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[introspective music playing]
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.BZ
[man 1] I realize now,
looking back…
why it became so much bigger than just a hockey game.
In a different year,
with a different opponent, in a different time…
this isn't quite the same story.
[man 2] Everywhere around the country, people had locked into this.
[man 3] It still brings a smile to people's faces.
[indistinct chattering]
[man 4] Just the unbridled joy.
It helped bring us back to what we were,
and what we hoped we would be again.
[man 5] As a country, we needed something to feel good about.
[crowd cheering]
And it was us.
[exciting music playing]
[young Al Michaels] What we have at hand, the rarest of sporting events.
An event that needs no build-up, no superfluous adjectives.
The United States and the Soviet Union
on a sheet of ice in Lake Placid, New York.
[Ken Dryden] The USA, clearly the underdog.
[man 3] We weren't superstars. We were the boy next door.
Lunch pail, hard-hat group of guys.
[reporter 1] They'll have to beat the Russians,
the finest team ever to play the game.
It was going to be a runaway. That's how dominant the Soviet team was.
[exciting music continues]
[Dryden] The ultimate confrontation, Russia against the United States.
[young Michaels] Lake Placid is looking more like a resumption of the Cold War.
[man 6] It was more than hockey. It was our way of life versus them.
[man 7] Hockey was not part of the American psyche,
until in this unrepeatable, distinctive moment, it had to be.
We had the audacity to believe we could do it.
[man 8] And you know what?
The country was like, "Goddamn right."
[upbeat music playing]
[man 9] It wasn't a sporting event. It was a piece of American history.
[young Michaels] Slap shot, and it was deflected in.
Saved by Craig, another shot by Petrov.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
[Dryden] Pavelich taking it away. Up ahead to Schneider.
Slap shot goes in!
[crowd cheering]
This is a once in a lifetime event that can't be duplicated.
[crowd cheering]
[Dryden] Here they come. Silk, a centering pass.
Goal! It's a tie hockey game.
[young Michaels] And the United States could be on the verge
of the biggest upset in recent Olympic history.
People say, "What could top this?" And I say, "Nothing."
[young Michaels] Do you believe in miracles?
[crowd cheering]
[cheering fades]
Here we are, Buzz.
[Buzz] Oh, it's fun to come back.
[emotional music playing]
Oh, there's section six, that's where our family sat.
- Sitting there. Halfway up, I remember. - Yeah, over there.
[crowd cheering]
[emotional music continues]
[chatting indistinctly]
It seems smaller to me in here.
[crowd cheering]
What I remember is just how loud it was.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA!
You could sense it when you were sitting here,
and I sat here a lot, but…
[all laughing]
[team member] When I come in here now,
I think much more about these guys and the camaraderie.
I don't think we had any idea it would end up like this.
[team member 2] At the time, we knew people in Lake Placid were excited,
and our family and friends at home were excited,
but no clue, at all, whatsoever,
that this event was gonna become what it became.
[team member 3] At that time, there wasn't a lot to cheer about.
You wake up, you look at the news, I mean, what put a smile on your face?
[team member 4] And then we were this catalyst that…
It just kind of brought everybody back to life.
Of all sports, to be ice hockey to rally a country,
I guess it surprised us.
[Dryden] One-all the score.
Ten and a half minutes remain in the first period.
[team member 2] Prior to 1980, the US was not considered one of the world powers
in ice hockey.
[young Michaels] Deflected into the cage!
- [team member 2] You'll probably beat 'em. - [reporter] The US team struggling a bit.
[reporter 2] No way the US will do anything except lose this game.
[reporter 3] They have outshot the Americans by close to a 3-to-1 ratio.
[reporter 4] The USA went into today's game clearly the underdog.
Hockey in the US was a niche sport.
They weren't playing it in Mississippi, they weren't playing it in Texas.
I had been hired by the Globe, late '73.
I was one of the hockey guys, and the US was definitely second-tier.
They were maybe seventh, eighth in the world.
But the feeling was, these guys have no chance.
Because the Soviets were the world's best team.
And they showed no signs of slowing down by 1980.
If anything, they seemed to be getting better.
Not only were they winning all the time, they were pretty unapproachable.
The key about 1980, it was going to be a home game.
And the assumption was, what if we lose 15-to-one to the Russians on TV?
The US Olympic Committee didn't want them to be embarrassed.
So they needed to do it a different way.
[Craig Patrick] I played for the US in the championships in 1979,
and then became assistant hockey coach.
But we were lucky if we ever won a game.
And we barely ever did.
We needed a change.
And Herb was the perfect person, because he had ideas.
[Herb] A lot of you are really on the threshold
of joining a fraternity of Minnesota hockey players.
There's nothing in your life you'll find more proud, gentlemen.
Let's get ready to go. Come on.
Minnesota, when Herb was coaching, they were on a roll.
[reporter] Herb Brooks' day was a reign of dominance,
winning national championships in 1974, 1976, and 1979.
He was the best coach in the country.
And he introduced a system that none of us knew.
It's going to be more of a skating game, more of a passing game.
We don't want to abandon the physical nature…
[Danny Brooks] My dad, he was a natural coach,
and competitive as all can be.
I mean, no one was more competitive than him.
[Powers] He came very organized.
No one had ever talked about getting a team,
playing, you know, 60, 70 games, and then taking them to the Olympic Games.
That was new.
[majestic music playing]
For most of the athletes here in the National Sports Festival
in Colorado Springs,
this competition marks the beginning of a dream.
An opportunity to represent their country in the Olympic Games.
The last time the United States won a gold medal in hockey was in 1960,
in Squaw Valley.
The challenge facing Herb Brooks' entry in Lake Placid in 1980
is certainly an enormous one.
[director] Guys, we've got some footage we wanted to show you.
[reel whirring]
Oh my goodness, who's that?
[player, in 1979] If you're here now, you're fighting for a position.
You're just hoping you're one of the 20, 25 guys
that'll make the team.
- [man yells on footage] - [whistle blows]
[intriguing music playing]
[team member] Is that Janny in there? Janny!
[all laughing]
I want to know how we all knew that was you.
'Cause it scored.
[all laughing]
[Powers] If you looked at the letter of the Olympic rule at that time,
you could not get paid to do your sport.
So if you played in the NHL, you were de facto not able to play.
So there was a thing about the American team.
They were all amateurs.
Underdogs, young, not doing it for the money.
[Rob McClanahan] I made my mind up to do whatever it took
to be ready and prepared for the tryouts,
so I trained harder than I'd ever trained in my life.
[Ken Morrow] I would call it nervous excitement.
This is your moment.
All I wanted to do was play on that Olympic team.
[whistle blows]
[Mark Johnson] It was uncharted territory for all of us.
Nobody had gone through this experience before.
[yelling, cheering]
[Powers] They named 26 guys.
But there were 20 spots at the Olympics.
There was no guarantee that you'd make the final 20.
["Get It On" by T. Rex playing]
Any time you have the best players in the country
vying for, you know, 20 spots, uh, you're gonna be nervous.
♪ Get it on ♪
♪ Bang a gong, get it on ♪
[Powers] Herb basically had a six-month bootcamp.
He had felt he had to get these guys to become a team.
And the biggest challenge was what he called "regionalism."
[Herb] We want the best team that we can have.
Historically speaking,
the University of Minnesota, or the state of Minnesota,
has produced an awful lot towards the Olympic and international programs.
[musical fanfare playing]
[Powers] A core component were the Minnesota guys,
which made complete sense
because they'd just won a national championship playing for Herb.
[director] Were you guys "the class" of college hockey?
We kind of like to think we were the class.
[all laughing]
[Strobel] We had a really good team.
[Baker] You know, just getting an invite to the Olympic tryouts
was as good as it was going to get.
[Dave Silk] And from Boston University, there were the four BU guys.
Myself…
Jack O'Callahan,
Mike Eruzione,
and Jim Craig.
[Verchota] I think there was a healthy competition
between kids out from out east and playing in the Midwest.
[Eruzione] To us, the Boston guys,
there was clearly a dislike for the kids who played for University of Minnesota,
played under Herb.
[Silk] The Minnesota guys thought they were so rough and all this,
and they called Boston guys "cake eaters."
[O'Callahan] They thought we were preppies.
What is a preppy? Like, what, they went to prep school?
Whatever. They're so stupid.
I just didn't like those guys.
[Patrick] Herb told me,
"The guys we're gonna have on this team, they don't like each other."
[Herb] A lot of these people have been bitter rivals before coming to this team.
We have to have the chemistries come together.
We cannot beat ourselves on or off the ice.
[intriguing music playing]
[Eruzione] The exhibition tour we played before the Olympics,
I think we played 60 games.
[crowd cheering]
[Gary Smith] It was a grind.
We went to Europe for a couple of weeks
and played in Holland and Norway and Finland.
[Eruzione] We played Norway in an exhibition game.
It was a big game for us to measure ourselves
against a team we're gonna compete against in the Olympics.
