MMR: Miracle!

First off, I just want to point out that my blog has been freaking epic lately. I've clearly been on an Olympic kick, but every single post has been entertaining...and even has pictures for those of you who would prefer not to read! I mean, comeon, this is quality stuff I'm pumping out! And yet, no comments. Clearly you all don't care about the Olympics as much as I do. Luckily for you, there's only one week left of the Winter Olympics...so things will get back to normal next month.

Second, I'm still hugely jacked up over yesterday's hockey win over Canada. That was amazing, and now the entire country of Canada is freaking out that their hockey team might not win a medal at all! Glorious. Can't wait until the US gets back on the ice Wednesday against either Switzerland or Belarus. If they win that game, they're assured of playing for a medal, so its an important game to win!

Finally, we'll get to the point of the post. Today is the 30 year anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice hockey game.



Being as I was negative 3 1/2 years old at the time, I was not alive for this. But as a hockey fan, and a USA fan, I have heard all about it. I recently read the book The Boys of Winter, which was amazing. Gave a lotta background on the players on the team, and the story surrounding the game itself.

A band of college unknowns went up against the best team in the world, a team that had not lost a gold medal game since 1960 (also to the Americans), and a team that had played together for at least 15 years.

Here is a recap of that amazing game 30 years ago!

As in several previous games, the US team fell behind early. Vladimir Krutov deflected a slap shot by Aleksei Kasatonov past US netminder Jim Craig to give the Soviets a 1–0 lead, and after Buzz Schneider scored for the United States to tie the game, the Soviets struck again with a Sergei Makarov goal. Down 2–1, Craig improved his play, turning away many Soviet shots before the US team had another shot on goal (the Soviet team had 39 shots on goal in the game, the Americans 16).

In the waning seconds of the first period, Dave Christian fired a slap shot on Tretiak from 100 feet away. The Soviet goalie saved the shot but misplayed the rebound, which bounced out some 20 feet in front of him. The Russian defensemen, Pervukhin and Bilyaletdinov, quit playing and watched the clock tick off the last few seconds. Tretiak started to move out of goal. Mark Johnson sliced between the two defensemen, found the loose puck and fired it past a diving Tretiak to tie the score with one second left in the period. The Soviet team played the final second of the period with just three players on the ice, as the rest of the team had retired to their dressing room for the first intermission. The first period ended with the game tied 2-2.

Tikhonov replaced Tretiak with backup goaltender Vladimir Myshkin immediately after Johnson's tying goal, a move which shocked players on both teams. Fetisov later identified this as the "turning point of the game." Later Tikhonov called the decision "the biggest mistake of my career". Myshkin allowed no goals in the second period. The Soviets dominated play in the second period, outshooting the Americans 12-2, but scored only once, on a power play goal by Aleksandr Maltsev. After two periods the Soviet Union led 3-2.

Vladimir Krutov was sent to the penalty box at the 6:47 mark of the third period for high-sticking. The Americans, who had managed only two shots on Myshkin in 27 minutes, had a power play and a rare offensive opportunity. Myshkin stopped a Ramsey shot, then Eruzione fired a shot wide. Late in the power play, Dave Silk was advancing into the Soviet zone when Vasilev knocked him to the ice. The puck slid to Mark Johnson. Johnson fired off a shot that went under Myshkin and into the net at the 8:39 mark, as the power play was ending, tying the game 3-3.

From Joe Posnanski: The memory, of course, is of the U.S. crowd going absolutely crazy. You will hear people say that was one of the loudest buildings in the history of American sports. And, at the end, it definitively was loud. But the truth is that for most of the game the crowd was actually quite quiet. In fact, there’s a moment in the third period where Michaels says: “Now, finally, the crowd comes alive.”

“You have to understand,” Michaels says, “until Johnson scores that tying goal in the third period, there really wasn’t much to cheer about.”

He’s right. The second period was utterly dominated by the Soviets. The Soviets scored a goal early in the second period to make the score 3-2. And then, they just peppered U.S. goalie Jim Craig. The U.S. only managed two shots on goal the whole period (the Soviets had 12 shots), and the score could easily have been 4-2 or 5-2 by the end of that period. Remember, the Soviets were huge favorites … everyone in the crowd realized that at any moment the Soviets could score three or four or five quick goals and make a mockery of the game. So the crowd was subdued until Johnson scored the tying goal with 12 minutes. And then, it is like the same thought hit every person in the crowd (and the country) all at once: “Holy cow, the U.S. could actually WIN THIS GAME.”

