OT: 40 years ago today

[HitDog]

Red Sox winning in 04 and UConn in ‘99 were great but I don’t think they touched the Miracle on Ice. For you youngsters you might not believe this but probably the most famous game wasn’t even showed live. It started at 5 pm. I was able to not spoiler the game. The last 10 minutes were so nerve wracking. And to think that if they lost 2 days later it would have meant nothing.

Opinion: Miracle on Ice was unforgettable night 40 years ago. For one writer, it ended with phone call to Mike Eruzione’s family

The USA hockey team stunned the world by beating the Soviet Union 40 years ago at the Lake Placid Olympics before going on to win the gold medal.

www.usatoday.com

 

[BlueDolphin]

This geezer remembers the one from 20 years before when a ragtag bunch beat the Russians and also won the gold. This one may have been even more miraculous than The Miracle. I remember a bunch of us packed into the fraternity TV room (at RPI which was a HUGE hockey school at the time) watching on our 20" B&W TV.

The US goalie, named Jack McCarten if I remember correctly, "stood on his head" the whole game, making one miraculous save after another. He later played a bit with he Rangers, but those kind of flopping goalies are fun to watch, but are not particularly favored in the NHL.

I think there were 3 guys named Christian on the team, perhaps 2 brothers and a cousin. I think the son of one of them played 20 years later in The Miracle game.

 

[Waquoit]

I still wonder if Al Michels call was real time or live during the replay. I remember thinking Jim McKay was awesome calling Franz Klammer's epic race, years later I found out it wasn't real time. A cheat.