1980 US Olympic Hockey Team: Miracle On Ice

This is the real game footage of the original play-by-play, dubbed as the greatest upset in the history of team sports, when the USA shocked Russia, 4-3, at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics in Feb 22, 1980.

Prior to that memorable event, the Soviet hockey team had won 8 of the last 9 Olympic gold medals in hockey, including 4 in a row and was considered to the best international hockey team in the world. The Soviet had not lost an Olympic hockey game since 1968.

It was a case of David vs Goliath and the win was indeed a miracle on ice.

Curt Chaplin was covering the game as a sports reporter for the ABC Radio Network. Standing on a camera platform in the crowd, he did the play-by-play call of the game into his tape recorder, capturing the event on tape forever.

Now, after 25 years, these tapes have been rediscovered and matched to the video. The result is a dramatic, stirring and completely original experience for sports fans all over the world.

Feb 22, 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team

Now you can relive the #1 sports upset of the 20th Century in a whole new way, through new eyes and a new voice. Still as fresh and exciting as the day it happened.

US Olympic Hockey Team Defeated The Soviets in 1980

It was one of the most unflappable performances by the US Olympic hockey team many would recall. Those who watched the game against Soviets were simply overwhelmed by the attitude and commitment showed by the US Olympic hockey team.

Why shouldn’t they, after all they had witnessed something they never dreamt of. What a miracle on ice!

The US hockey team had defeated Soviets at lake placid after being touted as underdogs against the much fancied Russians. The Soviets had trounced the US hockey team at the Madison square garden; just a week before the 1980 Olympic Games was scheduled to begin. It was a 10-3 drubbing which Soviets handed to the Americans, and coming right on to the world stage with a performance such as that, the Soviets were quite confident.

The Americans on the other hand were a mix of amateurs who were wary of the Russians, they knew the Russians were quite professional in their approach and they were also aware of the fact that these guys had dominated the world stage since 1976 Olympic Games.

What the Russians were not aware of was the formidable combination, the US hockey team possessed. The Americans had everything they needed to excel in the ice, they had speed, defense, scorers in the form of Johnson and Schneider, conditioning, goal tending and coaching.

The most important factor that the Russians probably missed was the way Americans had earlier handled pressure and progressed in the tournament. The US team won 4 out of 5 games after being a goal down, has led the US team to believe that they can make a comeback even in most trying circumstances. And that’s exactly what happened in the game against the Soviets, the Soviets led 2-1 nearing the end of first half, and then there was a terrible mix up by the Russian Goalie, Tretiak, a long shot by Dave Christian bounced off Tretiak’s pad and pounced right in front of Johnson, who just lobbed it past the Russian goalie to make it 2- 2.

The match started to turn in US favor, as disgruntled Russian coach Victor Tikhonov replaced the legend Russian goalie with Myshkin. The American started to believe they could post a win as the match went on and finally Eruzione sealed the result to make it 4-3 for the US Olympic team.

It was one of the most memorable sporting win for the Americans that brought them immense happiness and joy. It brought Americans back to the world hockey stage after the 1960 Olympic win.