**Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Famer, Steve Carp’s returns to SinBin.vegas for the 2019-20 season. His weekly column publishes every Sunday during the Golden Knights season and is brought to you by the Jimmerson Law Firm.**
Reunions can be a joyous occasion.
Every year around this time, anniversary stories get written about arguably the greatest upset in the history of sports. The “Miracle On Ice” at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. should be at the top, or near the top of every sports fan’s list.
USA 4, USSR 3.
This coming Saturday, they’ll be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the event in, of all places, Las Vegas. Virtually all of the surviving members of the “Miracle” team will be at the Thomas & Mack Center during the afternoon where they’ll relive the events and no doubt stoke the patriotic embers inside every person who attends.
Later that day, they’ll be honored at the Golden Knights game against Florida at T-Mobile Arena. And you know the U-S-A! chants will be deafening.
They did something similar five years ago and like then, the players who attend the Las Vegas event are being well-paid to do so. Frankly, I don’t have a problem with that. If they can continue to cash in on their celebrity 40 years later, more power to them. And if you choose to support this with ticket purchases, jersey sales and other memorabilia that will be peddled, I’m fine with that as well. Have at it.
These guys weren’t really able to financially capitalize on their accomplishments back in 1980. Of the 20 guys who were on the top of the podium at Lake Placid, 13 went on to play in the NHL, the best being defenseman Ken Morrow, who won four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and was George McPhee’s college teammate at Bowling Green prior to playing on the blue line for Herb Brooks.
Together, this group shocked the world and Americans who didn’t know a blue line from a red line, suddenly became hockey aficionados.
You can argue about Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson in 1990 in Tokyo being the bigger upset. You could try to make a case for the New York Jets beating the Baltimore Colts in 1969 in Super Bowl III. Some may say Leicester City’s winning the English Premier League championship in 2016 was the greatest upset ever. You might even try to cite No. 16-seed Maryland-Baltimore County’s beating top-seeded Virginia in the 2018 NCAA Basketball Tournament as the biggest.
You can try, but you would be wrong.
No, what happened in Lake Placid on a chilly, and I believe snowy, Friday night on Feb. 22, 1980 trumps everything. How? It changed an entire nation’s view of a sport. It was cool to play and watch hockey. It wasn’t just Canada’s game anymore.
Of course, the U.S. had shocked the world 20 years before at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif., when it won the hockey gold medal, beating Canada, the Russians and Czechoslovakia in what was the first “Miracle On ice.”
But let’s go back to what happened right before they lit the flame at Lake Placid in 1980.
You probably forgot what took place at Madison Square Garden when the Soviet Union beat the Americans 10-3 in what was the final tuneup for the Olympics. And as the tournament began, the idea that a bunch of college kids could beat the Russian pros, guys who had taken NHL teams to the woodshed, was preposterous.
The fact the U.S. managed to get to the medal round itself is a miracle. They scored in the final seconds on a goal by Bill Baker to tie Sweden 2-2. If the Americans lose that game, there is no “Miracle.”
In their next game, they shocked a strong Czechoslovakia team, 7-3, which normally would have been the highlight of the Olympics. Instead, they gained momentum with wins over Norway, Romania and Germany and made it to the medal round from their group along with the Swedes. And that set up the semifinal showdown with the Russians.
We all know what happened. Mike Eruzione’s ultimate game-winning goal in the third period. Al Michaels’ call of the final seconds on ABC: “Do you believe in miracles?” If you’re old enough, I’m guessing you remember where you were that Friday night when you heard the news on the radio (the game was televised on tape delay for most of America) or if you were able to not know the result and watched it unfold on TV or even read it in the newspaper Saturday morning.
I was driving home from work in San Jose and I damn near drove off Highway 17 when I heard the news. I got home, turned on the TV and watched how it unfolded.
I have three distinct memories from Feb. 22, 1980.
First, was Mark Johnson’s goal at the end of the first period which tied the game 2-2, and more important, chased Vladislav Tretiak, the great Soviet goalie, from the net. If Tretiak stays in goal, I don’t know if the Americans score twice more and win.
Second, I’ll always remember how the U.S. handled its composure once it got the lead on Eruzione’s goal. The Russians were coming at them literally in waves, pressing for the equalizer. Remember, this is the same team that blitzed the Americans for 10 goals at the Garden just over two weeks before.
Yet, there was no panic. Jim Craig, the American goalie, did his job, repelling shot after shot. The guys in front of him limited their mistakes in their own end and they would be rewarded for that effort.
Finally, there was still on more game to play to win the gold medal. How would they be able to get up, both emotionally and physically, to play early Sunday afternoon against Finland?
This is where Brooks may have been at his finest. Yes, he was able to convince the college kids they could hang with the mighty Russians. But now, he had one final job of psychological massaging to do.
After two periods, the Finns led 2-1. According to Eruzione, Brooks’ message to his guys before the third period was simple: “If you lose this game, you’ll take it to your f—ng graves.” He then walked towards the locker room door, paused, looked over his shoulder, and said to them again, “Your f—ng graves.”