[crowd cheering]
[Patrick] Our guys were anxious to get home,
but, you know, they're guys.
And there's pretty girls in the stands,
and they're sitting on the bench going, "Oh, look at that one." You know?
And I could see Herbie on the bench, steam coming out of his ears.
And we ended up tied, three-three.
[buzzer buzzes]
[Eruzione] The game ended,
we shook hands with the Norwegian players, and we're going off the ice…
The next thing you know…
"Stay on the ice."
They didn't take it serious, didn't play with the necessary intensity.
They just sort of took a night off.
And we started to do the Herbies.
We called them Herbies because we loved it so much
we named them after our coach.
A Herbie was a suicider, a gasser.
Go to the boards to blue line, back to where you started.
Then skate to the red line, back to where you started.
Then you'd skate to the far blue line, go back to where you started.
Then you'd go down, touch the boards, and come back.
The Zamboni driver came over to me, and he said, "You guys gotta go."
He goes over and turns the lights off.
So now the lights are off,
and Herbie's skating them like no tomorrow.
And Naggy, the doctor, goes down and says, "Herbie, you're going to kill them."
[Eruzione] Throughout the drills,
guy was smashing their stick against the boards.
And I remember Herb saying,
"If I hear another goddamn stick smash against the boards,
you'll skate till you die."
I remember doing them for about an hour and 15 minutes.
Then we went back in the locker room, finally, when we were done, and he said,
"If you play this way again tomorrow, you're gonna skate again."
And we won eight-to-nothing the next day.
I said, right from day one, I'm not going to be your best friend.
I admire your talents,
and I'm going to push you because I admire your talents.
[Danny Brooks] I saw how those players felt about him.
They did not like him.
I don't know if "hate" is the right word, but he was hard to play for.
I was afraid of Herb.
What do you call it, a hook on that center?
Stop chasing hooks and get in the darn game, will you?
These players say how hard it was to play for him for one year,
or two years, three years, four years at the University of Minnesota.
And my response is, "Try living with him for 20."
Rabid hearts! Damn it!
[Steve Janaszak] There was a level of intensity that Herb had
that just went beyond anything I've seen out of anybody since.
Hey, Stan, this isn't a basketball game now, come on!
I-- I just thought he was crazy.
How can you be so unhappy?
Herb always made you feel like you were never quite good enough.
He knew what buttons to push on each guy, in front of everybody.
He would say, "You're not talented enough to win on talent alone."
"You got a million-dollar pair of legs and a nickel brain."
He said, "You're playing like you have a ten-pound fart on your head."
What does a ten-pound fart on your head look like?
I'm 68 years old, and I still wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat.
"Janaszak, you're playing worse every day,
and right now, you're playing like it's next week."
Forwards look for that weak side…
[McClanahan] It took a unique individual to be able to put up with…
some of the shit Herb did.
Come on, do what you're told!
To play under? He was a prick.
A lot of these guys, being college All-Americans,
said they were never pushed like that.
And I wasn't trying to put greatness into anybody,
I was trying to pull it out.
Herb 100% made himself the common enemy.
That was his… his thought.
It was gonna be us against him, so the rivalry, that was over.
You know, we were now putting on a different jersey.
[O'Callahan] The common thread with our players
were that we were all guys that had come from blue-collar backgrounds.
Our dads were working in the mines or working in the mills.
That's how the whole team was,
and that's why we all eventually really clicked with each other.
But as we were trying to meld as a team,
the country was just going through a rough patch.
It's official, there will be a recession in the United States this year.
An increase in unemployment, affecting perhaps a million workers,
and the second-worst inflation since World War II.
There's no work going on any place.
It's affecting low-income people like us. We're getting the short end of the stick.
[George Will] I was in my first decade as a columnist,
and the culture of the United States in 1979 was depressed.
I would describe it as a nation, at that point, saying,
"Can't anything go right?"
[reporter] The accident occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
[crowd clamoring angrily]
I remember feeling, as a country,
we were just very frustrated at that point.
There's been no change in the status of the American hostages in Tehran.
[Michaels] You had our hostages being held in Iran.
The prime rate was close to 20%.
There were gas lines.
[interviewee] I've been in two gas lines already.
- [interviewer] This morning? - This morning. And I'm out of gas.
Why doesn't anybody contact the president? Why is he letting this happen to us?
It is a crisis of confidence,
threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.
[Will] Had we lost our mojo?
That was what was on people's minds.
[Michaels] And we were in the midst of a Cold War
that was about as cold as it could get before it got hot.
[patriotic Russian music playing]
You know, the big bad Russians. Everybody was like…
looking over their shoulders all the time.
You know, when is the bomb coming?
[reporter 2] It has been another tense day for superpower relations
at the Kremlin in Moscow and the U.N. Security Council in New York.
They were the enemy. They were Darth Vader.
[Russian patriotic music continues]
[Morrow] Not only for political purposes, but for hockey purposes.
They had two exports. The hockey team and vodka.
The Soviet Union understood
that becoming dominant in sports would give the sense of power.
What you would hear in Russia, they'd use the term nasha komanda.
"Our team."
"We identify our nation by how nasha komanda does at the Olympic Games."
"These are our guys. No one else."
["Queen of Rock" by Mumiy Troll playing in Russian]
[reporter 3] Soviets, of course, gold medal winners
every Olympics since 1960.
[reporter 4] When the Big Red Machine gets rolling, they're mighty hard to stop.
They were trained to be the best team in the world, and they were.
In those years, remember, the Olympics were for amateurs.
Well, the Soviet Union could say, "Amateur-schmamateur."
The fact is, everyone in the Soviet Union works for the state.
[Michaels] The Soviets would list their players' occupation
as students or soldiers.
They were professional hockey players.
[Johnson] Tretiak was the best goalie in the world.
I mean, you could say, "Okay, well, let's focus in on Kharlamov tonight."
Okay, now we've got Krutov, Maltsev, Petrov, Fetisov.
I mean, you know, you just go right down the list of these guys,
and it's like, "Oh my goodness." I mean…
Where do you start?
Nobody could ever beat these guys. They are too good.
["Queen of Rock" continues]
[young Al Michaels] Goal!
[crowd cheering]
[director] How did you understand your dad's fixation on the Soviets?
Well, it's all he talked about.
Guys in my generation, the stories of their father
were stories about Joe Namath and Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.
And it was Alexander Yakushev and these unbelievable Russian players.
The Soviets' practices back in the '70s,
he would find out where they're practicing and sneak a peek,
and try to steal drills.
He wanted to know what they were doing to figure out a way to beat their ass.
My mind was made up early.
Our approach to the game was going to be entirely different.
We're gonna change the way we train and change the way we play.
[O'Callahan] We were like Herbie's science experiment.
He put a plan together to train us like them.
[coach speaking Russian]
What makes the Soviets so great?
Tremendous conditioning.
[trainer, in Russian] Jump! Jump!
[in English] So, with every time you play the great European teams,
you play for a period or two, you hit the wall and die.
Can't keep up.
So we weren't gonna hit the wall.
[pensive music playing]
[Herb] Get it loose, get it loose!
Mike, heads up!
[Janaszak] I remember Davie Silk laying on the goal line one day,
we're skating Herbies, and he said, "That's it, I'm done."
"I'm just gonna die here, and it will be on his soul."
[Herb] You've gotta be sound in that area now.
Weak side, weak side, weak side, Bobby!
[Janaszak] Herbie kicked our ass.
I put them in deep water.
Did a lot of things through our training
that was getting them out of that comfort zone.
So I thought this hockey club was the best-conditioned hockey club,
outside of the Soviets, in the world.
[Eruzione] You deal with it, or you quit. I ain't quitting.
You can yell at me all you want. I only gotta deal with you for two hours.
Practice is over, we're gonna go to the bar, have a few beers,
I'm gonna go back to my apartment, and I'll get ready for you the next day.
I just looked at myself as a guy who worked hard
because of the work ethic and the values that I was taught at a young age.
[gentle, nostalgic music playing]
274 Bowdoin Street, it was a three-family house.
On the first floor was my Auntie Ann and Uncle Jerry,
then there was my cousin Karen, my cousin Geraldine, my cousin Bubba.
On the third floor was my Aunt A.T., my Uncle Tony,
my cousin Tony, my cousin Richard, my cousin Gail, my cousin Linda,
my cousin Laurie, my cousin Richard.
And on the second floor was me, my mom, my sister Connie,
my sister Nancy, my sister Jeannie, my sister Nettie,
myself, and my brother Vinny.
Fourteen kids and six adults.
They'd freeze the tennis courts down the street,
and my friends used to play hockey.
I wanted to play 'cause my friends played, but I didn't have ice skates at the time.
I'd get my sister's white figure skates with these blue pom-poms on the toes,
and I'd walk down the hill, uh, to the tennis courts
and start playing ice hockey.
I was 12 years old, and I wanted to go to hockey school,
and it was $75 for a two-week camp.
