Miracle On Ice - Documentary

the Soviet Union and the United States are fighting Hitler in World War two their allies general Capcom would like to know whether you will join him to dream the surrender of Germany my confidence in general please inform him but I do not care to drink with him or any other Russian son-of-a-bitch there was fear on both sides that arose out of the aftermath of World War two this was a very complicated political struggle over primacy in the world by two different systems and I am certain had depended about the company the Soviet Union certainly saw itself as the bastion of communism the United States saw itself as the bastion of capitalism even if there are only one communist in the State Department I could still be one communist too many sense of competition of embattlement of the potential for conflict was I think in the psyche of lots of people in 1957 the USSR staggered the United States and its allies by establishing a gateway in a new frontier on every continent and in every land the story of Sputnik 1 dominated the front pages the Soviets had scored a scientific first boutique was big but when Yuri Gagarin went into space that was huge the feeling of of us versus them was definitely big Soviets eveness in areas such as space exploration that was all part of the Soviet propaganda is part of a projecting their image part of a way of saying that they were superpower the threat of hydrogen bomb warfare is the greatest danger our nation has ever known a cold war held always the possibility that through miscalculation or series of miscalculations that you could end up with a nuclear confrontation I fall upon chairman Khrushchev the hall and eliminate this clandestine reckless and provocative threat to world peace the Cold War was in two parts one was the nuclear arms race the other part was the third world where we were pretty much in competition we intend to convince the Communists that we cannot be defeated by force of on most things where the US and the Soviet Union were involved everything was connected into something more whether it was the the arms race whether it was the space race whether it was Olympic Games the curtain rises on the 1952 Olympics little Finland and most this time to athletes from all parts of the world on both sides of the Iron Curtain as soon as the Soviet Union started entering the Olympics there was an immediate Cold War awareness the implication was that this was going to be a battle between ideology victory in the Olympic Games was important victory for the nation it was this feeling that we worn over the capitalism the one thing about the Olympic Games is that they raised a flag can they play in handsome it's the best way to project to the world that you're a winning country that you are a powerful in 1968 of light in Olympics and the whole world was about America superpower Russia superpower who's gonna win when you win is that like I just want to go medal I prove that America is the strongest nation in the world there is time for the Russians to go to their big man Alexander bailout they're going to try and this time it is over over time the Soviet Union began to win more medals you begin to sense that the United States is losing this Cold War battle on the Olympic field the diminished Olympic dominance of the United States in the 1970s reflected a deeper feeling the nation at home and abroad was losing its long-standing economic and moral high-ground in more vital areas to leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body but as president I must put the interests of America first I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow millions of gas hungry Americans experiencing the worst weekend yet in the growing gasoline shortage thousands of Muslim demonstrators marched to the United States embassy if the largest demonstration so far since the embassy was seized and the hostages taken five days ago massive Soviet military forces have invaded the small non-aligned sovereign nation of Afghanistan the Soviet invasion of the of Afghanistan took place at the very end of 1979 Jimmy Carter had expressed shock the Soviets would do anything like that it had shaken our confidence as a nation it had shaken public's confidence in our administration there was a sense of helplessness on the part of the nation Bosco's intervention in Afghanistan has plummeted soviet-american relations through probably the lowest point since the Cold War Carter in a real sense felt betrayed by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Carter had tried to have better relations with the Soviets with the Summer Olympics scheduled to open in Moscow in July 1980 President Carter responded with Soviet invading forces in Afghanistan neither the American people nor I will support sending an Olympic team to Moscow suddenly this one great event that Americans always look forward to the Summer Olympics wasn't there so all that was left was the Winter Olympics there weren't a lot of things to get excited about at the time so something needed to be done to get people excited well if you were to said it was going to be hockey a group of players in the community of 2,500 somebody would ask you you know what drugs are you are in the 60s 70s and 80s the three most important things for the Soviet Union which they thought that they're number one in the world war Hockey space and ballet and in that particular order the hockey team was better than everybody else they won their games with ease there was nothing to celebrate for them they were supposed to win at that time hockey was the best of the best they really was treated much better than anybody else because they always swim not always at the 1960 Winter Games in Valley California the Americans upset the Soviets and went on to win the gold medal from the USSR rallied with a vengeance earning hockey golden four straight Olympics and doing so with such devastating efficiency that their status as amateurs was called into question technically the Russians weren't professionals but their costs were locked up there all subsidised most of the players are in the Red Army they got the officers salary they got better housing better food especially in a country where these things were rationed essentially you had to come which is the envy of everyone and you were fated as a national hero as only sports people could be they told us we got to show our power gotta show our society our system is better than anybody else the overall image that was presented