Today in 1980: U.S. Hockey Beats the Soviets

cawacko

cawacko

Well-known member
(Technically this was yesterday). I was seven when this happened and don't really have a memory of it. But since this board is dominated by Boomers curious how many watched this and your reaction at the time. I get goose bumps watching the clip and listening to Al Michaels call.

Others could answer this better than I but it seems this was an event that drew Americans together and was a tremendous source of pride. Being a different time and not in the heart of the Cold War I don't know if any sporting event could come close to recreating those conditions today.


https://twitter.com/x/status/1364000226361679873
 
cawacko said:
(Technically this was yesterday). I was seven when this happened and don't really have a memory of it. But since this board is dominated by Boomers curious how many watched this and your reaction at the time. I get goose bumps watching the clip and listening to Al Michaels call.

Others could answer this better than I but it seems this was an event that drew Americans together and was a tremendous source of pride. Being a different time and not in the heart of the Cold War I don't know if any sporting event could come close to recreating those conditions today.


https://twitter.com/x/status/1364000226361679873
Click to expand...

Being from Minnesota, I am a huge hockey fan. This game, believe it or not, was NOT shown live. It was played in the late afternoon, and by the time the game was shown on network TV, the entire country was aware of it. I listened on the radio and went nuts. If you are at all familiar with Soviet hockey at the time, you'd realize this was, and probably today still is, the greatest upset in sports history. It is akin to the Tom Brady Patriots losing to a collection of college players, or the Lakers losing to some college all-stars. The Soviets were as good or better than any NHL team at the time. It was a remarkable achievement. The other thing that isn't well known among the younger generation is that this was not the gold medal game. The US had to beat Finland two days later in order to win the gold. Herb Brooks gave perhaps my favorite motivational speech ever before the Finland game. 'Gentlemen, if you lose this game, you will take it to your fucking graves'. That was Herb Brooks in a nutshell.

And yes, this was an incredibly unifying experience. Height of the cold war, and the Russians had invaded Afghanistan. The US would go on to boycott the summer games in Moscow that year. It was a tense time.
 
Concart said:
Being from Minnesota, I am a huge hockey fan. This game, believe it or not, was NOT shown live. It was played in the late afternoon, and by the time the game was shown on network TV, the entire country was aware of it. I listened on the radio and went nuts. If you are at all familiar with Soviet hockey at the time, you'd realize this was, and probably today still is, the greatest upset in sports history. It is akin to the Tom Brady Patriots losing to a collection of college players, or the Lakers losing to some college all-stars. The Soviets were as good or better than any NHL team at the time. It was a remarkable achievement. The other thing that isn't well known among the younger generation is that this was not the gold medal game. The US had to beat Finland two days later in order to win the gold. Herb Brooks gave perhaps my favorite motivational speech ever before the Finland game. 'Gentlemen, if you lose this game, you will take it to your fucking graves'. That was Herb Brooks in a nutshell.

And yes, this was an incredibly unifying experience. Height of the cold war, and the Russians had invaded Afghanistan. The US would go on to boycott the summer games in Moscow that year. It was a tense time.
Click to expand...

I was in high school and watched it on TV with three of my buddies and one of their dads.

We did not know the outcome beforehand, so I do not remember a tape delay.

It was the most electrifying sports event of my life. Bar none.

People tend to forget, but sports was a form of asymmetric warfare during the cold war. That was the backdrop for this great American victory.

I mean, we would cheer when the Americans beat the USSR in chess, aka Bobby Fischer.

And the USSR had a massive victory when they shocked us and beat our Olympic basketball team in 1972.

So international sports was an extension of the cold war, in some respects.
 
Concart said:
Being from Minnesota, I am a huge hockey fan. This game, believe it or not, was NOT shown live. It was played in the late afternoon, and by the time the game was shown on network TV, the entire country was aware of it. I listened on the radio and went nuts. If you are at all familiar with Soviet hockey at the time, you'd realize this was, and probably today still is, the greatest upset in sports history. It is akin to the Tom Brady Patriots losing to a collection of college players, or the Lakers losing to some college all-stars. The Soviets were as good or better than any NHL team at the time. It was a remarkable achievement. The other thing that isn't well known among the younger generation is that this was not the gold medal game. The US had to beat Finland two days later in order to win the gold. Herb Brooks gave perhaps my favorite motivational speech ever before the Finland game. 'Gentlemen, if you lose this game, you will take it to your fucking graves'. That was Herb Brooks in a nutshell.

And yes, this was an incredibly unifying experience. Height of the cold war, and the Russians had invaded Afghanistan. The US would go on to boycott the summer games in Moscow that year. It was a tense time.
Click to expand...

Being a hockey fan, do you recall the Philadelphia Flyers team (bullies) that beat up the Russian Army team sometime in the seventies?
 
I was told about the violent rivalry between the Avalanche and Red Wings of the late 90s/early 2000s, and watched the highlights on YouTube a while back.

Working alongside Canadians has helped to pique my interest in hockey, and, now, Seattle is about to build its new NHL team for next season, and people are pretty excited.
 
archives said:
Being a hockey fan, do you recall the Philadelphia Flyers team (bullies) that beat up the Russian Army team sometime in the seventies?
Click to expand...

Yep, that was 1976, and also the Summit Series in 1972. That was the epic series, eight games, with the Canadian team coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series 4-3 with one tie. It was basically the Canadian all stars against the Russian team. They were that good. So for a group of college all-stars to beat that team was an incredible feat. At the time, Minnesota and Massachusetts were huge rivals in the hockey world, I think every player on the 1980 team came from one of the two states. To bring those two groups together, Brooks decided they should unite in their hatred of the coach. It worked.
 
Concart said:
Yep, that was 1976, and also the Summit Series in 1972. That was the epic series, eight games, with the Canadian team coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series 4-3 with one tie. It was basically the Canadian all stars against the Russian team. They were that good. So for a group of college all-stars to beat that team was an incredible feat. At the time, Minnesota and Massachusetts were huge rivals in the hockey world, I think every player on the 1980 team came from one of the two states. To bring those two groups together, Brooks decided they should unite in their hatred of the coach. It worked.
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Interesting how this year they have a whole division made up of strictly Canadian teams, certainly has to add more excitement to those clubs as if they are playing for the Canadian championship
 
archives said:
Interesting how this year they have a whole division made up of strictly Canadian teams, certainly has to add more excitement to those clubs as if they are playing for the Canadian championship
Click to expand...

They did that because of Covid. Really screwed me up, the Wild were put in a division with all western teams, so the games don't come on here until 10:00.
 
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