They got the message. Three goals in the final 20 minutes got them the gold with a 4-2 win.
Unlike 1960, the aftermath of this Miracle On ice was the number of kids playing hockey spiked throughout the United States. There would be other factors in the growth of the sport, among them being Wayne Gretzky’s playing in Los Angeles for the Kings, which would spark expansion to other Sun Belt cities, including Las Vegas, years later.
When I see boys and girls playing hockey at City National Arena, when I watch UNLV’s club team and the high school programs in town, when I see ice rinks being developed in Henderson and the fact Southern Nevada will have both an NHL and an AHL team next fall, I think about Buzz Schneider, Phil Verchota, Eric Strobel, John Harrington and all the guys who sacrificed to represent their country and in their own unique way, helped grow this great sport decades later.
Yes, there’s Eruzione and Johnson and Morrow and Craig.
I also think of Bob Suter, who died in 2014 at age 57, and Mark Pavelich, who won’t be at the Thomas & Mack because he’s dealing with some mental health issues and is institutionalized. And of course, there’s Brooks, who knew how to kick ass on his players but also knew when to back off and show them respect and love and who believed in all of them. There’s a statue of Brooks, who died in 2003, outside the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul where the Wild plays. It’s a fitting tribute.
And it’s why we should always remember what happened in 1980 in upstate New York and why we should be indebted to them for what they accomplished.
For more information on the Miracle On Ice 40th reunion at the Thomas & Mack Center, go to relivethemiracle2020.com.
**Steve Carp is the author of “Vegas Born — The remarkable story of the Golden Knights.” Follow him on Twitter @stevecarp56. All of Steve Carp’s work here on SinBin.vegas is presented to you by the Jimmerson Law Firm. For over twenty-five years, the Jimmerson Law Firm has been widely recognized as one of Las Vegas’s preeminent full-service law firms. Specializing in high stakes business, civil and family litigation, the Jimmerson Law Firm has an unparalleled track record of winning when it matters most. To reach the Jimmerson Law Firm, call (702) 388-7171 and tell them SinBin.vegas sent you.**

Dave Grosby
Great piece Steve: I actually went to the game at the Garden the week before the Olympics. It was 10-3 but easily could have been 15 or 20 to nothing. 6-0 after 1 and the Soviets backed off a bit. Anyone at that game KNEW they had no shot in the Olympics despite the hype after the Czech game, There will never be a bigger upset in my book
Tim
Steve how can you forget one of the biggest upsets in history of coarse I’m talking about the Golden Misfits. The only team in any sport in history to make it to the championship game. February 22 should be a crazy night I’m really looking forward to it and the way Vegas puts on a show it should be one to remember. On a side note this would be the perfect time to introduce the new alternate jersey. That would just put it over the top.
knights fan in minny
the boys were in shape and herbie was a genius ahead of his time
knights fan in minny
wish I could be there for this event I will be in vegas on the 24th hoping for a vegas trade going to the game against the sabres cant wait
DOC Williams
Yes, a number of great sports upsets were named here. But, what sets this miracle on ice apart … was the temperament & mood of the two country’s involved, at that time in history. This wasn’t followed by just one city etc…. This was a very emotional win for the ENTIRE country. It was the USA beating those big bad Russians. Nothing else can compare!!!!!
Vgk2018
Absolutely! That was really why none of those other upsets compared.
Brent
Steve,
Thank you for the trip down memory lane! It seems like just yesterday this all happened.
You mention that Ken Morrow was the best of the 13 who played in the NHL. His four Stanley Cups are impressive . But how about Neal Broten? NCAA champion, First Hobey Baker winner, Gold Medalist and Stanley Cup champion, and a 1000 games in NHL.
It is pretty impressive they are all coming to Las Vegas on the 40th Anniversary! Should be a lot of fun.
Thank you for all of your contributions to Sin Bin and your book.
Hdbiker7851
Where has been alot of negative feeling expressed over the playing of the Knights lately and reading your article was refreshing and in many regarrds seems like yesterday. The Misfits had the chance at a second miracle but came up a little short. Hopefully the current bunch can be equally inspired by what happened 40 years ago and continue to play like they have the ability to do demonstrated the last couple of games. Great article enjoy the event.
USA USA
Greatest sports moment in history. It lifted a nation.
The scale of the upset was like a Canadian college football team beating the Super bowl Champs, as Jim McKay said at that time.
Al Michaels said on a recent NBC interview that he still gets more happiness out of that moment 40 years ago than anything else he does. He said not a day goes by that people don’t bring it up when they see him. Same for Mike Eruzione.
How about the great job that Dave Christian did in those ’80 games…..he played defense, even though he was normally a winger. He filled the right defense spot of Jack O’Callahan, who of course was injured, as the movie depicted so well.
Saturday will be a great reunion…. and a very well deserved award for a great team. Looking forward to it.
Michael Shevlane
Leicester City was WAY more shocking. They were 5000-1!!! The only people who would ever say it was not as shocking are people who don’t understand soccer. It is like UNLV being allowed into the NFL and winning the Super Bowl!