Hockey players, fans, and reporters who remember when Al Michaels asked "Do you believe in miracles?" share their memories of the Miracle on Ice. Hear what they say about one of the greatest upsets in hockey history on February 22, 1980.
Being the mastermind is what is all about....pick and choose wisely...and yes...be a bad axx. Best Leader I ever had...lots of people did not want to work for him...he demanded ALOT...we got along famously...of course...he WAS an Engineer. Lol
@Gizzel IMO the US won cause Herb Brooks out coached Tikhonov. You can see the look of panic in Tikhonov's face during the game, while Brooks at no point shows any concern never mind panic.
Not sure how you can talk about this game without mentioning that Jim Craig carried them to victory. Without him, there is no miracle. He stood on his head, especially in the 3rd period.
I remember the game was shown on tape delay. They played the game at 5:00 in the afternoon, I believe, and while I was waiting for the game to come on the local ABC station, it displayed a message as a scrolling marquee at the bottom of the TV screen... "USA 4 USSR 3". I knew what happened before I got to watch the game. It was still worth watching.
On 22 February 1980 I was in Flight School at NAS Pensacola FL. There were 12 student Naval Aviators in the BOQ TV room watching this game. Forget about the Lake Placid Ice Arena- it got very loud in that TV room as well.. USA!! USA!! USA!!
No, it really wasn't. Few people realize that Myshkin actually played MORE minutes than did Tretiak in the 1980 Olympic games (260-220). Tretiak was playing poorly (by his standards) with a 2.45 GAA in the games....
@M Detlef That is not true. Remember this is before cell phones, social media, and the 24 hour news cycle. We didn't know until we watched the game. That's how things were back then.
I never knew growing up that Herb Brooks was the last player cut before the USA won the gold in '60. When I learned the rest of the story that he became the coach that led the USA to gold in '80, I teach my kids to always do your best because some day you will win despite impossible odds! What a life lesson.
Slava Malamud "the guy came in and scored, Johnson." Yeah the guy that was the best US forward, played in an NHL All Star Game and had a long career in the NHL. Yeah, that guy Johnson.
Baloney. Myshkin had shut out the NHL All-Stars the previous year, 6-0. He was very good, not on Tretiak's level, but still very good. The Russian weren't panicking, they were overconfident. Tikhonov felt (correctly) that Tretiak was having a bad game, and he was. Both of the goals he let in were unbelievably soft. Don't forget the Russians had spotted Canada and Finland with early leads, only to take over in the 3rd period. They were confident, and they were overconfident. Besides that the level of competition was putting the Russians to sleep. They'd annihilated Japan (seriously, Japan?!) and the Netherlands by an aggregate score of like 34-3. So Tikhonov pulled Tretiak, figuring they'd still finish like 8-2. And Brooks had done his part lulling the Russians by sending a somewhat tired team against the USSR at Madison Square Garden 10 days before. But even that didn't tell the whole story. It was a Russian cakewalk the first two periods, but the Americans' level of fitness showed when they kept up with the Russians in the 3rd. The Soviets' guard was down at Lake Placed, and they were ripe for the taking.
US was an underrated team. That group of NCAA Players that finished up the 1978-79 season and were the guts of the team, were the first group of elite US players. Ramsey, Morrow, O'Callahan, Broten, Pavelich, Johnson, Christoff, Christian, Silk all had NHL careers.
blackhawkswincup2010 ......I agree about Myshkin. If you watch some of the other Soviet games from the '80 Olympics it really didn't seem he was on top of his game. Watch the Canada game...he let in a couple of soft goals.
Your right on every point, the overconfidence thing was what did them in. The end of the first period they walked right into a trap and in those few seconds Herb and our guys knew that moment was the moment we needed to slowly turn that game around. Johnson slid in and slapped the puck right in there and tied it as time ran out
Actually it was 33-4 that the Russians beat those two teams. I to this day get goosebumps watching that. Anytime I get a little down or somewhat tired at work I always hear Herb Brooks famous words: Play Your Game, Play Your Game, Play Your Game. It gets me through anything.
Bob, I agree. Additionally, I believe pulling Tretjak was Tikhanov's way of thumbing his nose at the us while sending a message to his team. Its almost like he is saying to us that we are of no consequence and it is more important for him to to fix this broken part of his machine than it is to take us seriously-It was his way of saying "this little bit of momentum you have is of no concern to me, we can beat you with our backup goalie". Obviously the move back fired and the move wound up motivating us but I seriously believe his arrogance and his certainty made him believe that it didn't matter if it motivated us or not, he was going to crush us.
I saw this game I was 12 and played hockey. Cant even describe what it was like the revelry but I will try . The Russians tried to drive out of the arena in there huge bus and hundreds of people rocked bus backed and forth as the players inside were getting thrown around like rag dolls ,faces pressed up against glass with each rock back and forth all while chanting USA .. the whole experience ,never seen anything like it before or after . that was one wild party in the streets of lake placid hjag nogjt
If that's true, it's too bad we treated those guys like that. They were the second best hockey team in the world that night, and they didn't deserve to have their bus rocked.
