{"id":500,"date":"2021-03-15T00:25:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T00:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coldwars21.theleahgoldman.com\/?page_id=500"},"modified":"2021-03-15T00:35:27","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T00:35:27","slug":"the-miracle-on-ice-a-slapshot-into-a-brighter-future","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/coldwars21.theleahgoldman.com\/?page_id=500","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Miracle on Ice\u201d- A Slapshot into A Brighter Future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thwarting the gold medal hopes of the Soviet Union, the United States Hockey team won 4-3 to stay to compete another day in the 1980 Olympic Games. Following an early goal by the Soviets, The Americans tied their Cold War adversaries not once, but twice in the first period to begin the second period at 2-2. That period would finish with a 3-2 Soviet lead before flipping the advantage to the US with a 4-3 lead halfway through the third period. Head coach Herb Brooks, who had been cut by the 1960 US team as a player, directed the team in the closing moments. At the sound of the buzzer, the underdog Americans upset the Soviets in what truly was a \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d leading them to the finals against Finland. That narrative is exciting, yes, but not entirely accurate. The Americans were certainly underdogs competing against a team that had beat them 10-3 just days before but were amateurs only in the sense that they were not playing in the National Hockey League. They were a team that held a 42-16-3 record going into the Olympic games in Lake Placid and though they had just badly lost an exhibition game to the Soviets, they were a better hockey team than one might find at a recreation rink. They were also not the first US hockey team to play the Soviets\u2014but they were the first ones to beat them since 1960, inspiring Gerald Eskenazi of the New York Times to write that \u201cfew victories in American Olympic play have provoked such reaction comparable to tonight\u2019s decision.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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