The Miracle on Ice Game

     Today we mark the 31st anniversary of what many people have called through the years the greatest amateur hockey game ever played. There is nothing that I can write in this forum that would contribute anything new to our body of knowledge about this event.

      As 1980 dawned the United States was not feeling very proud of itself as a country. Many events in the 1970s caused many of my fellow citizens at the time to feel disappointment and shame toward our country. As the touranment opened, I remember my mom asking why I wanted to watch the hockey game. My answer was that the Americans were playing, as I teenager at the time I wanted to feel some pride and show some support. We were looking for something, anything to make us feel proud of our country. Victory after victory came to the team. The team got more and more attention. We hoped agianst hope that when they reached the metal round, that they could somehow get passed the Soviets. The Soviet Union had been the source of much of the disenchantment that we were feeling at the time.

      When it came time for the game itself, a live TV broadcast was not available. My sisters had a music station playing on the family stereo that was giving updates on the game as it happened, updating us everytime some one scored. We knew that the game was close and could go either way. When the Americans scored in the 3rd period to tie the game, we were immediately updated, game tied at 3 in the third period. We waited hopefully for the next update. It came when the game ended, we heard "We have a final score in Olympic Hockey USSR 3, USA 4!!!" We could not believe our ears, a major upset had occurred.

     We also knew that the Gold Metal was still up for grabs and that anyone of the four teams in the metal round could still win it. Two days later, I remember making sure that I was up by 8 AM when the USA-Finland game started. I wanted to make sure that I could see history as it unfolded that day. A victory over the team from Finland clinched the gold and suddenly America felt great about itself again. Several events would occur in the next year that reinforce that American pride. By 1983, I was proud to enlist in the United States Air Force and serve my country for the next 4 1/2 years.

    If you are old enough to remember the game, please share your memories with me in the comments sectiion below. For now we move on to the answer to yesterdays trivia question. Since 1975, when Bob Watson scored what was called Baseball's Millionth run, 793, 231 runs have scored in MLB. My thanks go out to Baseball-Reference.com for that answer. Todays question is since 1936 the American Hockey League has operated in much of the same territory as Baseball's International League, how many cities have had clubs in both leagues? The answer will appear in tomorrows daily blog about an Irish-Scotish Soccer game.