Jump to content

42 Years Ago Today: The Miracle on Ice


Peace Frog

Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, CTJetsFan said:

I will never forget. I was 11 and was at my great grandmother's house watching the ABC-NY news that night (6pm-ish).  They went to a remote reporter at Lake Placid and they said turn away if you don't want to know the score but the fans in the background were going nuts so it was a giveaway regardless. Still one of the greatest things I've ever watched. Still gives me goosebumps. People forget that wasn't for the gold.

I was 9 and all in on Team USA Hockey run like only a 9 year old can be. The local news spoiled it for me too

I also wanted to be the next Eric Heiden. I followed him just as closely that winter.

Tough sport to crack living in Queens - a place that didn't even have access to cable TV yet. 

 

  • Upvote 1
  • Sympathy 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So we did a family ski trip to Lake Placid back in 2000 and took the kids on a tour of the ice rink (they were unimpressed because they were really young and didn’t know the story), took them to see the speed skating track where Heiden won all those medals and….it was OUTSIDE. We watch the Olympics now or for the last 30 years and speed skating is indoors. Was weird. Oh yeah, we skated on it. The very track where he won all those golds. So weird. 

The Olympic torch looked like a small construction lamp and the medal stand was really unimpressive. Took pics of the kids on it. 

What WAS impressive was the ski jump (you can take a tram to the top, crazy) and the toboggan run which you can actually do.   We did. I peed my pants. Not really but almost. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, TheNuuFaaolaExperience said:

There will never be another moment like this for the rest of time for two reasons. One being that we won with amateur players, and two being that the Olympics used to mean something. 

So true. The Olympics are a joke now for various reasons that I won’t get into but if they can get NHL players back into hockey then I’d watch that. People forget but the 2010 gold medal game in Vancouver between the US and Canada was crazy. Zach Parise tied it late before Crosby won it in overtime on Canadian soil. Bastard. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, JustEndTheSuffering said:

So true. The Olympics are a joke now for various reasons that I won’t get into but if they can get NHL players back into hockey then I’d watch that. People forget but the 2010 gold medal game in Vancouver between the US and Canada was crazy. Zach Parise tied it late before Crosby won it in overtime on Canadian soil. Bastard. 

lol we were at a family ski trip at Stowe and watched it in a bar with the kids whilst eating cheese steaks and playing darts. 

Loved Brodeur so I was massively conflicted. 

Great memory, thanks for reminding me. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, JustEndTheSuffering said:

So true. The Olympics are a joke now for various reasons that I won’t get into but if they can get NHL players back into hockey then I’d watch that. People forget but the 2010 gold medal game in Vancouver between the US and Canada was crazy. Zach Parise tied it late before Crosby won it in overtime on Canadian soil. Bastard. 

No comparison between 1980 and 2010 at all. Pros from the NHL playing against other pros from the NHL?  Who cares?  

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They make a very big deal about Herb Brooks pre game sppech vs. the Soviets,a nd it was great. The Kurt Russell speech in the movie is fantastic stuff, and it's close to waht he said. Better speech was midgame losing to Finland where Brooks totally ost his sh!t, saying you beat the Soviets to lose to these f___in' nobodies? 

Reality is Tikonov made a huge mistake pulling Tretiak over 1 weak goal. He was the best goalie in the world. But for that, probably does not happen. Wreaked of panic to his team. Tretiak wanted to play for the Canadiens, but they would not allow it so he retired still in his prime not long after. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Bugg said:

They make a very big deal about Herb Brooks pre game sppech vs. the Soviets,a nd it was great. The Kurt Russell speech in the movie is fantastic stuff, and it's close to waht he said. Better speech was midgame losing to Finland where Brooks totally ost his sh!t, saying you beat the Soviets to lose to these f___in' nobodies? 

Reality is Tikonov made a huge mistake pulling Tretiak over 1 weak goal. He was the best goalie in the world. But for that, probably does not happen. Wreaked of panic to his team. Tretiak wanted to play for the Canadiens, but they would not allow it so he retired still in his prime not long after. 

What Brooks said before the 3rd period in the Finland game was "if you lose this game, you'll take it to your f**ing grave.....your f**ing grave". Then the USA completely dominated the 3rd period, scoring 3 goals and winning 4-2 .  

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Joe Willie White Shoes said:

What Brooks said before the 3rd period in the Finland game was "if you lose this game, you'll take it to your f**ing grave.....your f**ing grave". Then the USA completely dominated the 3rd period, scoring 3 goals and winning 4-2 .  

If you look at the composite scores of all the games the US played, they outscored all their opponents by a wide margin. They had legs. Those legs were built by the "Herbies" (the up and backs) that he drilled into them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Bugg said:

They make a very big deal about Herb Brooks pre game sppech vs. the Soviets,a nd it was great. The Kurt Russell speech in the movie is fantastic stuff, and it's close to waht he said. Better speech was midgame losing to Finland where Brooks totally ost his sh!t, saying you beat the Soviets to lose to these f___in' nobodies? 

Reality is Tikonov made a huge mistake pulling Tretiak over 1 weak goal. He was the best goalie in the world. But for that, probably does not happen. Wreaked of panic to his team. Tretiak wanted to play for the Canadiens, but they would not allow it so he retired still in his prime not long after. 

What he said was short and sweet...." lose this game and you'll take it to your fu*king graves. Your fu*king graves." That was it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Joe Willie White Shoes said:

What Brooks said before the 3rd period in the Finland game was "if you lose this game, you'll take it to your f**ing grave.....your f**ing grave". Then the USA completely dominated the 3rd period, scoring 3 goals and winning 4-2 .  

And while Herb Brooks was a mean SOB to his players (in a tough love kind of way, obviously), he hardly ever used profanity.  So that speech especially stood out to the players for that reason.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

And while Herb Brooks was a mean SOB to his players (in a tough love kind of way, obviously), he hardly ever used profanity.  So that speech especially stood out to the players for that reason.

Think about though.  There was one period left to a long 8 month journey and they were one step away from this unbelievable accomplishment and were on the verge of losing two days after the epic win vs the Soviets.  Who wouldn't curse?

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The funny thing about this hockey team was they had to give away tickets to the first two games involving Team USA.  My friends and I were told you could only get into Lake Placid with tickets.  They were wrong.  We saw the first two games, some of the speed skating medal awards and the bobsledding for free.

Only once driving back and forth from Potsdam we were refused entry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, GKnight83 said:

The funny thing about this hockey team was they had to give away tickets to the first two games involving Team USA.  My friends and I were told you could only get into Lake Placid with tickets.  They were wrong.  We saw the first two games, some of the speed skating medal awards and the bobsledding for free.

Only once driving back and forth from Potsdam we were refused entry.

Been to Lake Placid. it's a very small town. The rink they played their 1st game vs. Sweden is smaller than your local rink. It's smaller than the 2 local rinks in Brooklyn, Abe Stark and Aviator. The skating oval was pretty much around the high school field. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Bugg said:

Been to Lake Placid. it's a very small town. The rink they played their 1st game vs. Sweden is smaller than your local rink. It's smaller than the 2 local rinks in Brooklyn, Abe Stark and Aviator. The skating oval was pretty much around the high school field. 

Yep and back at that time the NCAA, ECAC or High Schools, for that matter, built ice to suit their team's strength.

I loved watching teams from Hockey East with bigger guys come to Clarkson and find out what speed is all about.

Those days are gone  ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...