My parents didn't have $75.
So I went upstairs, and I asked my Uncle Tony.
I says, "Can I borrow $75? I want to go to this hockey camp."
And he said, "Absolutely."
I went to the camp,
and throughout the wintertime we had some snowstorms,
and couldn't wait for a snowstorm,
'cause you'd grab that shovel, and out you'd go.
And I made $75 over a couple of storms,
and I went back and I gave it to my Uncle Tony.
And he looked at me and goes, "Thank you very much."
He goes, "And here." He gave me the money back.
He says, "That's a lesson you learned about repaying your debts."
Growing up in that house, and the understanding of work ethic,
I think helped me along the way.
[intriguing music playing]
[interviewer] Are you happy with the players you gathered?
Oh, yes, very much so.
Even though we're always looking for ways to strengthen our club.
[director] How safe did you all feel about making the team?
- Zero. - [all laughing]
[director] Were you safe, Phil?
Every practice was a tryout.
[Ralph Cox] Every month, he kind of pared it back.
Probably by Christmas he had it down to 22 players.
And we all knew it was 20 that could go into Lake Placid.
[Eruzione] He threatened to cut me.
A few weeks before the Olympic Games,
he starts ranting about, you know, I'm not playing well,
and, "I think I may have to cut you."
"I'll bring you back as an assistant coach."
"I'll tell them you hurt your back and you're not going to be able to play."
And part of me was, "He can't do that!"
But the other part of me was, "He… [laughs] …he could do that."
[Cox] Mike and I were roommates. He was nervous.
You know, we all were nervous.
That day, we were leaving to go to New York.
Mike and I had packed our bags,
and our three teammates were picking us up,
and all five of us think we're going to Lake Placid.
And the phone rings.
[melancholy music playing]
"Hey, listen, Ralph, Herb wants to talk to you."
Drive over to the hotel,
and I was literally almost panic-stricken. I thought I was going to throw up.
And I walked through the door,
and Herb is visually upset, like, to the point of almost crying.
Eyes were red. I mean, he was very emotional,
and he could not, for a few minutes, say anything.
And he points to a chair where he'd been sitting,
and he sits down, and we had this ten-minute conversation.
Some of the things he appreciated about me,
being a gentleman, being a good player, showing up every day, practicing hard.
"But I'm not gonna be able to take you to Lake Placid."
That moment…
he knew what I was going through, 'cause he had been through it himself.
[intriguing music continues]
I went through it personally. I was close to the '60 Olympic team.
Two days before the Olympics, I get a knock on the door.
The general manager says, "Go see the coach."
And he says, "Herb, I gotta release you."
I was the last guy cut.
So I came home. I'm watching this thing on TV.
But this is the big game of the Olympics. The United States versus USSR.
The Americans got hot. They won our country's first gold medal.
[sports presenter] And the game is over! The United States wins!
[crowd cheering]
My father looked over at me.
He says, "Looks like the coach cut the right guy, didn't he?"
Just, bang!
It was devastating to my dad, for sure.
It scarred him.
This is something he did not want to do. It was hanging on him.
I knew that day was coming. And I just…
I didn't know how to act. It just killed me.
I said, "The thing that really bothers me, Herb,
I have this suspicion that you guys have a chance of winning a gold medal."
And then he actually started laughing a bit,
and he smirked, and he said, "Oh God, you're so optimistic."
He goes, "Look, I'd be so happy just to be fighting for a medal at some point."
"A medal of any color."
[exciting music playing]
We had a team meeting, and Herbie said if we play at the top of our game
and get some breaks, we can win a bronze.
Forget the gold. Soviets have the gold.
Any thought of beating them might have been diminished somewhat
after that Madison Square Garden game.
[Johnson] We flew down to New York to play the Russians.
This is why we'd just been together for six months.
It was a measuring stick for us.
[crowd cheering]
I knew we were in trouble when they introduced the Russian team
and our players were applauding them.
[Eruzione] When we stepped on the ice against the Soviets,
it was like, "Oh shit, these guys are really good."
[young Michaels] Tries to get out of the zone, cannot. Gets set, shoots! Score!
And the Soviets draw first blood.
[Dryden] Shot by Alexander Maltsev.
Kharlamov, the veteran.
[young Michaels] He scores!
[Dryden] Krutov going in. Here's a shot, they score!
They smoked us.
[young Michaels] Breaking down the right side is Maltsev.
He's got a shot. He scores!
I remember watching that goal, like, "Oh my God, what did he just do?"
[young Michaels] There he is coming down on the right-hand side.
Right in the short side, beautiful execution.
[Smith] I went to the bench, I said,
"Herbie, we don't have a chance against these guys."
And he looks at me and said, "No shit."
[pensive music playing]
[commentators exclaim]
[young Michaels] Two US players came together and put each other down.
Oh, what a collision.
[Dryden] Did he ever get hit. This was the toughest check of the game.
[Smith] We basically had the crap kicked out of us.
Ten to three, and it could've been 20 to three.
I mean, they were so much more skilled than we were.
Well, if I was a player, I'd be a bit discouraged at this point.
[Michaels, present day] They just toyed with the US.
That scared the hell out of me
when it came to thinking about what would take place in the Olympics.
It was gonna be a runaway.
[Will] I don't think it is hyperbolic at all
to say that they were not just two teams on the ice,
but these were nations
representing different views of the present and the future.
[machine gun fire]
There was a coup d'état in Afghanistan today.
Soviet troops helped overthrow the government.
[soldier speaking in Russian]
The Soviet action is a grave threat to peace.
[reporter] President Carter put it on the record today.
The United States, he says, should not participate
in the Summer Olympics in Moscow
unless the Soviets get their troops out of Afghanistan.
[Will] Jimmy Carter said something had to be done,
and we will not go to the Olympics in Russia.
It was a serious, symbolic gesture.
[tense music playing]
[Will] The troubles of the world
simply refused to be hermetically sealed off from the Olympics.
They intruded.
As the athletes began to gather in Upstate New York,
the politics were the politics of the Cold War,
which was still very cold.
[reporter 2] The fact that American athletes may boycott
the Moscow Olympics has done nothing to stop the Soviet eagerness
to win gold medals in Lake Placid.
[indistinct chattering]
[Johnson] The Russians, they were on a mission
to glorify their country on our soil.
So, I think one of the decisions that they made is,
"Okay, we're gonna come to the US,
and we're gonna take the gold medal in as many sports as we can."
Saying, "Hey, through this, we're better."
Bear, right here.
[Eruzione] Those questions about the political aspect of it…
You try to remind them that we're not there for that reason.
You're an Olympian.
I made it, I'm here, the Olympic Games.
What a great honor.
[band playing musical fanfare]
[crowd cheering]
[majestic music playing]
[Verchota] Of course, the Russian team came in those wild fur things they wore.
- They looked warm. - Yeah.
- They did. - It was cold.
- [Verchota] It was cold, wasn't it? - [Strobel] Freezing.
[Morrow] And the Russians with their fur coats and their big fur hats.
The Russian bear and the American cowboy. [laughs]
[announcer] Now the United States, the host nation.
[crowd cheering]
You know, you've prepared all your life for this moment,
and now you can't have any regrets. You've got to be ready to go.
[Harrington] Walking in the opening ceremonies,
this is what I've dreamt about.
[Walter Mondale] I am pleased to declare, officially,
the opening of the 13th Winter Olympics
at Lake Placid.
[crowd cheering]
[Morrow] I grew up watching the Olympics.
Every four years, I was parked right in front of the TV.
The Olympic team was something, you know,
you never expect that you'll ever have a chance to do in your lifetime.
My earliest memories are, uh, skating in my backyard.
Uh, grew up in Michigan.
Small house, working-class neighborhood.
My dad got my brother and I started in hockey.
After it would snow, we'd trample down the snow with our boots.
We would pull a hose out of the basement window,
and flood it, and make our, uh, our own rink.
Everything around Flint, Michigan was related to the auto industry.
My dad worked at a manufacturing plant making auto parts.
His official title was an oiler.
He went around and made sure all the machines were in working order.
I was 19.
And, uh, he got sick that summer.
It came on suddenly.
Originally it was melanoma, that turned into brain cancer.
And so he… he went downhill quickly.
Um…
Yeah, it was, uh…
Yeah, really, really hard time.
Especially having to leave and not be there for him.
But he was adamant
that, uh, if the opportunity was there to play for your country, take it.
[indistinct chattering]
[uplifting music playing]
[Eric Heiden] You're going on these small, single-lane roads,
and all of a sudden you come into this community that…
I mean, it's 3,000 people at the most, counting the dogs and cats.
It's all dressed up for the Olympics.
And it just seemed a little out of place.
Look where the speed skating rink is.
It basically occupied the front steps of a high school.
[crowd cheering]
We were all so excited about Eric Heiden. You know, he was the star of the show.
[Heiden] The US speed skating team had high expectations.
