American Dad had the storyline be around the Miracle on Ice. Roger was a fictitious player from the team who was the Steroid hopin enforcer of the team who used a sword to threaten the Russian Goalie.

It was pretty funny stuff.

I’m not from Minnesota, but my dad is, and at a young age, he instilled in me a sense of pride for his home teams – the Gophers on the ice and the Vikes on the gridiron. Chicago was in my blood too, so the Hawks and the Cubs became my other favorites. That said, I’ve seen a lot of professional losing.

My dad and his brothers built up the importance of this team and that Olympics for me, and while I don’t remember (other than replays and DVDs) a second of it beyond the third period of the Russia game, and even though I was just 7 years old at the time, this remains my single greatest sports memory. My parents were both huge hockey fans, and my dad felt, as you did, that this was his team, made up of his guys – he was a Minnesota hockey player too. That made this team my team, my guys. I remember being told that they wouldn’t win, that they couldn’t win, but I remember insisting that they’d do it – that these guys would bring down that Russian monster. It was a 7 year old’s naivety, but I was right.

This game was the first VHS tape my parents bought when we got a VCR a few years later, and it was the first DVD I got when I upgraded. I’ve watched that third period fifty times over the years and the last 6 seconds give me goosebumps every time. Why was it so powerful? You hit the nail on the head. These guys were us, they were our big brothers, our sons, our neighbors, the guy from down the block, the guy we played hockey with in grade school.

Sadly, with the amateurs out of the Olympics in favor of the big boys, this will never happen again. Sadly we’ll never feel this way again. Sadly, at this point, the Americans are the big baddies standing in someone else’s way in most sports. Sadly, the Olympic hockey will probably never again make household names and heroes out of college kids, out of nobodys, out of they guy from down the block that we played hockey with. At least I have my DVD.

I was in college at a small school in Wisconsin at the time. “My Minnesota amateurs” took it to the Red Army men that Friday night. Even my cheesehead friends tipped their hat to Minnesota that night.

The next day four of us went on a road trip. That Sunday we watched the USA clinch the gold from a Pizza Hut in South Bend, Indiana. After that game, we went to a college hoops game to watch Notre Dame take on Marquette University. The whole crowd chanted U! S! A! over and over again. Not as nice as being in Lake Placid, but spine tingling just the same.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Years later I had the privilege of meeting Herb Brooks. A class act all the way.

Hard to believe my Canadian team lost to your States. It was a good game though. The Americans were outshot, but the shots they had were high percentage. The Canadian team had too many shots from wide angles in the first two periods and it was too little too late in the third.

They should regroup, but the Russians in the quarters eww. Thats what you get for having to go into extra time against the Swiss, double eww.

Never forget game for me….So damn proud….You are right that the roster was loaded w Nortrhern MN players…..We took a W from what by any measure should have been a no brainer L….What a sense of we can do ANYTHING I and all the folks got from that game…

I come from International Falls, home of the Sheehy and Constantine families (both had players go on from HS championships and college outstanding play to professional play) and of SEVEN HS State Titles: 1957; 1962; 1964; 1965; 1966; 1972; and 1995, Class A….

We used to shut down classes for the state playoffs….and incidentally the Broncos (HS team name) are named such in honor of Bronko Nagurski my neighbor as a kid…So I guess yes you betcha I remember that game for a number of reasons! Thanks for the memories, think one other comment some where earlier I mentioned this game….good stuff!!!

30 years ago in my northern MN hometown of Virginia, the Queen City of the Iron Range and home of John “Bah” Harrington, we witnessed the greatest moment in sports history. Three miles down the road in Eveleth, home of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame lived Mark Pavelich. And just up the road in Babbitt, lived Buzz Schneider…it was the mecca of hockey where outdoor rinks dotted every neighborhood, where kids learned how to play pond hockey the old fashioned way. Players and fans alike in this neck of the woods view hockey like a religion. Following the game, the entire region was electrified with pride and we welcomed home our heroes as if they just returned from the war. As the Captain of my HS hockey team, I was asked to introduce Bah Harrington to our entire school and interview him on his thoughts about winning the Gold. It was a memory I’ll never cherish forever!

hockey, I can still say I’m proud of that 1980 team that beat the Soviet Union. It was monumental for so many reasons. I spent the first half of my life in outstate Minnesota in the northwestern county of Ottertail, moved to St. Cloud, and now Forest Lake (incidentally where Herb Brooks died).

No matter where I go in Minnesota, hockey is insanely popular. While I cannot say that I like the sport at all, I will definitely acknowledge that this is the state of hockey. Michigan and Wisconsin can suck it. I remember playing pond and lake hockey growing up and it will always be a reminder to me of where i’m from.

Side note: I would take a Vikings super bowl victory over the 1980 miracle on ice any day. ;)

But the 1980 U. S. Hockey team victory over the Soviet Union and eventual gold medal winner was huge. I do not believe I’ve watched a complete Hockey game since those Olympics, but I was glued to the TV every time they played.

Even in central Nebraska we realized that we were David slaying Goliath. I can remember jumping up and down and going nuts as the time wound down in that game. And without looking it up, I believe it was 4-3. Okay, I just watched the highlights on YouTube and I was right. I remember that last minute seeming like it took an eternity while I was watching it.

What a moment!

Thanks for the memories! Some great schools you mentioned, along with Hibbing, St. Paul Johnson, Grand Rapids East, Grand Rapids West, Edina East, Bloomington Jefferson before the split, now Bloomington and Jefferson, Roseville, Woodbury, White Bear Lake, Rochester John Marshall, Rochester Mayo, Burnsville, Hill-Murray, Mankato East and West, Hutchinson, South St. Paul, Duluth Denfeld, Park Rapids and many more. It brings back a lot of memories of watching the games with my dad (he used to play for Hibbing back when they were the the Flyers).
Thanks again for the article; GREAT MEMORIES!!!!!

He used to shop at the auto parts store I worked at many years ago. He gave me this shortly after leaving the NY Rangers. Yeah, I downsized it a bit.