1- The Miracle on Ice- An easy choice. I remember going into the Olympics a friend and I were hoping that maybe a miracle would happen and Team USA would get a bronze medal. The thought of gold and being the Soviet Union never crossed our minds at the beginning.
I was in college at the time and a group of us would meet every evening and watch the Olympics. My friend Paul and I were really into the hockey. Again, we didn’t have higher hope at first than a bronze for the USA. Then, the first game vs favored Sweden, down 2-1 in the final minute. Goalie Jim Craig was pulled and with .27 second to go the Miracle began. Bill Baker scored the game ended 2-2. Without that goal there probably wouldn’t have been the Miracle on Ice. We were into it. Next game was two days later vs the second best team in the tournament Czechoslovakia, we kicked their ass 7-3. After that game Paul and I were true believers. We started to talk, could we beat the Soviets? We won our next three games vs Norway, Romania and West Germany to finish division play 4-0-1. Team USA would advance to finals play along with Sweden, Finland and the mighty Soviets.
The next game in the final round would be against the Soviet Union. Let me note at this point, the Soviets had played 5 games in their division play and had outscored their opponents 51-11. {in its 5ive games the USA had outscored their opponents 25-10}
Friday February 22nd, 1980. That day took forever. I had a class that morning and then I went home for the weekend. All I thought of was that game that night. I actually thought, we can beat the mighty Soviets. On February 9th before the Olympics in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden, the same Soviet team had destroyed Team USA 10-3. Looking back I was probably out of my mind to think we even had a chance of winning this game. The Soviets were beating NHL All-Star teams. They were the greatest team in the world. They were invincible.
It would never be done like this today but back then the game was a 5pm start. It would be shown on tape delay at 8pm on ABC. So the game would be over before it was shown. The game was incredible. Edge of your seat the entire game. A key moment of the game was in the final seconds of the first period- Mark Johnson scored .01 left in the period. 2-2 at the end of the first period. The next period the Soviet coach pulled the great Tretiak, the greatest goalie in the world from the game. The Soviets outshot the American’s in the 2nd period 12-2 and scored the only goal so it was 3-2 Soviets going into the third. 8minutes and 39 seconds into the third Mark Johnson evened the score up at 3-3. Mark Johnson was the best player on that USA team. Then with exactly 10 minutes to go Mark Eruzione the team captain scored and all hell broke loose. He just hit the net too. He would say today that a couple inches off and he would have been painting bridges for his entire life. It went in-4-3. Goalie Jim Craig was incredible in the last ten minutes. It was a long ten minutes. Each second seemed like minutes. Then at the end the greatest call in sports announcing history “Do You Believe In Miracles” USA 4 Soviet Union 3.
This was not the gold medal game they still had to beat Finland to win the gold on Sunday. Coach Herb Brooks had to bring the team back down from the high of high’s. A loss to Finland and Team USA doesn’t even medal. They were down 2-1 going into the 3rd period. Herb Brooks went ballistic in the locker room. USA scores 3 goals in the third period and wins 4-2 and takes the gold medal.
I believe that the greatest coaching job in the history of North American sports was done by Herb Brooks with that team. He performed a miracle. As Jim McKay would say, the USA beating the Soviets would be like a bunch of Canadian college football players beating the Pittsburgh Steelers. I could live another 100 years and I know for sure that no other sporting event could knock this one off my personal #1 slot. Incredible.
The circumstances at the time, we were still in the Cold War against the Soviets. Also at the time America was having difficult times. The Iranian hostage situation was going on. We had Jimmy Carter as POTUS. Need I say more. America needed something to feel good about and this did it. It was a victory the country could celebrate.
slicethelife 
i knew this would be number one, as it is mine as well. the memories i have of this are, as you can see the pure bedlam of the American celebration, but this was not for the gold. I remember also the Soviets standing there watching the celebration, without really knowing what to do.
I think the speech Brooks gave during the Finland game is probably the best ever. Losing to the Fins he walked out of the lockerroom. Then he walked back in and said ‘if you lose this game, you will take it to your graves. to your bleeping graves’ and then walked back out.
Vyachaslav Fetisov was in this game as a 20 year old. I remember him saying that all of the old guard on this team never played for the national team again after losing the gold.
The other day was “Stan Laurel’s” Birthday. His career ended in 1980. That must have been the truth. I think a lot was working Team USA’s way. Playing at home was an advantage and Herb Brooks believed that the Soviets were ready to be beaten. The joy was no longer there for them. They were too used to winning. But their being ripe to be beaten and them being beaten two different things. If they had played ten times no doubt USSR wins 9 of 10…but on that night when it counted!!!! USA USA USA.. One event I wish I had been at.
That was some game, no doubt. That Soviet team would have beaten most NHL teams 9 out of 10 times, never mind a bunch of college kids. And the last 10 minutes of the game with the Soviets did indeed take an eternity.
I am probably wrong. If they would have played 100 times the mighty Soviets would have won 99…but not on that night in Lake Placid in what is now Herb Brooks Arena.