Miracle On Ice (40th Anniversary)

Share this page

BradyGirl

BradyGirl

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 23, 2004
Messages
4,410
Reaction score
1,224
Points
113
Location
Massachusetts
40 years ago today, it was the Miracle on Ice!

More than just a game, the U.S. winning over the U.S.S.R. captivated the country. In the midst of the Iran hostage crisis and long lines at the gas pump, the U.S. Olympic hockey game did the unthinkable.

Not bad for a bunch of Massachusetts and Michigan college kids.

:celebrate:
 
No connection except Lori and I always went out for pizza at the Great Santarpio's in East Boston, where Mike E.'s dad, Eugene Eruzione worked and we did get to congratulate him and chat about it.


Do you believe in Miracles?

Cheers
 
Still recall everything about the gold medal run. Most people still think that the Soviet game was for the gold medal, but they still had to beat Finland 2 days later. The format was different back then.

The first hint of something special was an opening game tie against Sweden who was expected to steam roll the US. It just kept snowballing from there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
This was far more than a game. It was a referendum on freedom vs tyranny and the freest nation in the history world took it hard to the Russian bear.

Last 1 minute of this epic game.

https://youtu.be/qYscemhnf88
 
The movie "Miracle" does a pretty good job of explaining why that meant so much to American's (it's on ESPN tomorrow at 6:30 PM)

I was a student at UCONN when it happened and we were playing intramural volleyball that afternoon.

The game was in the afternoon, but wouldn't be broadcast until that night.

Someone came by our game and asked if we wanted to know what happened.

Everyone in the gym screamed NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Most people were huddled around tiny B&W TV's in someone's dorm room, and when we scored the go ahead goal, you could hear the roar from the entire campus.

When the game ended, the place erupted and if one could easily think that there was an earthquake the place shook so much.
 
johnlocke said:
This was far more than a game. It was a referendum on freedom vs tyranny and the freest nation in the history world took it hard to the Russian bear.

Last 1 minute of this epic game.

https://youtu.be/qYscemhnf88
Click to expand...
My son watched the clip and he commented how crazy small the goalee pads were back then. I just remembered how hard it was to see the puck on TV except on close-up shots.
 
I just watched this documentary on Russian Team last night. What struck me hard was the brutality of that nation to it’s citizens.

Excellent doc.

https://youtu.be/GdFHKXXPLhg
 
It's something for those players to have been part of sports' biggest upset.

The game should have been on live. Sure, I can see tape delay if it was in Russia, but in Lake Placid, New York?!
 
BradyGirl said:
It's something for those players to have been part of sports' biggest upset.

The game should have been on live. Sure, I can see tape delay if it was in Russia, but in Lake Placid, New York?!
Click to expand...

1980 was so much the before time that computers were built using stone knives and bear skins. :spock:

There was no internet, no 24 hr news cycle. It was easy to not know what had happened and watch the game as if it was live.

If it was shown live, most people would not have seen it.
 
BradyGirl said:
It's something for those players to have been part of sports' biggest upset.

The game should have been on live. Sure, I can see tape delay if it was in Russia, but in Lake Placid, New York?!
Click to expand...

On that day, I didn't realize the game was being played in the afternoon. I assumed it was going to be live in the evening. I was working in a pharmacy that afternoon. There was always a radio playing music. During a news break, they announced the result and I recall being confused because I didn't think the game had been played yet. A while later, the reality hit.

When I got home that evening, the whole family was watching the game and I was the only one who knew the result. I was threatened with expulsion from the family if I spoiled the results for anyone.
 
O_P_T said:
The movie "Miracle" does a pretty good job of explaining why that meant so much to American's (it's on ESPN tomorrow at 6:30 PM)

I was a student at UCONN when it happened and we were playing intramural volleyball that afternoon.

The game was in the afternoon, but wouldn't be broadcast until that night.

Someone came by our game and asked if we wanted to know what happened.

Everyone in the gym screamed NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Most people were huddled around tiny B&W TV's in someone's dorm room, and when we scored the go ahead goal, you could hear the roar from the entire campus.

When the game ended, the place erupted and if one could easily think that there was an earthquake the place shook so much.
Click to expand...
My oldest daughter is a big Hockey fan. She's 14. This winter, every time I have my kids we watch a Hockey movie. We've watched both Goons, Slapshot (Yeah, I'm a bad influence) Mystery, Alaska and last night we watched Miracle, because of the 40th anniversary.

I'll never forget that night. I was watching it at my house, my Buddy Darren was 2 doors down in the townhouse apartments we grew up in. As it ended, I ran outside cheering and Darren ran out and ran around the apartments naked - God only knows why. Other neighbors came out and we all just reveled in that moment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top