOOD versus EVIL. At least it felt that way that Friday afternoon.
The next 10 minutes seemed to pass in slow motion. The Soviets attacked and attacked again. They fired shots at goalie Jim Craig, a BU kid from North Easton, Mass. He stopped everything headed to the back of the net. The Soviets kept shooting. They hit the post. They missed the net. And still they charged.
In the final minute the crowd stood and cheered so loud that folks on Main Street had to realize something special was happening inside. Craig brushed aside the last Soviet slap shot, the Americans cleared the puck, Al Michaels made his instantly famous call – “Do you believe in miracles? YES! – and the game was over.
United States 4, Soviet Union 3.
“Celebration doesn’t begin to describe the scene on the ice and in the stands. While the American players mobbed Craig, and defenseman Jack O’Callahan fell to his knees over Mike Ramsey and flashed a giddy gap-toothed grin, spectators hugged each other, cheered themselves hoarse and waved the Stars and Stripes. They spilled into the village streets understanding full well they had just witnessed an epic,” I recalled five years ago.
Less than 48 hours later, the U.S. played Finland for the gold medal. The Americans trailed, 2-1, before scoring three unanswered goals and completing the most improbable chapter in Winter Olympics history.
With so much sadness, bitterness and controversy in Sports World today – Kobe Bryant’s death, cheating in baseball and college admissions, Mookie Betts being traded to the Dodgers from the Red Sox just to start, and not to mention all the bizarre behavior in Washington — remembering an Olympic hockey game from 40 years ago today, February 22, 1980, is just what we need to make us smile for a change.
