- published: 06 Feb 2010
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The "Miracle on Ice" is the name in American popular culture for a medal-round men's ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, on Friday, February 22. The United States team, made up of amateur and collegiate players and led by coach Herb Brooks, defeated the Soviet team, who had won nearly every world championship and Olympic tournament since 1954.
Team USA went on to win the gold medal by winning its last match over Finland. The Soviet Union took the silver medal by beating Sweden in its final game.
In 1999, Sports Illustrated named the "Miracle on Ice" the Top Sports Moment of the 20th Century. As part of its 100th anniversary celebrations in 2008, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) chose the "Miracle on Ice" as the century's number-one international ice hockey story.
The Soviet Union entered the Olympic tournament as heavy favorites, having won the ice hockey gold medal in 1956 and every year since 1964. In the four Olympics after the Soviet squad was upset by Team USA at Squaw Valley in 1960, Soviet teams had gone 27–1–1 (W-L-T) and outscored the opposition 175–44. In head-to-head match-ups against the United States, the cumulative score over that period was 28-7. The Soviet players, some of whom were active-duty military, played in a well-developed league with world class training facilities. They were led by legendary players in world ice hockey, such as Boris Mikhailov (a top line right winger and team captain), Vladislav Tretiak (considered by many[weasel words] to be the best ice hockey goaltender in the world at the time), the speedy and skilled Valeri Kharlamov, as well as talented, young, and dynamic players such as defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov and forwards Vladimir Krutov and Sergei Makarov. From that team, Tretiak, Kharlamov, and Fetisov would eventually be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
On Ice may refer to:
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Feet don't slip beneath me now, careful as I walk around
Gingerly 'cause I'm on ice
I didn't see the season change, looked up and saw nothing the same
So please why don't you fill me in?
We used to be so beautiful, everyday a waltz
We used to be so useful, but now I see the faults
Second guessing every step, every movement every stare
It didn't used to be this way
A happy face and then a sigh, tears that fall but quickly dry
But never do I wonder why
We used to be so beautiful, everyday a waltz
We used to be so useful, but now I see the faults
I'm almost there, I still care
Just a little scared
We used to be so beautiful, everyday a waltz
We used to be so useful, but now I see the faults
Feet don't slip beneath me now, careful as I walk around