to us in the West was of a cold mechanistic sports machine the Soviets were so stiff and so regimented in the way they train the way they practice in the way they played when they'd score a goal there was very little emotion it was very businesslike and very robotic like you played a little bit different not too many motion you score in Canadian the big on-call score no Russian but okay good being away in the training camp facility or year after year months after month being away from the family as five players maybe that kind of became like a robots because everything been done for them by contrast the 1980 US Olympic hockey team was drawn from the college ranks just six months before the games were to begin players unknown all but a few Americans the best of them considered long shots to make the NHL the only American players that were in the NHL that time were basically pork line kind of guys or fifth or sixth defenseman you know there weren't a whole lot of stars I didn't think the NHL was within my grasp not because it was unwarranted given my talent and my ability but just because it was sort of a glass ceiling to American players whereas the Canadian kid growing up aspired to play in the National Hockey League the American kid growing up back then really aspired to plan the Olympic team the 1980 a hockey team were in fact true amateurs it was not very glamorous we scrounged around quite a bit to try to get some money raised so that we could have sticks and barter for equipment with companies I was like Mike Rizzo and I was being bounced around a bunch of minor league teams and at that time Danny shell did recognize International Hockey League as a pro team so we could keep her amateur status and play you never gave it up we had money too it was nothing was miniscule but we're on our own claim a professional schedule really the end goal was to go out there and make sure that we gave our very best effort every night as an athlete I don't think there's a greater reward than to represent your country in any sport and a team sport when you have 20 friends we all stuck our neck out for each other when you walk in the locker room and you see your shirt hanging up and it says USA and then you're going to see a name on the bag you have no idea what that means until you actually put it on the sweater is like the money it just shows everything that everybody fights and cares for and it's our dreams while the amateurs were preparing to chase their dream of a medal it was business as usual for the Soviets wet beaten and NHL all-star team two out of three games in February of 1979 D 79 80 Soviet team was believed to be they thought the best team ever put together just the best Russian team the best team period the Americans hadn't done anything playing for the Atlanta Flames we faced Team USA in Grand Forks E beat him 3-1 and thought when these kids are going nowhere the week before the 1980 Winter Games were to began the two very different teams playing out this drama in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden and I recall looking down the ice you see Petrov and kharlamov mikhaylov Wow those are the guys I've been watching on TV for the last 6 8 10 years winning Olympic championships the opening faceoff I looked at Mark Johnson he looked at me and I thought what in hell are we doing here breaking down the right side a small-town look at this play he scored what a great play if I'm on top he toyed with us it was men against the boys Jonny what a beating after the 10 3 drubbing by the Soviets u.s. coach Herb Brooks laid out a mission possible for his young players we were seated seventh be the youngest Olympic team in our country's history and the youngest team there so you try to be both idealistic and then blend the pragmatics of the situation it before the tournament started Harvey said all right guys here's the program if we play at the top of our game and we get some breaks we can win a bronze medal if we play at the top of our game and give every break imaginable we could win a silver you said forget the gold so beats going at school I am pleased to declare officially the opening of the 13th Winter Olympics held this year at Lake Placid a day before the opening ceremony of the 1980 Games the American hockey team began group play against Sweden in a half-empty arena down to 2-1 with 27 seconds to go the unsung underdog showed signs that just maybe they had the right stuff fighting for control of the puck with 29 seconds to play yeah I don't think anybody gave us a chance against Sweden and we tied Sweden and then you know the opening ceremonies the next day now people are starting getting a little excited we're playing Czechoslovakian buildings we beat the checks the only team that anybody thought it could be the Soviets and now I'll send as a buzz Olson we got some games that well we're expected to win Krista I would get phone calls all of a sudden from radio stations all over the country saying you know hey can we win the gold can win the gold I'm thinking like you dreamers know we can't win the gold but we have a good chance at the silver the u.s. defeated Czechoslovakia Norway Romania and West Germany in a week earning a berth in the medal round with four victories at a time the Soviets were five and O and had convincingly beaten these Americans thirteen days earlier they were not impressed when the pools ended and the Czechs did not qualify the chief of the Russian hockey delegation said guys who have the gold medals in our pocket they worry about only Czech Republic other team been awarded because we strong team we beat the NHL hockey team they were treating some of us not with the respect and I think in the world of sport you have to respect all your opponent's so they just kept telling them someone's gonna beat him someone's gonna beat him someone's gonna beat him late in the afternoon at February 22nd the Americans and the Soviets battled before a roaring partisan crowd the game was taped by ABC Sports to be broadcast that evening but many Americans who only a week earlier could not name a single US player tuned in for this moment we had telegrams plastered on the wall in our locker room from all over the country and one of them was very simple beat those commie bastards in a political or nationalistic sense I'm sure this game is being perspectives but manifestly it is a hockey game herb captured a feeling of Destiny in a premium speech that he gave before that came when he sat in the locker room and said