The Miracle on Ice: U.S.A defeats Soviet Union to win gold at the 1980 Winter Olympics
Experts agree that it was one of the greatest games of ice hockey that was ever played. America went head-to-head against an experienced Soviet Union side in the 1980 Winter Olympics. The gold medal winning performance of the U.S. team shocked everyone which is why the match has been dubbed as the ‘Miracle on Ice.’ It has been voted by many as the best performance by an American team ever in their sporting history.
The 'Miracle on Ice' was a great achievement for the U.S. ice hockey team. The story started with the U.S. team’s coach Herb Brooks, who had been an exemplary leader for many university teams and knew how college teams worked back in America. The U.S. men’s hockey team that was sent to the Winter Olympics that year was made up of many amateur and college level players at best. The Soviet team on the other hand comprised of some of the best ice hockey players in the world. Soviet Union was the number one team in the world in terms of skill and they were going through a stellar run up till that point.
The U.S. team on the contrary, which was sent to the 1980 Winter Olympics, was handpicked by Brooks which was made to go through rigorous training routines in order to be ready for this tough competition. Brooks thought that if the Russians were such a skilled team, the U.S. team would have to get the better of them through extensive training and hard work. He trained the team extremely hard and ensured their physical fitness, speed and discipline were top notch. This meant that even if they did not have the same skill level as their opponents, they could outlast them in terms of stamina.
Before the tournament started, an exhibition match was played between the Soviet Union and U.S.A. It was a warm up match for both sides and it was seen as an indication as to which side would come out on top. The Americans were thrashed with a score of 10-3 and this defeat showed the world how strong the Russians were at the time.
Nevertheless, the Americans were a determined lot and their competitiveness to succeed only increased as they entered the Olympics at Lake Placid. When the going got tough, the tough decided to bring their best game to the field. They beat all the teams they faced and drew only one match in the entire competition. The U.S. team was seeded 7th out of a total of 12 teams prior to the start of the tournament and they started it off with a courageous 2-2 tie against Sweden. They followed this up with a great 7-3 win over Czechoslovakia to make it to the finals. In the finals, America faced the mighty Soviets who were unbeaten in the entire competition until this point. The Americans played with so much heart and bravery that the scores were tied at 3-3 as time was fast running out. Tension grew as fans waited for the golden goal, which would seal the fate for both the teams. This was where the Americans proved that hard work was second to nothing. Their extra stamina and speed that had been drilled into them in training seemed to pay off when the 4th goal was scored by the U.S. to give them the win.
That moment was one of the greatest in U.S. sports history and because it was a match played against the backdrop of the Cold War, it made the win even sweeter. Here were a bunch of college and amateur ice hockey players who had defeated the best ice hockey team in the world at the biggest stage of them all. It raised America's morale back home, it showed the world what the U.S. sports programmes were capable of producing and it helped elevate the sport of ice hockey in the country. The team and their coach had gone into the match thinking of winning the bronze medal, which would have been a great achievement for the team. Nevertheless, little did they know that they were destined to win gold.
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