Hockey team… [scoffs]
Absolutely no way.
[music fades]
[Eruzione] When we got to Lake Placid, we were in, like, a cocoon,
and not realizing what was going on around us,
but we knew it was gonna be hard.
[pensive music playing]
You know, you picked up Sports Illustrated…
Soviets are going to win the gold medal.
Czechoslovakia maybe could upset the Soviets.
United States, anywhere seventh to twelfth place.
- [crowd cheering] - [pensive music continues]
As a team,
I think we were curious, anxious,
wondering how we were gonna compete at that level.
[Powers] The way the 1980 hockey tournament was structured,
there were 12 teams divided into two six-team divisions.
You played every team in your group.
Two points for a victory, one point for a tie.
At the end of that round-robin,
the top two teams in each division made the medal round.
[crowd cheering]
[Michaels] There was nothing special about that atmosphere.
The Swedes were favored to win the game.
There wasn't a lot of buzz.
[Harrington] The arena was half full.
You could hear the puck bouncing around the boards.
I remember having a thought that,
"God, I thought it was gonna be a little bit better than this."
[crowd cheering]
[Craig] The Swedes were so good.
Oh my God, we don't have a chance against these guys.
[crowd cheering]
The Swedes had a really good team, and they were fast.
[crowd cheering]
[Dryden] Twenty-three passes to Berglund, who deflects it past Craig.
And Sweden moves in front, one to nothing.
[Eruzione] The first period of the Sweden game, we didn't play very well.
We were running around a little,
not doing the things that we felt we were capable of doing.
[McClanahan] I know we were all nervous as hell.
And then I got hurt the first shift.
[crowd exclaims]
My thigh, just a big contusion from my knee to my hip, just… [cracking sounds]
It hurt like hell. I mean, a lot. I couldn't play. I couldn't move.
So I was done, I thought.
I'm in the locker room, I'm on my back, I had all my gear off.
I've got my leg bent, with an ice pack.
I was in tears.
One shift in a game, and I… I'm screwed. My Olympic experience is over.
Then Herbie came in.
[Smith] Herbie went off on Robbie.
Told him he'd never play in the National Hockey League,
he was the biggest puss, and everything else.
"Don't be a candy-ass. Get out there and play."
I played for the guy for three years at Minnesota.
I did everything he asked of me.
Always.
I was a good soldier.
He's challenging me like that? I'm going, "What the hell?"
"That's-- This is complete--" I… I lost it.
I was this far-- I seriously…
As I was gonna throw a punch, that's when he turned and walked out.
We were-- I was that close.
I'm thinking to myself, like, "Oh my gosh, this is what we signed up for?"
We've only played 20 minutes
and we're destructing right now in front of our own eyes.
I mean, I stood there,
and I really doubted Herbie for the first time in my life.
I thought, "My God, we're at the Olympics, and he's lost it."
[suspenseful music playing]
[McClanahan] In essence, I said, "You won't tell me if I can play."
"I'll tell you if I can play."
I wanted to play, so give it a shot.
On the way out, he gives a wink, like, "Mission accomplished."
I just said, "Hey, I gotta shake these boys up."
McClanahan, I know what buttons to press with this kid.
So I took the tough road. And he played. He played like hell.
Robbie gets his stuff on, we go back out
He cannot-- literally cannot sit on the bench,
so he would stand in between shifts.
[young Michaels] It rolls back to the far side…
Lundqvist scores!
With startling suddenness, Sweden has gone into the lead.
I remember my mom and I sitting at the Sweden game and…
- Kelly was crying. - I was crying.
And I said, "We came this far, and we're losing."
[pensive music playing]
[Strobel] We were slow starters,
and then, in the third period, we got stronger and stronger.
[young Michaels] Craig on the bench, with only 41 seconds remaining
in the hockey game.
When you're down by a goal, you pull the goalie
to get the extra attacker out there.
It's that moment, right? We've got to find a way to score.
If we lose that first game against Sweden, we can't be in the medal round.
- [suspenseful music playing] - [crowd cheering]
Rammer was out with me, and he shoots it over to me,
so I just rang it around the board.
[young Michaels] Behind the net now, the United States trailing by one here.
Against the boards, rolled out in front, here's a chance! Scores!
[crowd cheering wildly]
Baker!
The Olympic Arena here in Lake Placid goes crazy.
[Dryden] A very, very, very important goal for the United States.
[Strobel] A surprisingly good shot.
- Well, yeah. Yeah, you're right. - [all laughing]
Maybe the biggest goal of the Olympics.
[crowd cheering]
[reporter] Against the Swedes, the US team never led.
Only the fine play of goalie Jim Craig kept them in it.
I was one of eight. An Irish Catholic family.
I'd always write this little love letter to my mother every morning,
and I'd put it in the mailbox, and I'd go off to school.
My family members always say that I was my mother's favorite,
and I used to get really upset about that,
but now I say, "Hey, good, I was her favorite."
[gentle music playing]
I'm in the back of the classroom, scribbling away,
and Mrs. Barry, my third-grade teacher,
she goes, "What are you doing?"
I said, "I'm practicing my autograph." And she said, "What for?"
I said, "Because someday it's gonna be worth a lot of money."
We played hockey in the basement, we played hockey in the kitchen.
That's all we did.
[young Michaels] So there's Jim Craig. He's a hot goaltender.
Fifteen-and-oh, his record so far for the season.
[Craig] My first year at BU, my mother was sick.
You know, cancer's so mean.
Here I am in Boston, she's at Mass General.
After practice, I wouldn't go eat.
Get on the Green Line, go to Mass General.
My mother would save me her food. We'd sit there and eat.
My mother was an extremely strong woman.
She helped me,
and gave me permission and an expectation to keep going on,
or I would be letting her down.
We set goals.
You know, I wanted to make the Olympic team.
And then, you know, she said, "Don't let anything get in the way."
When somebody dies, they don't lose their strength.
They give it to somebody who earns it.
So…
[mournful music playing]
It meant…
She gave me a lot of her strength.
I think my boys were very fortunate. They had a very exceptional mother.
She was very dedicated. She spent her life,
and her whole life was her boys and her family.
[Jim Craig, present day] He still had her clothes in the closet.
He's sitting at home by himself.
You know, he was a sad man who lost his best friend,
and was kind of like in a spot, he didn't know where to go.
And, uh, the biggest joy the Olympics brought me
was it made my father reborn.
[tender music playing]
The Greek Stoic Epictetus said, "Remember that you're an actor in a play."
Whether you are a common man, whether you're a king,
your job is to act the role that you've been given,
but to choose that role belongs to another.
The spring of 1979, fresh off of a national championship.
Most Valuable Player of the national championship,
Most Valuable Player of the team.
Pretty hot stuff.
Minnesota is the best team in the country. We're number one, and we're the best.
So young.
It's a guy that just wants to play hockey.
After we win the national championship,
I'm sitting outside of Bierman Field Athletic Building,
University of Minnesota,
reading an interview of Herb Brooks.
And he said in this interview,
"If we're going to win in 1980, we're gonna need good goaltending."
And I'm grinning ear to ear.
The next line was, "And this kid Jim Craig is one hell of a goaltender."
Wow, this is gonna be tougher than I thought.
Jimmy was our guy.
I thought he was the best goalkeeper available.
And, yeah, it hurt Janaszak.
But when you're not getting a lot of ice time,
you have to show unusual character.
[Janaszak] There were 240 players in Lake Placid,
and I was the only player that didn't see any ice time.
Instead of it being a negative, Steve was a positive.
He worked his ass off all the time.
[Janaszak] I played the role that I was given.
Not playing, just sitting, is the hardest thing I've ever done.
Because you're wired to play,
and now you gotta sit there and keep your mouth shut.
There was an entertainment complex in the Village.
It was next to the cafeteria.
A bunch of us went in one night,
and we were gonna watch Saturday Night Fever.
["Stayin' Alive" by Bee Gees playing]
And this interpreter for the International Olympic Committee
comes trotting down the aisle.
She was cute,
and see if I can get to know her a little bit better.
So I would bring her ice cream sodas and stuff
pretty much every day while we were in and out of there.
That interpreter, 15 months later, became my wife.
[heartwarming music playing]
I proposed, and we were married in May of 1981.
She is the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my life.
And even though I didn't play, the luckiest guy of those 20 guys,
no doubt, hands down.
[announcer] Time at the first lap, 31.803.
[crowd cheering]
[pensive music playing]
[Dryden] This will no doubt be a very emotional game.
[young Michaels] The United States have a very rough schedule.
They're back against the silver medalists at the world championships last year,
the Czechoslovakian team,
which has a very strong, experienced hockey club.
[Craig] First two games, the Swedes and Czechs?
I mean, are you kidding me?
That's thrown right to the fire.
[crowd cheering]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Eruzione] The expectations against the Czechs was for us to get beat.
And, basically, beat handily.
But for us, we needed to play our game.
[Dryden] Just outside the Czechoslovakian line.
