Do You Believe in Miracles?

It was more than a hockey game. It was the US, against the world. It was freedom vs. communism. No one gave them a hope or a way to win. It was a sliver of the cold war played out on a sheet of ice. Here you have a bunch of fresh-faced college kids taking on the big bad soviet bear. In the US, in the Olympics, the confluence of events was so extrodanary that it will never happen again. No one paid attention to what Americans said in the world anymore. Our hostages were taken and we couldn’t get them back. The Red Army went into Afghanistan, and we couldn’t get them out. It might have been the all time low point for American self-esteem. Who knew that these kids would be the vehicle to make Americans excited and proud to wave a flag again? It was a miracle, David slew Goliath. It was the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. This is the story of the 1980 U.S. hockey team and their importance in the world at that time.

America for many, it is a word that conjures up images of a land made of miracles. Where anything is possible, but that’s not how it was in the late 70’s when a darkness seemed to hang over the nation. It w

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Whenever a top Soviet team played against a US team, especially on American home soil, they played to win, to get a message across. In a game against Norway, considerably an easy team, the Americans only came away with a tie.

While outside the ice rink, every night on the evening news there was a slap in the face to Americans everywhere. After the on-ice celebration the Americans, Soviets, and Finland got their gold, silver, and bronze medals. After the celebration of the goal, the players noticed something, there were still ten minuets left. In the twenty years since the Americans first captured their first gold medal in Olympic hockey in 1960, European teams have become increasingly strong compared to the American’s, especially the Soviet Union. On February 22, 1980, it was a small hockey rink in a little town in the Appalachian Mountains. Some say that was the key goal for the Americans throughout the Olympics, because if baker didn’t score that goal, then they would have already been out of the Olympics. After their first goal most Americans winced and said to themselves, “Oh, boy! Here it comes!” No sooner did Buzz Snider, from the US team, come down the left side and beat the world’s best goalie, Tretiak, from the blue line with a slap shot. But to their opponents, the USSR, it wasn’t just an exhibition game. The coach of the Soviet team was Victor Tiekanof. (Hubbard p160) Even the Soviet goalie Tretiak thought so, as he said, “We were anticipating getting the gold, because we were the strongest team”. The final game started with a booming crowd cheering USA, USA! That cheer slowly faded out as Finland, after two periods, was up 2-1.

Soon the American team would start playing exhibition games to get themselves ready for the Olympic games the next year.

Common topics in this essay:
Mike Euruzonie, Herb Brooks, Soon American, Lake Placid, Jim Craig, Mile Island, Army Afghanistan, Americans Soviets, Doc McWhirter, Hockey Team, hockey team, herb brooks, mark johnson, hockey game, soviet team, team world, college kids, winter olympics, hbo doc, blue line, captain mike euruzonie, hockey team world, bunch college kids, madison square garden,

Approximate Word count = 2789
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)

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