Do You Believe in Miracles?
On February 22, 1980, a team of American college kids stunned the mighty Soviet Union 4-3 at Lake Placid in the 'Miracle on Ice.'
"Do you believe in miracles? YES!" It is the most famous sentence ever spoken by a sportscaster — and it almost wasn't heard live at all.
On February 22, 1980, at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the United States men's hockey team faced the Soviet Union in the medal round. The Soviets were a machine: four-time defending Olympic champions, winners of nearly every major international tournament for two decades, a roster of full-time players who were "amateurs" in name only. The Americans were college kids — the youngest team in the tournament, averaging about twenty-two years old — assembled and drilled for seven months by coach Herb Brooks, a hard-driving former Olympian from Minnesota.
Ten days before the Games, in an exhibition at Madison Square Garden, the Soviets had demolished the Americans 10–3. Nobody gave the U.S. a chance. ABC didn't even air the game live; it was scheduled for tape delay at 8 p.m., on the assumption that the result wouldn't matter.
Then the puck dropped. The Soviets scored first, but the Americans answered. With one second left in the first period, Mark Johnson fired in a rebound to tie it 2–2 — and the furious Soviet coach benched his legendary goaltender, Vladislav Tretiak, on the spot. The USSR led 3–2 after two periods. Early in the third, Johnson struck again on a power play to tie it. Then, with exactly ten minutes left, captain Mike Eruzione — who had just hopped over the boards — wristed a shot through a screen of players. 4–3. The first American lead of the night.
What followed were the longest ten minutes in American sports. The Soviets attacked furiously, but goaltender Jim Craig turned away everything, finishing with 36 saves. The Soviet players, behind for the first time in living memory, panicked — incredibly, they never even pulled their goalie. In the broadcast booth, Al Michaels and analyst Ken Dryden counted down the final seconds, and Michaels delivered the line that would echo for generations: "Do you believe in miracles? YES!"
The American players poured onto the ice in delirium while Brooks sprinted past the celebration straight to the locker room, where he wept alone. In the dressing room afterward, the team spontaneously sang "God Bless America."
But the miracle wasn't finished. The win over the Soviets was only the semifinal — two days later, the Americans had to beat Finland for the gold, falling behind 2–1 before rallying to win 4–2 on February 24.
Why it matters: in 1999, Sports Illustrated named it the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century. But it was never just about hockey. In the depths of the Cold War, a group of kids who refused to believe they were beaten reminded a weary country what belief itself looks like.
Photo: Henry Zbyszynski, CC BY 2.0 (via Wikimedia Commons).