Defenseman Ken Morrow went on to win the National Hockey League prestigious Stanley Cup four times while playing with the New York Islanders from 1980 to 1983. Morrow currently serves as the head scout for the Islanders.

The 1980 USA hockey team captain Mike Eruzione who scored the winning goal against the USSR later became a TV broadcaster for the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers. He works for the University of Boston and helps the high school team in Winthrop, Massachusetts, his home town.

Following the 1980 Miracle on Ice game, center Mark Pavelich played for the National Hockey League as well as playing for teams in Germany and in the United Kingdom. He retired in 1992 and lives in Wisconsin where he works as a real estate developer.

Mark Johnson played for 5 different National Hockey League teams after the 1980 USA hockey gold medal game. He coached the women’s USA Olympic hockey team in 2010. Currently Johnson is the head coach for the women’s hockey team at the University of Wisconsin.

Mike Ramsey played for 17 years after the Miracle on Ice. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001 and is the assistant coach for the Minnesota Wild team.

Neal Broten also played for 17 years following America’s amazing victory at the 1980 Olympic Games. He won the Stanley Cup in 1995 while playing for the New Jersey Devils. Broten lives in Wisconsin where he and his wife train horses.

The USA team goal tender Jim Craig now lives in Massachusetts where he is a marketing coach and a motivational speaker. He travels all over the United States delivering motivational talks to major companies. He is vice president for The Hat Trick Group in Massachusetts.
Craig Patrick, the assistant coach for the 1980 Miracle on Ice team spent a number of years working as the director of operations for the New York Rangers. In 1981 he became the youngest general manager in the history of the Rangers. He worked with the Pittsburgh Penguins and helped create a winning strategy that resulted in two Stanley Cups for the team. He is the third generation of Patricks to have the family name inscribed on the Stanley Cup and to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Jack O’Callahan went on to play played 390 regular season games in the National Hockey League after the Miracle on Ice. He played for the Chicago Blackhawks and the New Jersey Devils from 1982 until 1989. He retired and together with Jack Hughes, he founded the Beanpot Financial Services.

John Harrington played for Switzerland from 1980 to 1981 and then returned to the United States to play for the USA National team on full time. He played for the US team in the World Championship tournaments in 1981, 1982 and again in 1983. He was a team member of the 1984 Winter Olympics team. Harrington retired after 1984 and took a job as assistant coach for the University of Denver. Harrington returned to Minnesota in 1990 as assistant coach for St. Cloud State University. In recent years he has worked with the Swiss National team and with the team in Slovenia.

William “Buzz” Schneider played in Switzerland until 1983 when he returned to the United States and played for the team in the 1982 World Championship tournament. He retired in 1983 and went to work in Minneapolis as a sales executive. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003. Currently, Buzz is the coordinator of the men’s national hockey team in Turkey.

Dave Christian joined the Winnipeg Jets one week after the 1980 USA hockey team performed the Miracle on Ice. He currently holds the record for the fasted goal by any player by scoring 7 seconds into his first shift on the ice. He later played for the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, the Boston Bruins and the Saint Louis Blues. He scored 340 goals and 433 assists and played 1009 regular season games in the National Hockey League. Upon retiring from play, Christian became the coach of the Fargo-Moorhead Bears. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.

Dave Silk was drafted by the New York Rangers after the Miracle on Ice where he played until he was traded to the Boston Buins. He joined the Winnipeg Jets as a free agent in 1985 and then played for Germany from 1986 until 1987. Silk retired in 1991 and took an assistant coach position at Boston University. Dave Silk was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Olympic Hall of Fame. He earned his business degree and currently is works for Bear Stearns Investments in Boston.

When the teams returned to the ice following the first period break, the Soviet coach replaced the goal tender. This move was the turning point in the game for the Americans. Even though the Soviet team was dominant on the ice during the second period out shooting the American team by 12 to 2, they scored only once in the period. At the half way point in the game, the Soviet team led the USA hockey team 3 to 2.

