37 years ago today a hockey game was played in the small town of North Elba, New York

[Fenway]

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31 years later the Boston Bruins practiced in that same arena looking for inspiration as they were facing a humiliating playoff defeat to the hockey team from Poutineville - and found it ​

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Bruins coach Claude Julien, despite his Canadian roots, gave a stick salute to the 1980 US team that won the Olympic gold medal in Lake Placid.

"When you've got a bunch of college kids who did what they accomplished, they should be proud of it," said Julien. "It was quite a feat. I was watching as well. It's a great inspirational story."

Staying in Lake Placid offers more than just a history lesson. The Bruins also get a chance to escape the intense media spotlight in Montreal for a couple days, at least somewhat. "Even in Lake Placid, you get a pretty good showing of media, so I don't think you ever escape it," Ference said. "I think it's more a matter of just being relaxed in a setting like this. You go outside and it's just really casual. It's really relaxed and you get to just chill out for a couple days." Julien agreed. "It's a great place to be," the Bruins coach said. "It's nice and quiet. There's a lot of history here. I think there's a great opportunity for us to get a quality practice in and also get a chance to get a rest." Only the Bruins who did not play in Monday's Game 3 win took the ice for a brief workout in Lake Placid on Tuesday. The entire squad will practice on Wednesday before returning to Montreal, a schedule that also allows the team to spend some quality time together off the ice. "It's pretty nice, there's a lot of history here," Horton said. "It's nice to get away and relax and bond as a team again."

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2011/04/milan-lucic...top-in-lake-placid-soak-up-us-hockey-history/

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[jgatie]

2017 Super Bowl comeback be damned, this is the greatest upset in the history of sports. No other sporting event ever meant more than "just a game" than this superpower showdown in the Adirondacks. I was 14 years old, growing up under the specter of Vietnam, the JFK/RFK/MLK assassinations, the busing riots, Nixon, gas lines, OPEC, the Middle East crisis, The Cold War, Iranian Hostages, Carter's "National Malaise", Russians in Afghanistan, etc. I'd basically never heard anything good about my country except for what happened back in WWII.

After that win, people were hanging out windows chanting USA and spontaneously singing God Bless America in the streets. It was truly the first time I saw people proud of their country. I was a die hard hockey player, but I remember those who wouldn't know a puck from a pacifier celebrating that victory. Younger folks today don't realize, but it was as cathartic a moment as I've ever experienced as an individual and a citizen. I mean it was something trivial, a mere hockey game, but it was oh so more important. I had been told that the American Dream was dead, by reporters, by teachers, by my own President. But there it was for all to see, in the form of college kids taking on the impossible, and succeeding on sheer will, determination, and knowing they could do it when everyone else said it was impossible.

I'm not religious, but I was standing on that very ice a year later for a tournament, and it was like standing before the altar at St. Peters. Truly a reserved and spiritual moment, something I'll never forget. The "1980 Rink" as it was known (such a banal nickname for such a significant place), now called the Herb Brooks Arena, is still the only place of worship I'll willingly go.

"When the country needed a miracle, what it found was a hockey team."

 

[sarge88]

2017 Super Bowl comeback be damned, this is the greatest upset in the history of sports. No other sporting event ever meant more than "just a game" than this superpower showdown in the Adirondacks. I was 14 years old, growing up under the specter of Vietnam, the JFK/RFK/MLK assassinations, the busing riots, Nixon, gas lines, OPEC, the Middle East crisis, The Cold War, Iranian Hostages, Carter's "National Malaise", Russians in Afghanistan, etc. I'd basically never heard anything good about my country except for what happened back in WWII.

After that win, people were hanging out windows chanting USA and spontaneously singing God Bless America in the streets. It was truly the first time I saw people proud of their country. I was a die hard hockey player, but I remember those who wouldn't know a puck from a pacifier celebrating that victory. Younger folks today don't realize, but it was as cathartic a moment as I've ever experienced as an individual and a citizen. I mean it was something trivial, a mere hockey game, but it was oh so more important. I had been told that the American Dream was dead, by reporters, by teachers, by my own President. But there it was for all to see, in the form of college kids taking on the impossible, and succeeding on sheer will, determination, and knowing they could do it when everyone else said it was impossible.

I'm not religious, but I was standing on that very ice a year later for a tournament, and it was like standing before the altar at St. Peters. Truly a reserved and spiritual moment, something I'll never forget. The "1980 Rink" as it was known (such a banal nickname for such a significant place), now called the Herb Brooks Arena, is still the only place of worship I'll willingly go.

"When the country needed a miracle, what it found was a hockey team."

I was 9 years old when it happened and while I didn't get the ramifications in their entirety at the time, I certainly felt like it was more than just a gold medal in hockey.

That Olympics was a huge part of making me the hockey fan I have been for most of my life.

 

[Therick67]

I was 13 and words can't describe what a great moment that was. The hair on the back of my neck stands up every time I watch those highlights and hear Al Michaels and Ken Dryden's voice - especially the Eruzione goal..