you were born to be here at this moment in time you guys were sitting around think yeah you know what this has been written in some big book a long time ago and we can do this on our way out to play the Russians I stopped just because I was always the first one on the ice and I just looked left and right and up and it was overwhelming the chant USA USA started in Lake Placid it was everybody who believed in our way of living our way of life building yet energy in it and it was from us to them and from them back to us despite a sonic avalanche of pro-american energy the vaunted Soviets took to the ice in full force trap shot and it was deflected in the Soviet Union takes a one to nothing lead the Russians did score for us ferment it was well here we go again they don't the game said we came from behind six games so the Russians score we just dig in and come right back tablet taking it away the Soviets regained the lead juda water but late in the first period fortune smiled on the young Americans Davey Christian you know takes a shot from the red line just to take a shot with under five seconds to go in the period just to put it on that and anything can happen I think okay look look time maybe five seconds okay have big rebound and all of a sudden pucks on my stick with the score tied at two Soviet coach Victor T Knopf made a radical move he replaced body smart Tretiak considered the best goaltender of the world and brought him Vladimir Myshkin never and - - wise left a text to the never my life when their coach ticking off had pulled trait Jack that was his way of telling his team hey don't screw around with these guys the Soviets responded retaking the lead early in the second period we were outside 12 - to the second period and we only gave up one goal that's inspirational now we knew we had a hockey game well at the end of the second period sitting the locker guys just kind of itching to get back on the ice it was the sense of payback what they did to us two weeks ago seven minutes into the third period the Soviets were called for a penalty at that point in the game there had been a little bit of a lull and the Soviets had started to take the game to us a little bit having a power play would at least give us the opportunity to shift the momentum and create some energy the fact that we score to go up what was basically a broken play that happened to end up on Johnson stick not only get us back into a try to cut the crowd back into it the crowd they were that exciting like they were with you and hey we're going to help you through this now I think the game comes into our hands now becomes a game of emotion now becomes a game conditioning in the third period instead of being tired American teams were as fresh as in the first and then I started thinking that something unexpected can happen US team is depending a little bit too much now and Jim Craig he's making too many good save that's all coming at the 10-minute boy I went out took a shift went back and looked up clocks at 9:59 it was a long long 10 minutes but we had the leak up said oh my gosh way too much time to me it was like paying a business all we're gonna do now is visible off I can remember thinking to myself God whatever it is I am NOT going to be out on the ice when they tie it up or they go ahead you dare to hope and then you hope so hard and are just afraid that the Soviets are gonna do what they've done countless times before just crush your hopes as the clock began to tick down and then the minutes became seconds you could feel it and the noise in that building was palpable camera showed the eyes of Sony players those disbelief they couldn't believe that they lost the games for the college guys when I saw us team I was happy because a little bit I forgot about this kidding I remember that night too like it was hard to go to sleep because you're going like I don't know if I want to because if I wake up this might not have happened you know after a LAN after Afghanistan after inflation we finally have something to cheer about I remember four days Hungarians Czechs immigrants people who ran away from those countries dancing in the streets thrilled they came as much to cheer against the Soviets as to cheer for us was like celebrating the end of a warm it's one of those moments where we were thrilled beyond belief we were excited we couldn't believe our underdog team was able to prevail that extraordinary Miracle on Ice team brought a great outpouring of patriotism sense of the possible I watched on television and it was a real thrill to see the Americans prevail I really think that it was a 10 strike in the cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States in the wake of his team's astonishing upset of the Soviets us coach Herb Brooks had to rally his troops for one more battle we knew that we had just beaten the best in the world the next day when we crucify Rankin you know Herbie was waiting for us with a baseball bat he just beats us with physical practice and you know making sure that he makes us mentally aware it's a time to be refocused on Sunday morning February 24th the United States faced fiddlin we are live from Lake Placid Olympic I say the United States it's a simple Bizet for the win they clinch the gold medal as the Lake Placid arena boomed with expectation the Finns took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission with 20 minutes left the US coach explained the long-term effects of a defeat for Beatrice Roman basically gets a message across that do you understand the magnitude of this game and his way of saying was if you lose this game you're gonna take this to your effing grave we got up out of our chairs and we walked on the ice we wrote over them like steamrolls nothing gonna play we look like the Russians playing against the Americans in Madison Square Garden when you are in an event where you represent your country on a world stage and you achieve as an underdog the ultimate goal you get very thankful and I just remember wishing that my mother was still there so when the game ended I just wanted to turn in show respect for my father that I was thinking of my mother got the Mike Eruzione getting his guys up there number one eBay we restored the pride and patriotism that makes this country so great not even knowing when a young underdog American Olympic team showed that the spirit of America is still very much alive it didn't really Dona me as to the true impact until we went to Washington DC the following day to see the