Soviet power player Vladimir Krutov was sent to the penalty box in the third period. Up to this point the USA team had managed to get off only 2 shots in 27 minutes of play. As American Dave Silk moved the puck into the Soviet zone, he was knocked down by the Soviets and the puck shot across the ice toward Mark Johnson. Johnson shot hard under the goal tender to tie the game at 3 to 3. Two plays later the Americans pulled ahead of the Soviets when they left USA team captain Mike Eruzione unguarded. He scored a goal pulling the Americans ahead of the USSR.

Sensing they were getting into trouble, the Soviets went on the attack and played a furious game for the next 10 minutes. The USA coach Herb Brooks urged his players to stay on the offensive. The strategy worked and the Soviet team lost their confidence and started shooting the puck without setting up the play. Their wild shooting demonstrated that the Soviets were in a panic as the clock approached the final minutes of the game. The players engaged in a wild scramble for the puck as the last 10 seconds of the game ticked off.

The underdog USA hockey team defeated the Soviet team to make Olympic history. The ice was suddenly swarming with jubilant American team members. The USA coach ran to the locker room where it is reported that he cried.

Many of the players from the 1980 USA Hockey Team went on to become NHL players, with some even signing contracts before the winter Olympics started. Mark Johnson, who had grabbed the opening opportunity at the end of the first period of the game went on to a very illustrious career as a player and then as a coach. He actually coached the women’s Ice Hockey team which won the Silver Medal in the 2010 winter Olympics, just one off the remarkable achievement of 30 years earlier. The team captain, however, Mike Eruzione, ended his top level hockey career at the winter Olympics in 1980. He felt that there was nothing more to accomplish for him in hockey, what could possibly top an Olympic Gold Medal?

The coach, Herb Brooks, is widely regarded as the ‘Daddy’ of Ice Hockey in the USA, and went on to coach many NHL teams but with mixed success. Considered by many to the best hockey coach of all times, he coached the 2002 Olympic squad to a silver medal, a feat which included a 3-2 win over Russia (a large part of the Soviet Union squad), and was played exactly 22 years to the day after the Miracle on Ice. He was sadly killed in a car accident in 2003, aged only 66 years, and the arena at Lake Placid, New York, where the famous victory took place, is now named in his honour, and quite rightly so.

Thirty years on and we’re still talking about it. We’re still dreaming about making another miracle happen. Well, it can be so, but as Herb Brooks and the entire 1980 USA Hockey Team knows, to make them happen it takes lots of hard work, determination, fitness, speed, and a great big portion of Lady Luck.

Herb Brooks held try outs in the summer of 1979, to find his perfect Olympic squad. He tested hundreds of hopefuls, and apart from their physical attributes also involved them with psychological testing, he wanted winners in his team, strong minded individuals who could do the job for their country. He knew that in a short event luck always played a large part, so he wanted a team who were ready to grab every opportunity to score and get one over on the opposition.

With an eventual squad of 20 players selected, they set about a gruelling 5 month exhibition tour playing over 60 games. Brooks training methods were hard, many might say unconventional, but he had a knack out of getting the best out of his team, just when it was needed the most.

On 9 February 1980 the team played their final exhibition match against the Soviet squad, in which the Soviets trounced the Americans 10-3. This victory was to prove the undoing of the Soviets, who drastically under estimated their opponents less than 2 weeks later.

The Soviets had entered the Olympics as the hot favourites, in fact, when the Soviets and the 1980 USA Hockey Team took to the ice on that day, it was said that the Soviets would win unless the ice melts, or unless the team performed a miracle, as had the squad some 20 years earlier. Little did they know that a Miracle on Ice was about to be performed right before their eyes. As his team went out onto the ice, Herb Brooks, ever the motivator, read out a pre-prepared statement to his players, telling them ‘You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours’.

