Quick Intro: 1960 Winter Olympics Hockey

This quick intro to 1960 Winter Olympics hockey presents a gold-winning US team that is often called the "Forgotten Miracle." Winning the top medal 20 years before the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" team, the 1960 team that competed in Squaw Valley, California, arguably had to face greater adversity to win that medal. And although the 1960 team also is arguably the best US hockey team ever, they are often forgotten.

 

Playing in the first televised Olympic games, the US hockey team had to defeat not one stellar opponent, but three. As an immense underdog, the US team was not expected to beat the four best teams in the world at the time. Coming out of the Olympic games ahead of Canada, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia—twice—was a miracle in itself. The US won seven games in ten days, also defeating Germany, Australia, and Sweden, and is still the only US Hockey team to make it through the Olympic tournament undefeated.

At the end of the 1960 Olympic hockey tournament, the United States had accumulated ten points to win gold. Canada finished with eight points to win silver, and the Soviet Union—the defending Olympic champion from 1956 who had not lost a game since—won the bronze medal with five points.

Top scorers for the Olympic hockey tournament included Fred Etcher of Canada with nine goals and twelve assists. Also notable were Bob Attersley of Canada with six goals and twelve assists and Bill Cleary of the United States with seven goals and seven assists.

 

Resources:

 

Squaw Valley 1960 Collection