The United States won its second gold medal, including a win over the heavily favored Soviet Union that became known as the “Miracle on Ice”. Games were held at the Olympic Fieldhouse (8,000) and the Olympic Arena (2,500)….Blue Division.

1960

The 1980 U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey Team completed a miraculous run to the second hockey gold medal in the country’s history. Sports Illustrated called the “Miracle on Ice” victory over the Soviet Union on their way to gold as the greatest sports moment of the 20th century.

Of the 20 players on Team USA, 13 eventually played in the NHL. Five of them played over 500 NHL games, and three of them played over 1,000 NHL games.

The U.S. won gold medals at the 1960 and the 1980 Olympics and more recently, silver medals at the 2002 and 2010 Olympics. The U.S. also won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, defeating Canada in the finals. The team’s most recent medal at the World Championships came with a bronze in 2018.

Mark Pavelich

2

Michael Anthony “Rizz, Rizzo” Eruzione (/ɪˌruːziˈoʊni/, Italian pronunciation: [erutˈtsjoːne]); born October 25, 1954) is an American former ice hockey player….

66 years (October 25, 1954)

Call it Team Excitement. This ambitious, energetic squad of college kids ignored adversity and bounced from behind on third period goals by Mark Johnson and Mike Eruzione to score a stunning 4-3 upset victory over the defending champion Soviet Union Friday night.

Johnson’s first goal in the “Miracle on Ice” came with one second remaining in the first period to tie the game 2-2. It caused the Soviet Union’s frustrated coach to pull his team’s star goalie, Vladislav Tretiak.

Ralph Cox

The so-called Miracle on Ice was more than just an Olympic upset; to many Americans, it was an ideological victory in the Cold War as meaningful as the Berlin Airlift or the Apollo moon landing. As the U.S. team demonstrated in their victory over Finland two days later, they weren’t your run-of-the-mill amateur squad.

4-3

Actor Kurt Russell played coach Herb Brooks in the 2004 film “Miracle” about the United States’ win over the Soviet Union in men’s hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games.

Miracle (2004 film)

The Cold War came to the Olympics in 1980 as the United States led the way in a mass boycott of the Moscow Games in protest at the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. The invasion increased the tensions between the superpowers in a Cold War which had already rumbled on for over 30 years.