I understand what you’re saying, but you have to put yourself into the mindset of all Americans in 1980. Russia was our #1 enemy. Their hockey team was a microcosm of the country, whether they had any affiliation with the KGB or not. And our hockey team just pulled off one of the greatest upsets in sports history to our enemy. You would have been rocking that bus yourself if you were there, and if you say you wouldn’t have you’re either lying or one of the Russians.
Tikhonov pulling out Vladislav Tretiak underscored Herb Brooks accomplishment. It doesn't matter what would have happened or why Tretiak was pulled from the game, he was pulled from the game. Herb Brooks outcoached him his ass to the nth degree, which was good, Tikhonov pulling Tretiak underscores this. You win as a team and lose as a team and the Coach, Herb Brooks, may not have been on the ice but that was his team. Brooks taught them how to do it, trained them to do it, but most of all: got them to believe they could do it. And this is why his advice and observations on leadership and coaching was revered until the day he died.
John on wives computer. Old codger now but always remember a soccer game in high that there was no way we could win. Got a Herb Brooks speech and when we got off the bus we actually believed we could win and we did. Belief is a powerful motivator!
It should be noted that the country was not in very good shape then people's moral was very low. and this was uplifting. A few antidotes that I remember from back then was Sports writer Hubert Mizel wrote that somewhere in the second period one of the older staid Sports writers stood up on the writers table and announced "Gentlemen there will cheering in the writer section tonight" and there was from atop of their tables. The other incident I remember reading about in Washington DC there was a Fire House across from the Russian Embassy and the Firefighters put a sign up in their window that read USA 4 Soviets 3!
I think too much is made of Tikhonov pulling out Vladislav Tretiak after that First Period vs the United States. I remember in 1979-80 Tretiak was in a major Goaltending Slump and that not only showed in the U.S. Game but other Games also. Since the U.S. had the best Goalie that 1980 Olympic Year in Jim Craig that helped the U.S. situation even more and Herb Brooks the U.S. Coach knew what He was doing in the U.S. preparation for the Winter Olympic Games.
The 1980 USSR OT also had several young Dmen. As good as Fetisov and Kasatonov became they were very young. In fact add in Starikov who was Fetisov's age and half the USSR D was younger than all but Ramsey and Christian on the US D Corp. Starikov was victimized on Johnson's second goal.
Ob Myshkin auch den Puck vor dem 2:2 nach vorne hätte abprallen lassen (DIE entscheidende Szene des Spiels)? Myshkin hat keinen großen Fehler begangen (obwohl der Siegtreffer wohl haltbar war). Was hätte Tretjak da besser machen können?
Soviet Union studied Eddie Shore hockey. A tribute to Eddie Shore who I had the pleasure I meet. Taking Tretiak out of the game was the mistake thats obvious.
BALONEY. Please. Pulling Tretiak was the greatest move for American hockey that has ever been done. Thank you very much Tikhonov. Tretiak would have shut out the Americans after the first period. After all these years, I still feel this way.
i agree when time was running out in the first period they got cocky and that was the exact moment we needed. Tikhonov got desperate when he pulled tretiak and put in mishkin
Doubtful. Tretiak was playing poorly (by his standards) in the 1980 Olympics with a 2.45 GAA. Myshkin actually played MORE minutes in the games than Tretiak did (260-220)
Ussr wasn't the same team as they where b4. Canada almost beat them and so did other countries. After the coach change in ussr the players didnt have passion for the game anymore. The new coach imprisoned the team for 9 months a year couldn't even see their family's. They ate slept and shit hockey 24/7
Dude, if you had a best of 7 series between the Flyers and USSR and had home ice split by playing G7 in half with IIHF refs in Moscow no way Flyers beat the USSR. Red Army tied the 1975-76 Canadiens on 12/31/75 in one of the greatest games ever played. That Montreal team broomed the Flyers in the 1976 SCF. USSR would have clown pounded the 75-76 Flyers in an actual series.
After all those years living under the threat of doom, under our desks in an air raid drill in school, and billions of dollars spent on both sides, what brought down the Russian empire and communism? A bunch of amateur hockey players!
Joey D .....Joey just think if the Soviets didn’t steal the gold against the Americans in the ‘72 gold medal basketball game their end would have been in ‘72
Dumn Ass ......some of the older players were gone after these games. Fetisov, Makarov, Kasatanov, Krutov, Tretiak remained but the team did get a facelift.
Some people forget that the Soviet D had some players younger than the US D Corp. Fetisov/Starikov were younger than Baker, O'Callahan, Morrow & Suter. Makarov/Krutov were younger or same age as all forwards but Broten.