Marián Šťastný goes after Broten, feeds a pass on that left side, scores!
Eruzione fires it in and it's one-one.
[crowd cheering wildly]
[young Michaels] The United States, just playing a great hockey game.
Putting them under all kinds of pressure.
And Schneider puts it in!
Boy, it looks easy there.
[crowd cheering]
[Schneider] The Czechs were considered the second-best team in the world.
And we played well.
You know something's going right. Something's going your way.
And you could feel it.
[young Michaels] Mark Johnson scores!
Scores!
And the United States has opened it up.
Schneider.
[Dryden] This is just unbelievable.
[young Michaels] McClanahan gets the puck, front of the net. He shoots, he scores!
[Eruzione] We dominated the game.
It was a huge, huge confidence builder.
And now everybody's starting to talk about the hockey team.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
[Michaels, present day] That was the first time
that I can ever remember the "USA, USA" chant.
That hadn't taken place at that point.
It was a moment where everything flipped,
because during the '70s,
we were burning a lot of American flags.
We went from burning the flags…
[crowd cheering wildly]
…to waving the flags.
[young Michaels] Seven to three,
and the celebration continues here in Lake Placid.
[present day] Czechoslovakian team was so frustrated, they can't believe it.
They're gonna lose to this team by four goals?
Then all of a sudden, one of their guys became a goon.
[tense music playing]
[crowd exclaiming]
[Eruzione] Three minutes to go,
Mark gets a cheap shot from a Czech player.
[young Michaels] We've got a player down. That's Mark Johnson, who's played well.
- And I didn't see what happened there. - [Dryden] I saw. I'll tell you.
Neliba just cross-checked him right in the throat.
It was just brutal.
[Eruzione] You know, this is our best player on the ice.
Hoping he's not really hurt.
Right down your throat, 3.
Bury that goddamn stick right in your throat.
- [Danny] Those eyes are scary. - [Kelly] Yeah.
When he gets that look, and I've seen that look…
You do not want that look.
He was pissed.
I never saw him that mad. He was really mad.
Eat that goddamn Koho, 3.
[Eruzione] I think it showed us that, you know,
as hard as he was to play for, he cared about us.
- He was riled up because… it was Magic. - It was our best guy.
[all laughing]
If it was me or anybody else, it would've been, "Ah, he's all right."
We can't lose Mark. If we lose Mark, we've got no chance.
[young Michaels] On the faceoff. Šťastný.
Couldn't control it. Strobel's in. Six seconds left.
[Michaels and crowd] Five, four, three, two, one.
[Michaels] The game is over just as Jim Craig catches the puck.
The USA win it
with a tremendous game against Czechoslovakia.
[crowd cheering]
If you ask someone what's impressed them the most about the Olympics thus far,
chances are they'd say the US hockey team.
The squad came into the games unheralded, even a little unsure.
[reporter 1] They're becoming known as the darlings of the Olympics.
[reporter 2] No one will be cheering more wildly today
than the people who are crowded into this house.
Forty mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters
of the American Olympic hockey players.
So I had to finish the shower, jump out, run out check this one.
Still available.
Run in here for a shave and a tooth brushing job.
Then I forgot my toothpaste,
I run back to the room to get the toothpaste,
hoping nobody would get in there.
And these mothers, uh, see me go that way, shut the door.
To my right here.
You know? What more can I say?
That's unbelievable. My dad was the man.
Always said, "Pear trees have pears."
You know? And I think my dad was a pear tree, and I was a pear.
My town, Charlestown, it's on the north side of Boston.
And the town was full of cops, firemen, my dad was an electrician,
plumbers, pipe fitters, and gangsters.
They were all in the town, all went to church on Sunday mornings.
We all knew who they were, but no one would ever say anything.
When you're growing up in a place like Charlestown,
you know how to avoid trouble.
Sometimes you can't avoid it, so you know how to throw the first punch.
I was always that kind of person, even back when I was playing hockey.
I just didn't like losing.
I can lose a game of checkers, stuff like that, I'm not a psychotic,
but I definitely brought intensity to my game.
I think I'll be so much better off from having lived through this experience.
I'd have passed up a million dollars to be able to compete in this competition.
Just to play for my country is the greatest feeling anyone could have.
Wow.
I've never seen that.
I was gonna start crying when I saw that. Oh my God.
Playing in the Olympics was my lifelong dream.
I just so wanted to do that.
[announcer] Things really building here in Lake Placid.
It's gonna be another busy day. The busiest one we've had so far.
["Don't Bring Me Down" by Electric Light Orchestra playing]
Last night it was "USA, USA, USA." Today, the chant was "Eric, Eric, Eric."
[announcer 2] Eric Heiden, the first athlete ever to win
five gold medals in a Winter Olympics.
[Heiden] In between those races, I was a hockey fan.
The days I skated, the hockey team had off.
The days that I had off, the hockey team had games.
And I was in the crowd watching.
The hero of the Games, Eric Heiden,
and we have the darlings of the Games, the hockey team.
[reporter] The biggest and most unexpected thrills
came from 20 rink rats from the upper Midwest and New England.
[young Michaels] Slap shot goes in!
[Dryden] The picture-perfect goal.
Wow, these guys just won.
Two days later, god dang it, they just won again.
The US came to Lake Placid with almost no chance of winning a medal in hockey,
but if they can beat or tie West Germany,
they'll find themselves in the medal round this weekend.
- [young Michaels] The rebound goes in! - ♪ Don't bring me down ♪
[Strobel] All of a sudden you're going,
"Holy smokes, we have a chance to win a medal here."
The United States got a win tonight, but they've got to play the Soviets.
- Well, that isn't fair. - No, it's not fair.
[Powers] In the medal round, the Americans are gonna play the Soviet Union.
The same Soviet team
that a couple weeks earlier beat you by seven goals.
And while the Americans were building momentum,
the Russians were doing what they were expected to do.
Blowing people out.
[sportscaster 1] And the Soviets have won it easily, 16 to nothing.
[sportscaster 2] The Soviets, they beat Holland 17 to 4.
[sportscaster 3] They were just overwhelmed by the Soviets.
[Powers] But the Soviets seemed a bit indifferent.
More so than they'd been before.
The Soviets acted like they'd been there 100 times.
[Harrington] Herb was constantly talking about our youth.
"We're the best conditioned team here,
and they can't skate with us if we play our game."
[Craig] He had confidence in us.
We were ready.
We were prepared.
It doesn't mean you're gonna win, it means you're ready.
[Kelly] So Dad kept all his notes.
Probably from '78 to 2000.
Playbooks, notes on players.
- Here, Danny. Here's one on the Soviets. - Yeah.
He said, "They are arrogant, cocky." They're "Not respecting their opponents."
[crowd cheering]
[pensive music playing]
[reporter] There's a feeling of joy, anticipation, and excitement in this town
like nothing we have seen at these Winter Olympics.
What were the odds before this tournament began
that the United States and Soviet Union would meet as undefeated teams?
[Michaels] There was a tremendous amount of anticipation.
Ken Dryden was my broadcast partner.
Kenny and I were walking over to the arena, and I said,
"The best thing we can hope for
is that it's only three-one Soviets, middle of the second period."
But he said, "If you really knew the sport of hockey
and the difference between the two teams… how could this happen?"
[Johnson] You know, if you're honest, and I can only be honest for myself,
we're not going to beat them, there's no chance. None. Zero.
[reporter 1] Thousands of Americans gathered around their TV sets
as the American hockey team hit the ice.
[reporter 2] Every TV was tuned to one thing only.
But there's no doubt this Winthrop family was the most excited of them all.
The family of team captain Mike Eruzione.
I knew my family was watching, but I had no idea how big this thing was.
[Will] The sports pages began to pick up on this.
And a lot of us take our cues from the sports pages,
of these things, and said, "This is more than a hockey game."
There were good guys and bad guys,
and in this case, there was a really clear demarcation.
We were not aware of the impact we'd had with the rest of the country,
with the exception of these telegrams.
So, the long walk of the hallway,
which is probably like 50, 60 yards to the ice,
has telegrams from everybody wishing us well.
I remember the one we got from a lady in Texas,
and all it said was "Beat those Soviet bastards."
The vibe in the locker room was a nervous excitement.
We're just getting into it, in our own way,
of how we're gonna play,
and then waiting for Herb's speech.
My memory was that he pulled something out of his pocket…
- [Kelly] This is the famous speech here. - Yeah.
"You were born to be a player."
[Kelly and Eruzione] "You were meant to be here. This moment is yours."
And then he walked out.
[crowd cheering]
We're about to step out, I look up,
and even though that place doesn't hold a lot,
it couldn't get any more full.
And it's like, "Whoa."
[uplifting music playing]
[Kelly] Dave Christian's mom, she had spunk. She was like,
"We gotta ramp this crowd up," and she started chanting, "USA."
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA!
My dad and sister and my mom.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
USA! USA!