president and the streets were lined not just by individuals but they were 10 people deep and not just for 20 yards but for miles while joy ripple like a flag across the United States the Soviet team went home to face their stung comrades who had questions for which there were no adequate answers the hockey fan for years ask me why use wilds why for years and Kremlin after the Olympics there to have the reception that Chicana was talking to burnup and telling him like it will never happen again and you know it was just a fluke I remember they present him hug him like this and said Victor don't worry I know that you brethren Americans there was no punishment nobody was sent to Siberia while the Soviets return to form winning gold in the next two Olympics the legacy of these miraculous Americans included a sea change in the professional ranks after the success of the 80 team holy NHL guys went wild and started drafting every American all of a sudden now guys were good enough the players that came up in the early to mid 80s you know even to the late 80s and into the 90s were beneficiaries of that sort of groundswell made me want to be an Olympian made me want to be an NHL player made me want to be Mike Eruzione we might have opened the door but these guys have knocked it down and proven that Americans can flat-out play this game it's nice to know that they look at us as somewhat of an inspiration if the miracle of Lake Placid inspired American players to reach for the NHL it also produced an unrealistic level of expectation for homegrown Olympians there were a lot of pressures on USA Hockey to manage you know kind of be afterglow of 1980 the expectations just the reception that the 84 team would get in its pre tournament it was almost set up to fail can't it be done again four years later the United States seeking another gold medal here in Sarajevo ABC's out there selling these games in 84 as Miracle on Ice chapter 2 we said there ain't gonna be no miracle Harry Wilson number 20 this is your top line he has flatly out in front flatly and just like that 27 seconds into the game it is London up in Canada beginning with an unmarked ulis seventh place finish in 1984 the US began a stretch of five winter games without gaining a medal but what happened at Lake Placid in 1980 or shadowed a new dawn mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall communism everywhere is dead or dying the Cold War is over Soviet Communist Party has expired mortally wounded by its own hand with the formal breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 an Olympic rivalry that captivated the world for more than two generations became just a memory the USA versus the Soviet Union hockey game was the last vestige of the old era it was to some degree the last real Cold War event at the Olympic Games would be naive to say that it hasn't diminished some aspect of the television attraction Americans like to see us beat the Soviets now that aspect has been removed and some of the edge is gone I see the US now at an Olympic event they chant this USA USA beating their chests we're now the only superpower standing and we could come across as these bullies what the collapse of the Soviet Union ironically did was that it forced the movement to professionalism and making a true world change if not one for some amateurs and a couple of people from the communist bloc that has allowed the Olympics to continue to be this attraction in February 2002 the Winter Games returned to the US for the first time since the Miracle on Ice just five months after 9/11 a nation's emotions were lifted when the 1980 hockey team lit the Olympic torch in Salt Lake City the whole country in 1980 got behind that team when the world was very unfriendly place it's become a very unfriendly world again today sadly and just seeing those young men from 1980 I think resonated throughout the stadium it brings him to focus how much those two weeks in February in 1980 changed my life and changed our lives it's not who we are but it is what we did for the 2002 Olympics Herb Brooks came out of retirement to coaching US team composed of NHL players in the semi finals the Americans met the descendants of their old foes herb took pains to say Duff no 1981 1880 this is a different group of players and coaching and different group of players are playing against I think you had we won the gold medal in Salt Lake there's always only going to be one Miracle on Ice every time I've been asked could this be the next miracle and I just want to tell shot up you know there is never gonna be another miracle you can't put all those stars into a line although the US Olympians beat the Russians three to two they lost to the Canadians in the final eighteen months later Herb Brooks was killed in a car crash in Minnesota when herb passed on I think it made us realize and cherish how special he was he orchestrated the greatest sports moment of the 20th century and he taught so many of us players lessons that we've carried on in our lives today I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Soviets have scroll this is your time the movie miracle opened 24 years after the real-life version its message remained powerful enough to draw those who remember the upset and to inspire a new generation as well sports show us what we want to see the best in terms of our courage in our heart when you can be that much of an underdog and the kind of performance Americans don't like being thought of as being overbearing being arrogant and everything the world now accuses a Vinc and what people love about the 1980 team we were the underdog good guys what the players still here now is made me feel good about my country how many times can you touch somebody's lives in a way that we did your sporting event so many people to this day still write me letters I've talked to me I pulled me aside on the street and want to know what it was like I want to shake my hand and say thank you this team in this event and this victory led people to dream bigger dreams in all walks of life there's always going to be challenges in life whether it's gas lines or its hostages or it's terrorism when an event can come up where it just makes you just feel really good about yourself it never gets old it will always be important to people you

Channel: atomjackfuser

Views: 372,172

Rating: 4.7916102 out of 5

Keywords: Miracle On Ice (Event)

Id: BM7HCm8yGNk

Length: 32min 37sec (1957 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 20 2013