re: 1980 USA Hockey vs. 2014 USA Hockey -- Olympics

That, along with cell phones, the internet, social media, etc, have been both good and bad for our lives ...

I think if you were lucky enough to live close to the Canadian border you could've watched this game live on CBC

Where did they play the game if you remember?

Lake Placid, NY

Eta: few people realize virtually the same thing happened in the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley .. Brooks was one of the last cut from that team ..

Was 10 years old and will remember that night for the rest of my life. Only time I can honestly say that it was more than just a game. It was a movement of historic proportions for our country at the time that the country desperately needed.....a shot in the arm if you will. American pride was diminshing a bit bc of politics and the Iranian hostage situation.

Said it in an earlier thread but then a few months later we puss out of going to the games in Moscow. Don't think we would've won the most medals there but if we beat them in basketball it would've been revenge for 1972.

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Who is your friend that played on that team ? eta: isn't virtually that whole team basically pushing their 60s now ?

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Posted by COTiger on 2/16 at 11:43 am to RedMustang Great story. Do you mind divulging your buddy's name? Understand if you don't. I saw some of the tryouts in 1979. You are right. Herbie was working their asses off in the tryouts.

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Sorry, I just saw your posts. He is Mike Ramsey, a defenseman on that team. He's a great guy, very down to earth. I played a lot of softball with him as he'd play in the off season. He played hockey for the Sabres back then, but would come back to Minnesota for the summers. He's 53 years old.
He once told me he had some of his equipment from the Olympics, pads, gloves, etc. sitting in the garage. They had a rummage sale and he put the stuff up for sale for a few bucks. Someone got a nice piece of history very cheap!

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Message Posted by COTiger Great story. Thanks for posting.

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One more story. One summer we were playing in a softball tournament. He had just signed his biggest contract with the Sabres. I played beside him in the outfield. A ball was hit in the gap and we both took off sprinting after it. All of a sudden, I caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye. I immediately stopped and the ball ended up falling to the ground. One of my teammates asked what the heck I was doing. I replied, "There's no way that I'm going to be the one responsible for his possible career ending injury."
He has a daughter who is a very good hockey player for the Minnesota Gophers and his son is currently playing junior hockey in Canada.

And that was the semifinal game. I think we beat someone like Finland in the final for the gold.

Maybe its best to look at the 1980 USA Gold Medal winning Hockey team as the enabler for the current team's excellence. That 1980 win was huge, cathartic even, for not just the sport of hockey, but for the entire country. The economy was bad, Iran held Americans hostage, there was an energy crisis, and a deep political divide. We Americans were united by that win over Russia because we saw in that team the finest qualities of an American: no matter how the odds are stacked against you, you defeat your adversaries because you outsmart them, outwork them, and out will them. That's what Americans do. That team personified how we like to see ourselves.

The success of the 2014 USA team is possible because of the 1980 team. Every American kid wanted to be one of those guys that just beat the Russians. The current team is full of NHL pros with much more skill than the college kids that played for us in 1980, and if we win Gold, Americans will enjoy the win and celebrate it and talk about it every Olympiad. But no other single event in US hockey will ever equal the importance of beating The USSR in 1980.
TL;DR: 1980 USA Hockey Gold medal team's win over USSR will be remembered as the greatest in USA hockey history.