Wow.
It was incredibly loud.
[crowd cheering deafeningly]
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
[young Michaels] The excitement, the tension building.
The Olympic Center filling to capacity.
Hello again, everybody, I'm Al Michaels, along with Ken Dryden.
It should be a great night. I'm sure there are a lot of people in this building
who do not know the difference between a blue line and a clothes line.
It's irrelevant, it doesn't matter, because what we have at hand,
the rarest of sporting events.
An event that needs no build-up, no superfluous adjectives.
In a political or nationalistic sense,
I'm sure this game is being viewed with varying perspectives,
but manifestly, it is a hockey game.
The United States and the Soviet Union
on a sheet of ice in Lake Placid, New York.
Ken, some of your thoughts before the game.
Well, Al, for the US team, it's really discovery time.
It's one thing to be young and promising, and it's quite another to be good.
And in the next 2.5 hours,
the US team players will go through perhaps the most difficult and demanding,
yet exhilarating time of their lives.
After it's all over, this team will find out an awful lot about themselves.
They'll simply find out how good they are.
[inspirational music playing]
[Johnson] Oh boy.
We had been in big moments before, but there was nothing like this, nothing.
The great thing about sports, though, is…
eventually you have to play the game.
[young Michaels] Here we go, as the game is underway.
The Americans having trouble getting the puck out of their own end.
The Americans, 13 days ago, losing to the Soviets ten to three.
[Craig] It was really, really fast.
You could just feel it was a different game.
[crowd cheering]
[Dryden] He shoots!
Craig makes the save.
[Morrow] These guys had tree trunks for legs.
You're there playing against these guys, and they're immovable.
I had a thing going with Krutov.
They called him The Russian Tank.
I collided with him several times in the game.
It was just like hitting a brick wall.
[young Michaels] Pavelich picks it up. And an angle shot saved by Tretiak!
[Craig] Buzzy's got the puck, he gets a slash, it goes off his stick.
[young Michaels] Slap shot, and it was deflected in.
[Craig] The guy tips it, and it's in.
Okay, we're down. [chuckles]
[Dryden] No sustained attack thus far for the United States,
who seem to have been bottled up by the Russian checking pattern.
[Eruzione] If you think you're gonna lose, you will.
So, we were nervous, but I know we weren't afraid.
I can promise you that.
[young Michaels] Pavelich taking it away.
[Schneider] Mark drew everybody to the right.
Cross-screened a pass to me, and I caught him moving.
[young Michaels] Shoots, scores!
Buzzy Schneider!
[Eruzione] Buzzy comes down and just blasts one by Tretiak.
[young Michaels] That's the type of goal you don't expect somebody like Tretiak
to give up.
[O'Callahan] We knew how we had to play them.
But it was sort of like a little bit of that feeling in the pit of your stomach
where you know something's gonna happen.
[young Michaels] Golikov, number 23, leaving it to Makarov.
He tried to get it back to Golikov, then gets it back and scores.
Deflected off the American defenseman, and the Soviets take the lead two to one.
[O'Callahan] That game in Madison Square Garden,
where we got beat ten-three, I think it made them overconfident.
They looked at us as not a hockey team but a bunch of college kids.
The Soviets had zero respect for us. Zero.
[Michaels] It's the end of the period,
the Soviets have it in the United States' end.
They're not gonna mount an attack.
The clock is ticking down.
[Dryden] Twelve seconds remaining in the period.
[Eruzione] I look up at the clock, and I see eight seconds.
And I look to my left, and Davey Christian's got the puck.
And I start to go to the bench, thinking the period's over.
Then, all of a sudden, I see Mark fly by me, and I'm like,
"Where's he going?"
[young Michaels] Long shot, easy save by Tretiak.
But Johnson is there and scores!
With one second to play in the period!
Right now, the clock shows nothing…
[Johnson] Their two defensemen just pause a second.
Gives me enough time to get through.
My only fear was that there wasn't enough time left,
so as I turned and put my head up, and looked at the clock…
Was there enough time? Were they gonna count the goal?
[young Michaels] It's gonna count! The US ties the game two to two!
[crowd cheering wildly]
[McClanahan] That's why we call him Magic. He was our Magic Johnson.
By far our best player.
- [buzzer buzzes] - [Eruzione] We were excited.
This is the biggest game we'd ever played. We didn't play great, but it's two-two.
Mark's goal was a lightning rod of confidence.
[young Michaels] And the chant begins. "USA, USA."
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
We got a hockey game.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
[Strobel] Everybody in the locker room, we were so pumped up, big time.
"We can skate with these guys. We can beat these guys."
[young Michaels] As we start the second period now,
a change for the Soviet Union, as Vladimir Myshkin becomes the new goalie
after Tretiak had given up two in the first period.
We were shocked that he pulled Tretiak. Shocked.
[Dryden] There's Tretiak on the bench, a very uncharacteristic place for him.
[Michaels, present day] Our feeling was that Tretiak must have been sick or hurt.
You don't pull the best goalie in the world.
[Dryden] Kharlamov, number 17, the veteran.
Now up ahead to Petrov.
[Michaels] We're playing these monsters, and it's close.
But we were waiting for the hammer to be dropped.
[young Michaels] Maltsev on a breakaway.
Maltsev gets it by Craig to give the Soviets the lead.
[Morrow] Second period was where they said,
"Okay, we're going to take this game over now."
And so that was survival for us, that second period.
[Dryden] Save by Craig!
[Morrow] Jimmy Craig kept us in it, playing out of his mind.
[Dryden] Saved again by Craig!
Craig has held the US in the game.
[Craig] I realized that playing the Russians for one period
was like equivalent to playing a game against another team.
I never visualized losing.
I visualized the game and what could happen,
what the play was, what it looked like,
so that when the game came, I'd already seen it.
If they took 30 shots in a game, that means that they could score 30 times.
The Russians are that good.
But tell me I can't do something, and I'll show you I can.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
[young Michaels] And the second period is over.
[Michaels, present day] If he gives up one more goal,
it's probably the end of the game.
You're not going to come back against the Soviets down by two.
[Dryden] For the second period at the Olympic Ice Center,
it's still the Soviet Union, three, and the United States, two.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
USA!
[Johnson] I was sitting in the locker room in between the second and third, thinking,
"We just need to get the next one."
[young Michaels] As we start the third period,
the Soviet Union on top three to two.
[Dryden] The US team has got to pick up its pace in the game.
They've got to get some more offensive pressure.
[young Michaels] Makarov skating in, splits the defense,
and then can't get the shot away!
A break for the US.
[crowd cheering]
[Johnson] Silky makes a good play and gets upended,
and the puck takes a bounce right to my stick.
[young Michaels] He chopped it in. Followed by Johnson, they score!
[crowd cheering wildly]
[uplifting music playing]
[Johnson] I thought the roof was gonna come off.
[chuckling]
[young Michaels] It's a tie hockey game. Who would have believed it?
[Eruzione] Now it's a hockey game.
Eleven minutes of hockey left to go, and this score is tied.
The energy in the room, I could feel it.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
[Michaels, present day] Anything can happen now.
But you're still not expecting it to happen.
[Dryden] Harrington rolls it off the center ice.
The loose puck picked up by the Soviets.
Recovered by Schneider. Schneider moves in.
[Schneider] Took a slap shot. Got off the ice. Mike jumped on.
[Eruzione] I jump over the boards.
John Harrington went in the corner, fighting with the Soviet for the puck.
Pav chips the puck over to me.
When it left my stick, I thought I might have pulled it,
and then I saw the crowd react.
[young Michaels] Eruzione scores! Mike Eruzione!
[crowd cheering wildly]
Now we've got bedlam.
I had never celebrated like that. That was a new one.
I don't know how I came up with that one.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
[Michaels] There are times when sound has feel.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA!
[announcer] USA goal, scored by number 21, Eruzione.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
[Johnson] Once we got back to the bench, a lot of us looked up at the score…
and we're going, "Whoa, there's still ten minutes to go. Ooh."
[young Michaels] Can they hold a four-to-three lead?
[O'Callahan] They could score ten goals in ten minutes.
Every time I've seen ten minutes on a clock for the rest of my life,
I always think back to that moment.
[McClanahan] It stayed at ten minutes forever.
The clock would not move.
[Christian] Looking at their bench and knowing how good they were,
the thought was like,
"Hey, are they gonna flip the switch again,
like we've seen so many times?"
[Dryden] When a lead is there, and hope is there,
the Soviets have taken it away.
Now we've really pissed them off. [laughs]
The Soviets were putting a lot of pressure on the United States.
[young Michaels] Krutov… And it looked like it hit the post.
[present day] Jim Craig had to make a number of very good saves
in those final ten minutes.
[Dryden] Spectacular save!
- Saved again by Craig! - [young Michaels] Whoa!
[intense percussive music playing]
Herbie was really cool on the bench.
He just stayed his way. He just was Herb the whole way.
The one thing he kept saying to us was, "Play your game."