The rest, as they say is history. That moment has gone down in the history books as one of the greatest sporting achievements ever, in fact, according to many, it’s the greatest piece of sporting history of the 20th century.

The Miracle on Ice was complete. The team lined up to receive their gold medals and listen proudly to the National Anthem. The podium was only large enough to hold the Captain of each team, but after the anthem, the team captain Eruzione signalled for the rest of the team to join him on the podium – today the podiums are big enough to accommodate the whole team, and quite rightly so.

The Miracle on Ice re-ignited a feeling of national pride in the citizens of America, something which was badly needed after the turbulence of the 1970s. Although the Soviet team re-gained its Olympic supremacy until 1991 when the country broke up, for the next 5 years they did not lose another international hockey game, and it was 1991 until an American team could once again beat the mighty reds, but nevertheless, the Miracle on Ice will live on in the memory of many, as the greatest sporting achievement of all time.

That a young amateur team of collegiates could use their youth, strength, stamina and speed to beat such an experienced and talented squad is really a remarkable achievement, one that was made possible by the confrontational methods and determination of coach Herb Brooks. He worked the team hard physically and psychologically, messing with their minds and sticking to rigorous training schedules right through the Olympic campaign, but it paid off. He believed in Miracles, and he made one happen.

Although the Soviet team started out slowly against Finland, they rallied to victory. They repeated their performance against Finland, when they faced the Canadian team by falling behind in the beginning but pushing forward to victory in the second half. The Soviet team was favored to win the gold as they entered the medal round. The underdog American team would be facing the undefeated Soviets first in the medal round.

At the end of the first period, the Soviet defense seemed to let up on their play. American Dave Christian took a long shot which was easily blocked by the Soviet goal tender. Mark Johnson drove between the defensemen and slammed a goal just as the buzzer sounded to end the period. The call was made for the American team, and after the break, the Soviet team went into a full assault of the Americans. The USA team held it’s own against the onslaught.

The Soviet team came back after the half time intermission to dominate the second period. Team USA goal tender Jim Craig fended off waves attacks by the Soviets. The American team put its superior speed to its advantage in the final 20 minutes of the game. When the Soviet team fumbled the puck, Johnson drove it home to even the score. The momentum was building for the 1980 USA hockey team as a clearing pass was intercepted by Mark Pavelich. Teammate Mike Eruzione threw a wrist shot past the opposition and scored pulling the Americans ahead of the Soviets 4 to 3. In the final 10 minutes of game play the Soviet team began to panic.
As the last seconds ticked off the clock, sports broadcaster Al Michaels called the game: “Eleven seconds. You got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now. Five seconds left in the game! Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

The Soviet squad were regarded by all as the best team in the world. They had dominated the sport, winning the Olympic ice hockey gold medal in 1956, and then again for every consecutive games since 1964. Only in 1960 had the American team been able to rain on their parade and beat them. One member of that squad,
Herb Brooks, was to become the driving force behind the 1980 USA Hockey Team.

The Soviet team were highly skilled and experienced, with some of their key players being in their mid 30s. Though they were technically regarded as amateurs, in reality they were given soft jobs by the USSR government which enabled them to play professionally and train in world class facilities full time. Much was expected from this squad in return.

Herb Brooks began running try out sessions for his squad in the summer of 1979. He tried out hundreds of hopefuls, and tested them psychologically as well as physically. He wanted a squad which was strong in body and also in mind. Many of the team say even now that he messed with their minds, and very often a training session would end in shouting and rowing, but he had a knack of getting the best out of the players at just the right time. Eventually he honed down to his final squad of 20 players, the 1980 USA Hockey Team but the mind games continued. He would constantly question their skill, their commitment, whether they deserved their place in the squad. His training methods made life uncomfortable many times, but ultimately they had the desired effect.

