The 1980 USA hockey team did not win the Olympic gold medal when they defeated seemingly insurmountable odds to overcome the powerful USSR team. The Miracle on Ice game was the first game for the teams in the medal rounds. Back in 1980 the medal round was not single elimination play. At the time the American matches against Swede, Finland and the USSR were all counted. Both the USA and the USSR had a chance to win the gold since under the rules at the time medals were awarded according to overall number of points scored. After defeating the USSR, the USA team had to defeat Finland to secure the gold medal. The USA hockey team defeated Finland and won the gold. When the Americans defeated the Soviets, the crowd spontaneously began chanting “USA! USA!” To this day, the chant is repeated by American supporters at international sports matches.

The 1970s had been a turbulent time in American history. The Vietnam conflict was concluded, but not a victory for America. Relations with the Soviet Union remained strained up to and following the 1980 Olympic Games. On Christmas day 1979 the USSR sent troops into Afghanistan to aid the Communist government against rebels. The USA aided the “freedom fighters” against the Afghanistan government and Soviet troops. Because of the actions of the Soviets in Afghanistan, American President Jimmy Carter was considering whether the USA should boycott the 1980 Summer Games that were scheduled to be held in Moscow. The USA imposed a trade embargo by suspending technology sales to the Soviet Union. After the Soviet team trounced the USA hockey team in an exhibition match winning a 10 to 3 victory a couple of weeks earlier, tensions were as strained between the two nations as they had ever been as the 1980 Winter Olympics approached. The showdown between the United States and the USSR on the ice was the perfect match up between West and East, Capitalism versus Communism.

Following the American Miracle on Ice victory over the Soviet hockey team, USA team captain Mike Eruzione broke Olympic protocol after receiving the gold medal for the USA by calling up his team mates to join him on the podium. At the time, only the team captain was permitted on the podium to receive the medal while the winning nation’s national anthem was played. Following Mike Eruzione’s minor breach of protocol, the Olympic Committee decided to make the podium large enough to accommodate entire teams. The Soviets were so stunned by the American victory over their previously undefeated team, that they closed their Lake Placid, New York offices. They did not report the loss in their State run newspapers or radio broadcasts.

The 1980 USA hockey team Miracle on Ice win over the Soviet Union, and the subsequent winning of the gold medal invigorated the American people. Patriotism was at a high point. The photograph of the American team celebrating on the ice was featured on the cover of Time Magazine. A movie titled Miracle on Ice, staring starring Karl Malden and Steve Guttenberg that incorporated actual game footage was aired in 1981.