Play your game, play your game.
All he said was, "Play your game." He never said anything else.
"Play your game."
Then the mindset becomes like, okay, we spent the six months doing this.
That's why we did all those Herbies.
[Dryden] Eight minutes to go.
[young Michaels] The Americans have not beaten the Soviet team in two decades.
The Soviet bench is chaos.
[young Michaels] 6:47 left in the game.
Panic. Dumping the puck in the zone. Doing things they normally did not do.
[Dryden] Lebedev shoots! It's way off the mark.
They got away from their game.
They'd never been in that position. They didn't know what to do.
[young Michaels] Two minutes left.
They didn't pull their goalie.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
[Dryden] McClanahan. His shot goes wide.
[McClanahan] No one wanted the puck,
'cause we didn't wanna be the one to screw it up.
[Dryden] A minute and 12 seconds.
[McClanahan] Keep it moving. Get rid of it.
[young Michaels] Now Johnson. 19 seconds.
Johnson over to Ramsey. Bilyaletdinov gets checked by Ramsey.
McClanahan is there, the puck is still loose.
Eleven seconds. You've got ten seconds. The countdown going on right now.
Morrow, up to Silk. Five seconds left in the game.
- [Dryden] It's over. - [young Michaels] You believe in miracles?
- Yes! - [Dryden] Unbelievable!
- [uplifting music playing] - [crowd cheering]
[young Michaels] They thought it was impossible!
This is a miracle! I can't believe it!
[Schneider] I threw my stick against the boards,
then I jumped on the pile.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
[Eruzione] You couldn't hug a guy quick enough.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
[chuckling]
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA!
[young Michaels] They're jumping up and down
while the Russians are just watching the celebration.
[Eruzione] I'm not gonna say they enjoyed watching us,
but they probably forgot about how much fun it was to win.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
[Harrington] Did that just happen? Did we just win?
Yeah, we won.
[Johnson] You almost had to pinch yourself.
We just beat the Russians. I can't believe we just beat the Russians.
[Dryden] Just incredible.
- Look at Jim Craig. Look! - [young Michaels] Unbelievable.
The United States hockey team, unknown, totally anonymous a week and a half ago,
has done it.
Defeating the Soviet Union,
the most improbable circumstance you could ever have imagined.
The final score, the USA, four, the Soviet Union, three.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
[O'Callahan] So, after the Russian game, we all went to the hotel with our parents.
We just wanted to go experience the excitement in the Village.
How do I feel? I feel total exhilaration!
Yay!
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
It wasn't a hockey game, it was a miracle.
All over the country, there was a feeling of nationalism.
[crowd cheering wildly]
- [interviewer] What do you think? - Oh, hey, super! Super!
♪ God bless America… ♪
It just made me proud to be an American citizen.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
Number one, USA! USA!
[reporter] It was an upset so enormous
that to match it, you have to go back, perhaps, to David over Goliath.
People who don't know a hockey puck from a lump of coal
became instant hockey fans.
If you could watch--
- I can't talk about it. - [both laughing]
[reporter 2] There wasn't much celebrating at the Russian Embassy in New York,
though across the street, a local fire station
hung out a silent reminder for their neighbors.
The only reason we put it up
was we realized sometimes it's hard to get out-of-town scores,
so it's actually a public service.
[interviewer] How do you think your parents feel now?
Oh, they're probably bursting their buttons.
They're probably so proud.
[interviewer] I wonder if you've ever had a feeling quite like that in your life?
No, I never have. It was a big win for us,
and was a big thing for me and my family and my town and parents.
It was just a great game.
[interviewer] Congratulations, Mike. Jim…
That's pretty cool.
The joy that they got, the pleasure that they got to watch me…
[sniffles] …meant a lot.
'Cause I know what it meant to them. [sniffles]
[somber music playing]
As much emotion as I think I've ever seen at one sporting event.
I wonder if you could feel it down on the ice?
We could feel it throughout the stands,
throughout the whole game, and especially in the last ten minutes.
Just to see my father there,
seeing how happy he is, for how sad he was, that's…
That's the gold medal.
[O'Callahan] Saturday morning, we come into the locker room,
and all of a sudden, it's all on top of us.
All this attention.
I think that was the first time I ever signed my autograph.
[crowd cheering]
[Eruzione] Pictures and autographs and laughing,
and Herb came in and just flipped out,
screaming and yelling, "What are you guys doing?"
There were sticks on the training table,
and guys were coming in and signing the sticks.
And he came in and knocked them all off, he says,
"You guys haven't won a thing yet."
[tense music playing]
[Eruzione] And he proceeded to put us through one of the hardest skates
we had all year.
He skated our asses off.
And we were like, "Why is he so pissed off?"
"We just beat the Soviets."
I guess, looking back at it,
it was to make us aware that we had another game to play.
We keep things in the proper perspective
so we do not think that we're better than we are,
we understand what we're up against.
You know, the Finns got a heck of a hockey club.
The goal is to win a gold medal, not to just beat the Russians.
[crowd cheering]
[young Michaels] Everybody will remember what happened Friday night,
but can the US do it today against Finland?
[McClanahan] So, Herbie always had a speech before every game.
Herbie came in, paced back and forth… turned to all of us and said,
"If you lose this game, you'll take it to your fucking grave."
Turned back, went to the door, turned to us and said,
"Your fucking grave."
Herbie did not swear.
He never said the F-word.
That was the first time I've ever heard him say that.
We knew what he meant.
[crowd cheering]
[young Michaels] Here comes the US team.
[Craig] We go from an underdog to a favorite.
That's a totally different pressure.
[fan] All right, Jimmy!
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
[young Michaels] Here we go with the chant which has become so familiar all week.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
[young Michaels] The United States in blue, Finland in white.
The gold medal at stake for the US.
[crowd cheering]
[Dryden] Save made by Craig. And he hangs on.
[O'Callahan] The first period against Finland, we played pretty well.
But Finland was great. I mean, they were a great hockey team.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Eruzione] The beginning of every game in the Olympics, we were trailing.
[young Michaels] And the slap shot to make it one to nothing, Finland.
[Harrington] You can lose a game early,
but you don't necessarily always win a game early.
So I think that was the feeling.
A little, like, nervousness and a little bit of anxiety.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
Take it out, Broten. Come on, Michael!
What stayed in your mind was, we gotta get back in this game.
We've got to keep playing.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA!
[young Michaels] Goal! Steve Christoff scoring backhanded!
Now it's tied, but a tie is not gonna help you.
[young Michaels] Johnson, in over the Finnish blue line.
Mark goes down.
I think what a lot of people don't realize
is the emotional drain of the Russian game.
It's like, how much do you have in your tank?
At some point, you're gonna be on empty, and when you get to empty, then what?
[suspenseful music continues]
[young Michaels] Centered out in front. Silk's shot, and a save.
Still loose.
And now it's tied up for a faceoff.
[whistle blows]
Schneider loses his stick,
and he'll also be going off for two minutes here.
[Dryden] The US team has to keep its composure.
[young Michaels] Kiimalainen comes toward the point.
And deflected in.
It's two to one, Finland.
[Michaels, present day] The Finns are leading two-to-one
at the end of the second period.
We were thinking of the worst.
[buzzer buzzes]
If they lose that game,
you walk around for the rest of your life having people say,
"What happened?"
"You beat the Soviets, you lost to Finland?"
[O'Callahan] When we were walking around that locker room,
I couldn't sit down.
I'm whacking guys in the knee, I'm like,
"There's no way we're losing this game to these goddamn Finns. No way."
He's in your face.
"The Finns aren't gonna take a gold medal away from me,
they're not gonna take a gold medal away from you."
Then I remember Phil Verchota standing up, and he goes,
"Jack's right. There's no way we're losing to these guys."
"No way!" And then he starts going. Then the whole team was standing up.
We're in the hallway outside that locker room,
and Herbie says, "Craig, they stopped listening to me."
"You go talk to them."
So I walked in, I said two words. I said, "Hey, guys…"
And OC said, "Patty, get the hell out of here."
"There's no way we're losing this fucking game."
So, "Okay." I went back out in the hallway and Herbie said, "How'd it go?"
"Good." [chuckling]
[crowd cheering]
[Dryden] Twenty minutes to play, the third period beginning now.
The United States trailing Finland two-to-one.
[Johnson] This last 20 minutes, although it's gonna be our last as a team,
let's make it our best.
[Morrow] That was our proudest moment as a team
during that whole two-week period.
Our proudest moment was that third period.
Everything was on the line, and we played our best hockey.
[Johnson] Phil scores to tie it.
- [puck smacks] - [crowd cheering]
[Dryden] Phil Verchota has just scored to tie the game.
[Johnson] So now you're cranking it up, you're energized.
And that tiredness that you maybe had going into the period,
boom, you get a shot of adrenaline.
And then Robbie scores.
[young Michaels] Score!
McClanahan! The US leads it!