The team set out on 5 months of extensive exhibition matches, playing over 60 matches in all, but there was no let up in Brooks training program. He wanted his team to be fit, ready and hungry. In early February 1980, just before the start of the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the team played a match against the imposing soviet squad. The reds beat them, 10 – 3. In hindsight, this was an extremely important turning point in the run up to the winter Olympics. The Soviet team became complacent and seriously under-estimated their American opponents.

Nearing the end of the first period the Soviets were leading 2 – 1, with only seconds to go the USA team took a shot at goal which was saved, but the puck bounced out in front of the goalie. The USSR team were already on their way to the dressing room, thinking that the period was over, but as the goalie moved away from his goal Mark Johnson took up the loose puck and slammed it into the goal. This really was the turning point of the whole match, as the 1980 USA Hockey Team ended the first period with a 2-2 tie. The rest, as they say, is history.

Brooks hand picked the 1980 USA hockey team. He chose mostly University of Minnesota and Boston University players to make up the team that would go on to defeat the USSR in the famous Miracle on Ice Olympic game. Boston University was Minnesota’s long time hockey rival. Selection of players from Boston created one team with a singular goal: bring gold home to America. After coaching the USA hockey team to a gold medal win, he moved to Switzerland where he coached for one year before returning to the United States where he resumed his coaching career with the New York Rangers. Brooks became the first American coach to lead the Rangers to a 100 win season. In 1988 Herb Brooks coached France in the Winter Olympics. His long list of NHL coaching positions includes the Minnesota North Stars, New Jersey Devils, and the Pittsburgh Penguins for whom he later worked as a scout.

Herb Brooks was back behind a USA hockey team for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and led team USA to the finals. He led the USA team to victory over Russia 22 years to the day after the 1980 Miracle on Ice. The USA team lot to Canada following this victory, but finished the Games with the silver medal. In 1990 Herb Brooks was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. The International Hockey Hall of Fame inducted him in 1999. In 2006 after his death, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Herb Brooks died at the age of 66 following an auto accident in Minnesota on August 11, 2003. On the 25th anniversary of the 1980 USA hockey team Miracle on Ice, the Olympic arena in Lake Placid, New York was renamed the Herb Brooks Arena. A statue based on a photograph of his reaction following the historic win for America was installed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 2003

“You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours.” Herb Brooks.

Brooks quote from: “The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team,” by Wayne Coffey, p. 45

Herb Brooks, the coach of the young and extremely determined 1980 USA Hockey Team, had predicted that the team might be able to win a bronze medal, but little did anyone know that they were about to go 2 steps higher on the podium, and take home the coveted gold for the first time since the USA team had beaten the Soviets 20 years earlier in 1960. Since that time, from 1964, the Soviet squad had taken the gold medal in every winter Olympics, and fully expected their supremacy to remain. When later they only succeeded in winning the silver medals, they didn’t even submit them for engraving, as was customary, such was their deep disappointment and shame.

The Soviet team had delivered a crushing defeat to the 1980 USA Hockey Team only a couple of weeks earlier in an exhibition match, and this had unknowingly sealed their fate. They entered the match with the young Americans feeling over confident and seriously under-estimated the speed, determination and tenacity of this young squad. Leaving the ice with seconds to go at the end of the first period was just the beginning of the seal to their fate, with the tenacious Mark Johnson seizing his opportunity and slamming in an equalizing goal in the final second of the first period. The young Americans had survived the first period, and could begin the second on equal terms, with the score 2-2.

In the second period the Soviet squad outplayed the Americans with shots of 12 – 2, but only managed to find the back of the net on one occasion, leaving the young USA team with only a 1 goal deficit, 3-2 at the end of the second period. The third period saw frantic action with the USA team pulling ahead to 4-3 with a full 10 minutes remaining. Instead of defending their position, the Americans kept attacking and the nearer it got to the end of the match, the more the Russians panicked. They began shooting wildly and later admitted that panic had set it. The last few seconds of the match were magical, with the entire crowd counting down from seven seconds. Do you believe in miracles? Yes, we certainly do.

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.