Only a couple shifts later, Mark Pavelich passed to US captain Mike Eruzione, who was left undefended in the high slot. Eruzione, who had just come into the game, fired a shot past Myshkin, who was screened by Pervukhin. This goal gave the US a 4–3 lead, its first of the game, with exactly 10 minutes left.

The Russians attacked furiously. Moments after Eruzione's goal, Maltzev fired off a shot which ricocheted off the right goal post. As the minutes wound down, Brooks kept repeating "Play your game. Play your game." Instead of going into a defensive crouch, the United States continued to play offense, even getting off a few more shots on goal. The Soviets began to shoot wildly, and Starikov admitted that "we were panicking". As the clocked ticked down below a minute the Soviets got the puck back into the American zone, and Mikhailov passed to Petrov, who shot wide. The Soviets never pulled Myshkin for an extra attacker, much to the disbelief of the Americans. Starikov later explained that "We never did six-on-five", not even in practice, because "Tikhonov just didn't believe in it." Craig kicked away a Petrov slap shot with 33 seconds left. Kharlamov fired the puck back in as the clock ticked below 20 seconds. A wild scramble for the puck ensued, ending when Johnson found it and passed to Morrow. As the US team tried to clear the zone (move the puck over the blue line, which they did with seven seconds remaining), the crowd began to count down the seconds left. Sportscaster Al Michaels*, who was calling the game on ABC along with former Montreal Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden, picked up on the countdown in his broadcast, and delivered his famous call:

“Eleven seconds, you've got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? YES!”

As his team ran all over the ice in celebration, Herb Brooks sprinted back to the locker room, locked himself inside a toilet stall, and cried.

*Another tidbit from Posnanski:

Al Michaels got the job as broadcaster of Olympic hockey because he was the only announcer on the ABC rotation who had ever called a hockey game. The interesting thing: He had called exactly one game. And that one game was the 1972 hockey game between the USSR and Czechoslovakia in Sapporo Japan. He actually was working for NBC at the time. The Soviets won 5-2 and won gold. And the only reason Michaels called THAT game is because he grew up a hockey fan, and nobody else wanted to do it.

Al Michaels says that if he had thought up his famous line earlier — “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” — he never would have said it. The thing you have to understand about Michaels is he’s a pro’s pro. Get the names right. Get the action right. Never jump the gun. Never say what you don’t know. That’s his blueprint. That’s his life. And Michaels believes that if he had thought up the line earlier, he would have discarded it because in his head it would sound jingoistic or corny or both.

But he did not think up the line earlier … he was calling the game and the word “miraculous” popped into his head. That’s what it was. Miraculous. The Soviets were the greatest hockey team on earth … better than NHL teams. The U.S. team was a bunch of college kids. This could not be happening. Miraculous. And as the puck came out with five seconds to go — “How lucky was I that the puck came out,” Michaels would say — the words just came out of him. Do you believe in miracles? Yes!

Years later, Michaels would re-do the hockey commentary for the movie Miracle. But when it came to that final, memorable line — probably the most famous call in the history of American sports — they used the original recording. “I couldn’t do that line again,” Michaels says. “No way.”

Thirty years ago today, the US Hockey team brought a struggling nation together with their win over the Soviets. They went on to beat Finland to win the gold medal, the last gold medal the US has ever won in hockey.

The 1980 win over the Soviets is still considered one of the greatest (if not the greatest) moments in US sports history. Their improbable victory, aligned with events happening worldwide between the Soviet Union and the US, came together to form a moment that transcended sports. For 30 years now, hockey fans and non hockey fans alike can reminsce over the game. Kids who weren't alive in 1980 have come to learn about and appreciate what happened in Lake Placid on February 22, 1980. I didn't get to see the game, and I still feel an emotional attachment to the game. Not as much, most likely, if I were alive to be a part of the event. But definately enough to be proud of what our country accomplished that day.

The US Hockey team in this Olympics just defeated Canada in a preliminary game. They were huge underdogs in the game, and it was, by far, the most exciting game of Hockey I've ever witnessed. But even it cannot hold a candle to 1980. Even if the US goes on to win an improbable gold medal. The US team is made up of professionals now. And even if they aren't considered to be the elite professionals that the Canadian team has, they're still amazing enough hockey players to play in the NHL. However, I will still enjoy it just the same.

I hope you enjoyed this little look back at the 1980 Miracle on Ice. An amazing game, and a moment that will live on in the USA forever!