So I was watching sports centre recently and they did the top 10 upsets in sports and the miracle on ice was ranked #3. Thing is that wasn't even the gold medal game.
It got me thinking how would they looked at if they lost the final? would their legacy be hurt? or was the miracle on ice so big that losing the final would not have hurt the way that moment is viewed today?
The game vs. Finland was not really a final, since Finland did not have a chance to win the gold at that point, although they could have spoiled USA's victory by winning the game.* There was no final nor semi-finals, but I think the USA vs. USSR game was sort of (de facto) final; it was the game between the two best teams in the tournament.
Anyway: it depends on a person, I guess, but I think the game would still be remembered, although maybe more as a quirk in sports history rather than as such a heroic story that it is now known; the Olympic gold medal definitely brought some extra luster to the win. So I don't think it would be quite the same - at least not outside USA. However, especially after the 1979 Challenge Cup, the Soviets were largely considered 'the best team in the world' (even though they didn't look like that in Lake Placid) and there was also the political element/dimension (Cold War, Afghanistan) that made the win - on home-ice, no less - even that much sweeter.
IMO it is not even the biggest upset in hockey history - let alone in sports history. USA had not looked very convincing in the exhibition games before the tournament, but it should be remembered that they did not lose a single game in the Olympics, and even destroyed Czechoslovakia (who had won 3 world championships over USSR in the 1970s) by a score of 7-3. On paper, Team USA wasn't that great per se, that's true, but they had a young, speedy team with some future NHL'ers like Neal Broten, Ken Morrow, Mike Ramsey, Dave Christian, Mark Johnson, Mark Pavelich, Dave Silk and internationally experienced players like Buzz Schneider, Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig.
The Soviets were undefeated in the tournament too before the Miracle game, but had struggled and looked bad against Finland and weakish amateur Canada; they needed some last period heroics to overcome both.
Poland beat the Soviets 6-4 in the 1976 World Championships; the difference between the teams was arguably greater than between USA and USSR in 1980: I don't think Poland had a single NHL calibre player on the team. But of course the hockey World Championships don't have the luster of the Olympics and the win did not lead Poland anywhere, as they lost nearly every other game in the tournament.
Belarus beating Sweden in the 2002 Olympics was a bigger upset too, objectively speaking.
* if Finland had beaten USA (but the other results remained the same), then the final standings would have looked like this:
USSR 4 points (gold)
Finland 3 points (silver)
USA 3 points (bronze)
Sweden 2 points