[McClanahan] Eric Strobel was to my left. I was actually gonna pass to Eric.
The goalie almost anticipates like I was gonna make that pass.
Then he kicks out his leg. So I just jammed it home.
[crowd cheering]
[young Michaels] The US, three. Finland, two.
Verchota taken out of the play. Johnson is there.
Christoff scrapping for it again, gets it in front, Americans control it.
Johnson skating in. The shot.
He shoots, he scores!
[crowd cheering wildly]
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
[Dryden] The US leads it four-to-two!
[Johnson] You know, when I scored the fourth one,
I think, "Okay, this thing's gonna happen."
"We got this one. This is ours."
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
[Dryden] Five seconds to the gold medal. Four to the gold medal.
- [crowd] Three, two, one! - [young Michaels] This dream comes true!
[crowd cheering wildly]
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
[young Michaels] Jim Craig looking for his father in the stands.
[mouthing] Where's my dad?
[Craig] This is to show my father respect for my mother.
That, you know, even though she wasn't there, she was, and that…
we did it.
All the sacrifices she made.
The strength that she was losing, I was getting.
[cheering fades]
He said to me…
[emotional piano music playing]
[exhales]
He said to me,
"Your mother would be really proud of you."
[cheering resumes]
[Eruzione] Herb never came out on the ice after we won.
He went in the locker room.
Nobody knows, when he went back in that locker room, what his thoughts were.
But because of what happened in 1960,
I think he just took great pride in knowing what our team had accomplished.
[Janaszak] That was his gold medal that he didn't get in 1960.
This is a 20-year journey for him.
[crowd cheering]
[fan] Way to go, Ramsey.
[young Michaels] The United States winning the gold.
[all] Three, two, one! [cheering]
[uplifting music playing]
[horn honking]
I've been covering sports since 1948 on television,
and this is the greatest moment I have ever seen.
The greatest achievement on the part of a single group of young men.
My best memories were what happened afterwards.
I was in the locker room.
Walter Mondale's in there. They get Jimmy Carter on the phone.
Hello, Mr. President.
[Carter] Tell all the team how much I love them.
We'll see you tomorrow at the White House, and we're all proud of you.
- Thank you, we'll be there. - Good luck to you.
- Okay, good luck to you. - Go celebrate.
Oh, we won't.
[all laughing]
We partied hard. We…
We had a lot of fun.
[team laughing and cheering]
[man] Hey, OC, uh, I'm just wondering what it feels like
to be the only gold medal winner ever from Charlestown.
Oh, it's, um… it's in the shadow of Bunker Hill, you know.
So, the Americans won at Bunker Hill, the Americans won at Lake Placid.
[all laughing]
[man] The Americans didn't win at Bunker Hill.
I don't wanna hear that.
[all laughing]
Oh my God, I think I had too many of those Kirins.
[man] If there is a fitting Brooksism to describe this moment?
We're damned if we did, and we're damned if we didn't.
And, you know, fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you.
- Uh… - [all laughing]
That was about three beers after the game,
and I was just being a…
My typical bigmouth, I think.
Like I said, you know,
we looked like a monkey screwing a football out there
for two periods.
[all laughing]
[Harrington] For lack of a better phrase, that just about wraps it up.
[all laughing]
[Ramsey] That was pretty good there.
- Nice one, Harrington. Hammered. - Oh, this…
Ridiculous.
We came together, like I said, six months ago,
from, uh, all parts of the United States,
different backgrounds, different ethnic beliefs,
and things like that, and we gelled into a team.
The saddest thing right now is gonna be we go different ways,
and who knows if I'll ever see, say, John Harrington or David Christian again.
And to me, that's gonna be a disappointment.
And a relief, I guess too.
Sorry. [laughing]
I don't think any of us really had any idea
that we would be bonded for life the way we've been.
We've all gone in different directions.
And, uh, um…
But we all come back to… to this.
And that's really awesome.
[uplifting music playing]
[Verchota] It kind of feels like we've got a game to play later tonight.
It doesn't feel like 45 years has gone by.
I still kind of remember
not wanting to let the rest of the guys in this room down
in any way, shape, or form.
I think you become a team over time.
And skating all night in Norway, guys getting threatened to be cut,
and other guys sticking up for the guys that were there.
The way Herbie coached accelerated us coming together.
- [O'Callahan] Yeah. - Us against him.
- Yes. - Yeah. Definitely.
[director] How long has it been since Herb passed?
- What, 20-plus years? - [Silk] Yeah.
- [man] Twenty-two years. - [Silk] Twenty-two years.
[Baker] We just wish that one time,
that he would have let his hair down and talked to you like we're talking now.
Well, I came across this a couple months ago,
uh, not knowing I had it.
Still in the original envelope here,
from Herb.
And I'm assuming that it went out to everybody.
This was in June of 1980, so a couple months after.
"Under separate cover,
you will be receiving a laminated team picture
from Craig and myself."
"This reflects our complete respect we have for you
as an athlete and as a person."
"Personally, this year was not only my most enjoyable year in coaching,
but also my toughest."
"Toughest because it involved making so many difficult decisions
regarding the makeup of our final team."
"Because of that, and because I wanted to be as objective as possible,
I stayed away from close personal contacts with you."
"This year was a challenge for all of us."
"A challenge to live and work as a unit, play a positive game a creative way,
make the most of our dreams."
"You met those challenges and conquered them."
"If there was any team I ever wanted to identify with on a personal basis,
this was the team."
"Hopefully that day will come."
Wow.
I think the biggest regret he had once we finished doing what we did,
was that he didn't connect with some of the players.
And so I think that ate at him until he passed away.
And he forgot to forgive himself.
I have the utmost respect for what he gave me
and what he did for me,
but I wish I could've known him as a person.
I think it was hard for him to resist to be one of the guys,
and to joke and to laugh.
He had to be so, so distant.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
[crowd cheering]
[Will] I think that the sports moments that stick out in our minds,
that's "sports plus."
And Lake Placid was a "plus."
That was the human moment beyond an athlete's moment.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
[O'Callahan] Over those two weeks,
people just started grasping a hold of our story.
We might be from different parts of the country
and have different ideas, things, and cultures,
but the one thing we do have is that we're Americans,
and when we stick together, and we help each other,
we can achieve great things.
[Michaels] There was something that took place with me in that moment, and I…
It's as close as I've come to really kind of losing it.
I really couldn't say anything on the air because I was all choked up.
[crowd cheering]
[uplifting music playing]
[Eruzione] That was just emotion after emotion.
It was just so special to share it with all the people in the stands.
I saw my Uncle Tony…
'Cause if you see, I give a fist.
That was my uncle who drove to the game that day.
The one who lent me the money.
He drove up with my brother and my cousin, and they snuck into the building.
[crowd cheering]
[Morrow] It's…
It's the purest kind of joy… [chuckles] …a person can have, yeah.
We had pulled off something that was beyond impossible.
You think about everybody that helped you along the way.
My mom, my sister, my brother.
My dad.
Man…
["The Star-Spangled Banner" playing]
I made it a point after every national anthem…
to thank him.
Through my career…
into the NHL.
It wouldn't have happened without him and my family.
♪ O say does that star-spangled banner ♪
♪ Yet wave ♪
♪ O’er the land of the free ♪
♪ And the home of the brave ♪
[crowd cheering wildly]
The whole thing about this was it was a team that accomplished something,
not individuals.
This is what I was trying to build, is a team.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
[McClanahan] We loved each other.
We were family. Still are.
Somehow this band of kids came together and pulled off an impossible sports upset.
And it was as special a moment as I've ever seen in sports.
People say, "What could top this?"
And I say, "Nothing."
- [uplifting music playing] - [crowd cheering]
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
[cheering fades]
["Carry On" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young playing]
[McClanahan] There is nothing like the feeling you have
when you're with 19 other guys, and you pull off something like we did.
And to this day, it gives me chills.
♪ One morning, I woke up ♪
♪ And I knew ♪
[fan] Team USA!
Yeah!
Thanks, guys!
[all chuckling]
[Eruzione] We were the boy next door.
We were the kid you saw out in the street playing street hockey or stickball.
I think people related to who we were.
♪ The sky is clearing… ♪
[fan 2] You gave us so much pride.
- Thank you! - Well, thank you.
[O'Callahan] When you have people coming up to you,
and they find out you played on that team, and they start crying themselves…
The reaction I get, the mail I get, 45 years later,
that's been the greatest part of this all for me.
I've never been in a stadium like that, with that kind of energy again, ever.
- I get goosebumps thinking about it. - [Schneider] Yeah.
[Eruzione] As a country, we were just getting beat up,
and all of a sudden, a bunch of young kids
brought joy to a country at a time when we needed something.
People looking for something to feel good about, and it happened to be us.
We could use a 1980 now.
♪ Carry on ♪
♪ Love is coming ♪
♪ Love is coming to us all ♪
[song continues instrumentally]
[gentle, uplifting music playing]