Last night we watched the movie Miracle, about the 1980 US hockey team’s unlikely run to the gold medal in the Olympics at Lake Placid. It’s such an incredible story, and I really enjoyed the movie. Today I watched a marvelous documentary about it and also read some articles written about this event and all of the principal participants.
I should remember that event in real time, but I have no recollections of giving it much thought.
Was it a big deal to you?
Here is a link to the documentary about it. It’s about 45 minutes long, but very interesting and entertaining.
It was a HUGE deal in Minnesota as we had several boys on the team. I knew three of them casually so that made the games all the more exciting. Everyone had radios on during work to listen to the games.
My kids played hockey so I have watched Miracle at least 10-15 times.
I’ll never forget watching the end of the game in my sorority house. It really is a great story. I was at a charity silent auction a couple years ago and bought a framed photo from the game signed by Jim Craig. My son saw it and immediately took it for his apartment. I was surprised that he wanted it so much because the movie is his only frame of reference.
I remember it vividly. We were living in England at the time, and I remember watching the game on the TV. (I loved the BBC coverage: they showed everything, and didn’t cut frantically back and forth.)
I remember it very well! And I was living and going to school in Texas.
But I was of a minuscule minority in Texas who followed professional hockey, and we didn’t get a lot of it in Texas - I had to watch whatever I could whenever I could.
I remember it well, because I’ve always been a sports nut. One of the best documentaries I’ve seen is a 30 for 30, I think, from the Russian point of view.
Here’s a description …
The story of one of the greatest upsets in sports history has been told. Or has it? On a Friday evening in Lake Placid, New York, a plucky band of American collegians stunned the vaunted Soviet national team, 4-3 in the medal round of the 1980 Winter Olympic hockey competition. Americans couldn’t help but believe in miracles that night, and when the members of Team USA won the gold medal two days later, they became a team for the ages.
But there was another, unchronicled side to the “Miracle On Ice.” The so-called bad guys from America’s ideological adversary were in reality good men and outstanding players, forged into the Big Red Machine by the genius and passion of Anatoli Tarasov. There was a reason they seemed unbeatable, especially after routing the Americans in an exhibition the week before the Winter Games began. And there was a certain shame in them having to live the rest of their lives with the results of Feb. 22, 1980.
In the 30 for 30 film “Of Miracles and Men,” director Jonathan Hock (“The Best That Never Was” and “Survive and Advance”) explores the scope of the “Miracle on Ice” through the Soviet lens. His intense focus on the game itself gives it renewed suspense and a fresh perspective. But the journey of the stunned Soviet team didn’t begin – or end – in Lake Placid.
@youdon’tsay, I saw that as an option on Youtube. That will be interesting to see it from their POV.
Some of the Soviet players have said that while they should have been feeling total devastation as the buzzer rang, they actually felt a pang of envy at the ability of the US players to feel such joy and elation in victory. Victory had become so commonplace to them that they had forgotten what it felt like to experience thrill in the accomplishment. One player remarked that he almost felt happy for them, watching their youthful joy and feeling a tinge of envy at their obvious camaraderie.
That’s so weird. We also watched that movie last night. Most of us had seen it before as my husband and son play hockey, but we had a guest who saw it for the first time. I remember watching that game in 1980, and I was not a big hockey fan at the time. But it really was something special.
You also might be interested in a documentary called “The Red Army”. It goes into some of the politics of the Soviet Union, but as told through the lens of the Red Army hockey team. There are interviews with some of the Soviet hockey players, some of whom actually played in that Olympic game. We saw the documentary last week and it was excellent.
I was in college at the time and was really surprised at how big a deal it was. A huge bunch of kids at my small LAC started a sort of parade afterward chanting U-S-A traipsing around the campus. And our school made it some big (for us) basketball game. At the end of the game (we won) the usual crowd cheers erupted and then turned into the U-S-A chant with the entire gym crowd joining in. It was more than a little surreal (and quite enjoyable.)
@benreb, wow, what a coincidence! D1 and her BF had left after a nice weekend visiting from NC, and the house was getting quiet. D2 literally badgered us into ordering it off our Direct TV, and we reluctantly agreed, only to find ourselves totally into it within minutes.
Of course. Went to Wisconsin. A college friend (both of us women) taught me a lot about hockey although could never get UW tickets back then. UW won two national titles during my undergrad years. Many UW players from MN and Canada. Still remember catching parts of that Olympic game while being on call during residency OOS- ie not a hockey crazy place.
I flew into Boston that night and got on the T. I didn’t actually see the game, but it was a memorable experience. First, we heard the (very loud) cheers coming from the cockpit. Ever had the feeling that your pilot and co-pilot were paying more attention to something than flying the plane? Then i got on the T. Lots and lots of BU kids–some very drunk. They certainly were happy. “Do you know which college the goalie goes to?” 20-30 students answered LOUDLY BU! BU! This went on over and over…
Jim Craig ended up killing a childhood acquaintance of mine in a traffic accident. Wikipedia mentions the accident but doesn’t even name the deceased. I happened to be visting my mom the weekend of the accident. My mom opened up the local paper and started sobbing. Craig wasn’t breathalized at the scene despite the fact the crash involved a fatality. He was charged with reckless driving but acquitted. It was yet another blow to a family that had suffered too much.
So, yeah, I remember that night. But it’s not entirely a good memory for me.
I’ve seen the movie (which I’ve enjoyed) but I don’t remember watching it or hearing about it at the time…but I assume I did since we usually did watch the Olympics when I was kid.
Remember it well but we were big hockey fans for 20 years prior to that. That was an amazingly talented group of guys on the U.S. team. It really was an anomaly at that time. A number of those guys ended up playing in the NHL, as did a number from the Russian team. The Russian team, despite that loss, continued to dominate international hockey.
I most certainly remember that game. I was living in Boston at the time and followed college hockey. A guy I knew from work promised to come over at that time to fix a broken light. He came over with this tool box and flowers. I was completely caught off guard. He fixed the light. We watched the game. I married that guy.
