Quick Intro: 1980 Winter Olympics Hockey

The 1980 Winter Olympics Hockey tournament was held in Lake Placid, New York, which was hosting its second Winter Games (the first being in 1932).  The team to beat going into the tournament was the Soviet Union, and the United States, ranked seventh going into the Winter Olympics Hockey tournament, was never expected to be a medal threat, much less compete for the gold.

Twelve teams began the 1980 Winter Olympic Hockey tournament, and the Soviet team, accustomed to winning gold, was expected to take it once again.  The Soviet team was full of veterans like Boris Mikhailov and Vladislav Tretiak, and youngsters like Sergei Makarov were adding fuel to the team's fire.  The US team of twenty collegiate players, unknowns together for mere months compared to the years of organization for the USSR, featured members of rival college programs like the University of Minnesota and Boston University--a fact that could have led to team disunity were it not for head coach Herb Brooks and his "motivational" methods.  Team USA battled their way into the Winter Olympics Hockey tournament's medal round with a 4-0-1 record, leading to a semi-finals match-up with the Soviet hockey machine.

On February 22, 1980, Brooks and his team of college boys took to the ice for the first game of the Winter Olympic Hockey tournament medal round against the USSR, and, after two periods of staying with them, pulled out into the lead for good in the third, beating the Soviets 4 to 3 in what became known as the "Miracle on Ice."

The US went on to meet Finland in the gold medal game two days later, winning 4 to 2 in front of the US fans.  The Soviet Union took silver in the 1980 Winter Olympics Hockey tournament, while Sweden took home the bronze medal.

source: "Golden Moments: 1980 Winter Games," hockey.teamusa.org