 

[Gee Wally]

I remember seeing it and to this day that clip still chokes me up.

 

[BMC]

2017 Super Bowl comeback be damned, this is the greatest upset in the history of sports. No other sporting event ever meant more than "just a game" than this superpower showdown in the Adirondacks. I was 14 years old, growing up under the specter of Vietnam, the JFK/RFK/MLK assassinations, the busing riots, Nixon, gas lines, OPEC, the Middle East crisis, The Cold War, Iranian Hostages, Carter's "National Malaise", Russians in Afghanistan, etc. I'd basically never heard anything good about my country except for what happened back in WWII.

After that win, people were hanging out windows chanting USA and spontaneously singing God Bless America in the streets. It was truly the first time I saw people proud of their country. I was a die hard hockey player, but I remember those who wouldn't know a puck from a pacifier celebrating that victory. Younger folks today don't realize, but it was as cathartic a moment as I've ever experienced as an individual and a citizen. I mean it was something trivial, a mere hockey game, but it was oh so more important. I had been told that the American Dream was dead, by reporters, by teachers, by my own President. But there it was for all to see, in the form of college kids taking on the impossible, and succeeding on sheer will, determination, and knowing they could do it when everyone else said it was impossible.

I'm not religious, but I was standing on that very ice a year later for a tournament, and it was like standing before the altar at St. Peters. Truly a reserved and spiritual moment, something I'll never forget. The "1980 Rink" as it was known (such a banal nickname for such a significant place), now called the Herb Brooks Arena, is still the only place of worship I'll willingly go.

"When the country needed a miracle, what it found was a hockey team."

Word. Absolute word right here.

 

[JAD]

What a great game. A bunch of US boys beating a seasoned Russian men's hockey team. Who would have thunk it. Just unbelievable.
Then they were able to maintain their focus and win the gold medal game against Finland. What a time that was.
Only a few weeks earlier the US team got beaten badly at Madison Square Garden by the Russians10 - 3 so no one was expecting what happened. Those guys did what was thought to be impossible for a bunch of kids. The game inspired a sense of national pride across the country.

 

[GabeTravels]

I get chills whenever I listen to the call at the end. Just incredible. Wish I was alive then.

 

[KrejciMVP]

saw the USA Russia play at the great semi final game in Montreal at the Juniors.

you would need Carmen San Deigo to find a story printed on that game in the US media.

 

[Fenway]

I remember seeing it and to this day that clip still chokes me up.

Point I was trying to make was that the Bruins do not win the Cup in 2011 without the bonding trip to Lake Placid.

The key to the USA winning in Lake Placid happened just before the Olympics started. USA and USSR played a friendly at Madison Square Garden and it was ugly with the Soviets winning 10-3 and it wasn't that close.



Did Herb Brooks tank that game to make the USSR over confident? I think it is possible. I do know how good that Soviet team was as they had destroyed the NHL just 12 months previously in the Challenge Cup.



The most important thing that happened from that 1980 experience is the NHL finally conceded that maybe NCAA players and Americans could compete in the NHL.

 

[ODAAT]

I was 10 and watched this one with Dad, we did little or had little in common outside of Hockey and was this game fun to watch. To say Dad had a deep hatred for Russia would be an understatement, I, of course, being 10 had no clue why that hatred ran so deep but I certainly did understand that team USA had a bunch of college kids and the Russians had the opposite.

Was a great game, still great to watch clips from it from time to time. I`ve long been a believer that the Olympics should have always remained for amateurs only to compete in

I don`t think Brooks tanked the game earlier, I`m just not sure he fully understood the skill level of the Russians and once he had a first hand look at them, he devised a plan of how to play them

 

[Terrier]

My father and I were at the game in standing room. Thankfully, I still have the tickets and photos to prove it.

 

[ODAAT]

My father and I were at the game in standing room. Thankfully, I still have the tickets and photos to prove it.

very cool

 

[OldScool]

Coolest moment in sports history in my humble opinion.

 

[TP]

How did a tiny town in NY get the winter olympics? Would that ever happen today?


I was 6, so I don't remember anything concrete. My dad says we watched it.

 

[Fenway]

How did a tiny town in NY get the winter olympics? Would that ever happen today?


I was 6, so I don't remember anything concrete. My dad says we watched it.

Small towns hosting the Olympics was the norm for decades. It started to change when Calgary hosted in 1988.

 

[ODAAT]

Small towns hosting the Olympics was the norm for decades. It started to change when Calgary hosted in 1988.

still viewed as one of the best Olympics. One of the strongest features of those games is what has occurred following it with many of the facilities they put in place have been, to this day, still very much used for training grounds for future Olympians

 

[whatsbruin]

I've started to rewatch the entire game. You can find it on-line. I'm halfway through the 2nd period. The game still holds up pretty good today. Normally, when I see clips from that far back the players look slow, but not this game. Craig was awesome, but he didn't seem real smooth, often off balance.