Top 100 momentsNo. 13
Miracle on Ice
A team of American college players beats the Soviet machine at Lake Placid. In the Cold War, a hockey game becomes a national memory.
The Soviet Union has won four straight Olympic golds. Their club team beats NHL all-stars. In Lake Placid they play a U.S. roster of college kids that Herb Brooks has been skating into the ground. On February 22, 1980, the Americans lead 4-3 after a Mike Eruzione shot. Al Michaels asks if you believe in miracles. The last seconds go in.
It is not the gold-medal game. That is two days later, against Finland. Nobody remembers Finland. They remember a Cold War hockey game in a small New York town, and a team that was not supposed to be on the same ice.
Miracle on Ice is sports as national myth. It is also a reminder that a single result can outrun the rest of a career. Most of those players never become NHL stars. They did not need to.