Miracle on Ice

    In the 1980s Winter Olympic Games, the United States and the Soviet Union faced off in the semi-final round. The Soviet Union had won the gold medal in five of the six previous Olympics and were made primarily of professional players, while the United States consisted of amateur players. Also, the US team was the youngest team in the tournament and youngest in US national team history. In the final seconds of the game, ABC TV announcer Al Michaels declared: "Do you believe in miracles?! YES!!" Because of that famous line, the event was called the "Miracle on Ice"


    Many people to this day don't know that the game was tape delayed and played live for television hours after the game was played. In order for the game to be played on television during the primetime hours, middle of the evening, the US requested that the game be played at 8 pm instead of 5 pm. However, the Soviets did not like this because that meant it would be aired at 4 am instead of 1 am Moscow time. The only solution was to tape delay the game and play it live at 8 pm. Also, because of the lack of technology and messaging platforms, ABC could cover up the results of the game until it was actually aired live.

    Many say that the turning point in the game was when the Soviet coach pulled out their famous goalkeeper, Vladislav Tretiak,  after allowing two US goals in the first period. After the first period, the game was tied 2-2. The Soviets scored another goal in the second period taking the lead 3-2. In the last period, the US scored two goals to go ahead 4-3 with 10 minutes left. The Soviets got desperate and attempted strategies, like playing with an extra attacker, that they had never practiced before because they were so confident they would win. After the win, the US team received a congratulatory phone call from Jimmy Carter.