25 years ago, they changed history
We had trouble at home, trouble in the world … A feeling of helplessness prevailed throughout America, and the great American can-do spirit had been severely shaken.
Anyone who has seen Miracle knows the story: a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears kids, chosen by a nearly anonymous and not exactly warm and cuddly coach defeated the mighty Soviet Evil Empire to win the 1980 Olympic Hockey Gold Medal in Lake Placid, New York. It was the stuff of legend, made even better by the fact that it really happened the way the legend says it did.
I was the same age (19) as some of the players, and though I grew in the heart of hockey country- northern Minnesota- I couldn’t skate to save my life. That reality didn’t stop me from loving the game of hockey. Those of us who lived in Minnesota were familiar with the US Olympic team. One of our own, University of Minnesota coach Herb Brooks, was coaching the team. Outside of that, though, the team didn’t attract much attention until the Olympics actually started. Even the drubbing the Americans took at the hands of the Soviets in Madison Square Garden immediately before the Olympics didn’t attract all that much attention. It was a much different world then. Some things still slipped through the cracks, and the 1980 Olympic hockey team was one of them.
Twenty-five years ago today, that collection of 20 wet-behind-the-ears kids gave a country with a flagging self-image some new heroes. In beating the vaunted Evil Empire, the Soviet Union, by a 4-3 score, the college kids that comprised the US team had defeated perhaps the most talented collection of professional hockey players EVER assembled.
It was an amazing victory then, made even moreso by a victory over Finland in the gold medal game two days later. It’s an even more amazing victory now that remains undiminished by the passage of time and the ravages of history.
Those of us who want to relive the moment can do so tonight at 7pm CST on ESPN Classic. The game against the Soviet Union will be replayed, complete with Al Michaels doing the play-by-play. I’ve probably seen the game eight or ten times in the past 25 years, and it never gets old. I may be a jaded 44-year-old now, but when I watch the game against the Soviet Union, I once again become an idealistic 19-year-old eager for something to believe in. Tonight, I will be 19 again…and tomorrow I will probably rent Miracle again. After all, one can never be an idealistic young man too often, eh??
