TBT: Remember That Time 38 Years Ago Today When The United States Olympic Hockey Team Put The USSR In Their Back Pocket?
February 22, 1980. Lake Placid, NY. The time and the place when the Cold War was ended after a rag tag group of college kids took down the Soviet Red Army on a sheet of ice in what was to be remembered as the “Miracle on Ice”. Thinking back on it now, however, I don’t exactly think “miracle” is the right word to describe that win. Sure, the Soviets had been dominant for the previous 2 decades before this game. Sure, the USA roster wasn’t necessarily comprised of superstar level talent that would make them a likely candidate to take down the Soviets. But a miracle? I don’t think so. Because the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team was designed specifically to take down the Soviet Union. The roster of this team wasn’t just assembled with the best possible players. This roster was assembled with the right players. A group of guys who could come together in a short amount of time and do what pretty much nobody could do before over the last 20 years. A miracle would have been in the 1980 US Olympic hockey team went into that game against the USSR without any intentions of winning and just so happened to come out of there on top. But what happened in that game was exactly what Team USA had worked for and planned on. They didn’t need a miracle, they just needed to do exactly what they were preparing for.
Featured on Barstool
Unfortunately, I kind of think that USA Hockey has been cursed by the Miracle on Ice a bit ever since. Every time a men’s US team gets assembled, I feel like they’re trying to recreate that magic. USA Hockey is constantly trying to outsmart themselves and go with the “right” players instead of the best ones. Which, for Herb Brooks, was the right call especially considering he couldn’t choose from NHL players even if he wanted to. In the year 2018? The game is a little different now. These teams don’t get to train with each other for close to a year prior to the Olympics. We saw it in the World Cup of Hockey in September 2016. And we saw it with the men’s team in the Olympics this year with USA Hockey leaving a lot of really talented college kids at home while opting to bring in some more veterans who fit that “right” player mold.
Good news is the women were able to have their own version of “Miracle” last night/early this morning against Canada. Only makes sense that they win their first gold medal since 1998 on the anniversary of the 1980 team getting theirs. It’s actually super creepy how well the US Women’s timeline matches up with the 1980 men’s.
For the men, USA won gold at the 1960 Winter Olympics. After that, the Soviet Union went on to win 4 consecutive golds. Then on February 22nd, USA took down the 4-time reigning champs en route to winning the gold medal a few days later (common misconception that the win over the Soviet Union was for gold).
For the women, USA won gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics. After that, Canada went on to win 4 consecutive golds. The on February 22nd, USA took down the 4-time reigning champs en route to winning gold. A gold medal followed by a 4-Olympics run by another country followed by a gold medal 20 years later. Weird.
Oh, and to celebrate this glorious day in US Hockey History, we’ll be putting these bad boys back on sale. For today only though so BUY NOW BUY NOW BUY NOW BUY NOW
