Miracle on Ice: How the 1980 Olympic U.S.-Soviet Hockey Game Became a Microcosm of the Cold War
This article was originally published in the 32nd Edition of the International Relations Review print journal.
Featuring exclusive interviews with players Rob McClanahan, Jack O’Callahan, and captain Mike Eruzione
“Do you believe in miracles?” On February 22, 1980, in a town with a population of just over 2,000 people, the United States Olympic hockey team answered that question with a resounding “Yes.”[1] The young amateur players, coached by the legendary Herb Brooks, had just upset 1000-1 odds to triumph over the Soviet Union—a hockey team that had stood undefeated in the Olympic games since 1968.[2]
But this one game, and the U.S. team’s ultimate Olympic victory, would go on to transcend sports. The Miracle on Ice, as the American win against the Soviets would become known, drew global attention. The U.S. team’s effort evolved into a phenomenon that amassed support from every corner of the country and beyond. A record 36 million people tuned in to watch.[3]
So what was unique about this game? The U.S. and the Soviet Union had faced off at the Olympic rink twelve other times between 1960 and 1980, and none of these matchups garnered anywhere close to the same level of international attention.[4] Even the players didn’t know what was coming their way. As Rob McClanahan, winger on the 1980 U.S. national team, puts it, “We didn't have any foresight into the fact that what we were in the middle of accomplishing would have the impact that it did.”[5]
In short, the sensation was due to the divided global political environment at the time, which had dampened national morale in the United States—and the West overall. Americans were thirsty for a victory over communism, eager to return to the days of their unshakable faith in the U.S. as the world’s only superpower. It was this desire that encouraged people to so vehemently latch onto a single hockey game in Lake Placid, New York, turning it into a proxy for the warring ideologies of the East and West as they fought for dominance.
The Miracle on Ice was a microcosm of the broader international tensions of the Cold War. The U.S. victory that day—and in the 1980 Games overall—spurred a moment of national pride so profound it revived a long-dormant faith in the country’s future, serving as a reminder of why the U.S. was and would remain a leader on the world stage.
Eruzione on the ice against the Soviets.
Setting the Stage
Global tensions were at a record high in the 1970s. The arms race between the Americans and the Soviets had channeled anxiety across the United States for the past two decades. Children as young as elementary schoolers practiced “duck and cover” drills for the event of a nuclear attack, and the government urged families to build fallout shelters as protection.[6] By 1976, 75 percent of the United States said they were concerned a great deal or a fair amount about the threat of communism.[7] This animosity would only worsen as the decade came to a close.
In December of 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, sending thousands of troops and immediately assuming complete military and political control of large portions of the country.[8] This action effectively ended détente, a period of the easing of Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union dating back to 1967.[9]
In response to the invasion, then-President Jimmy Carter recalled the U.S. ambassador to Moscow and asked the Senate to postpone action on the SALT II nuclear weapons treaty. The White House labeled the Soviets’ actions a “serious threat to peace.”[10] The end of the Cold War, which had been inching closer, was now as far away as ever.
The players themselves were no strangers to this context. Jack O’Callahan, defenseman on the team, says, “We were all college kids, so we had taken classes in American history…We had all grown up in the ‘60s and ‘70s when Russia was the biggest nemesis of the United States. It was the height of the Cold War; it was the height of nuclear proliferation. They were always there in the background…Russia was the big bad wolf in our country. So we all grew up knowing that.”[11]
Beyond the Soviet Union, the 1970s were also a period of turmoil in the Middle East. The Yom Kippur War was sparked in October 1973 after Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel on the Jewish holy day.[12] It ended with a ceasefire following significant international pressure after twenty days of conflict, but not before both the United States and Soviet Union were drawn in to aid their respective allies.
In retaliation for western countries’ support to Israel, Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an oil embargo against the U.S. and others. The embargo banned petroleum exports to the targeted nations and introduced cuts in oil production.[13] Within a month, the price of a barrel of oil had quadrupled.[14] For the first time since World War II, the U.S. was experiencing a fuel shortage.[15]
Simultaneously, tensions were brewing in Iran, culminating in the Iranian Revolution in 1978 and 1979. The Shah of Iran, who came to power in 1953 following an American- and British-backed coup, had been in close alignment with a number of U.S. administrations, provoking suspicion and hostility among the Iranian people. The U.S. embassy in Tehran became a scene of frequent protests and attacks by revolutionaries opposing the American presence in the country.[16] On November 4, 1979, the embassy was attacked by a mob of an estimated 3,000 Iranians who took 63 American men and women hostage.[17] President Carter’s attempts to free the hostages failed, and they would remain in custody until after the 1980 Olympic games. This became known as the Iranian hostage crisis.
These events weighed heavily on Americans’ minds, and the population was feeling a culmination of pressure that had been building for the last decade. They had faced the end of détente with the Soviet Union and an oil crisis that caused the most severe economic consequences since WWII. Daily news broadcasts kept tallies of the number of days the 63 Americans had been held hostage in Iran. The country was ripe for a revitalizing event to take over the world stage.
The American team celebrates their victory.
Great Moments, Great Opportunity
The Olympics have long been a source of national unity. Athletes at the highest levels don their countries’ respective jersey and compete for something greater than themselves. The timing of the 1980 Olympic Games only exacerbated the intensity of that feeling.
The Soviets were well prepared to undertake this mantle. Of the four Winter Olympic Games between 1964 and 1976, the Soviet national team won Olympic hockey gold medals at each one.[18] The 1980 roster also boasted players that had been teammates for years. Six players had been on the national team since 1972, including world-class powerhouse goalie Vladislav Tretiak, and another four were returning from the 1976 Games.[19]
The Soviets built on this chemistry by maintaining a brutal practice schedule for eleven months of the year. A professional team in all but name, they were skating three times a day for a total of approximately 1,200 hours a year.[20]
In sum, the Soviet strategy “consisted of pooling the best talent into one team, practicing three times as much as the nearest competitor and working year-round.”[21]
The Americans, on the other hand, had been playing together for approximately five months before the Games began.[22] The International Olympic Committee (IOC) barred professional athletes from competing in the Olympics until 1988, meaning National Hockey League (NHL) players were not permitted to participate. The Soviets were not considered professionals because they were primarily employed by the Red Army, and their hockey activities were presented as part of their civilian or military duties—a deceptive loophole.[23]
Thus, American Coach Herb Brooks had turned to the college and amateur pool for his talent. Fresh off of leading the University of Minnesota to a national championship in 1979, Brooks faced the intimidating task of selecting 20 players to represent his U.S. Olympic team.[24] Nine of the twenty players on the final roster were players whom Brooks had coached at Minnesota, including McClanahan.
The roster would also include four Boston University alumni: Jack O’Callahan, David Silk, goaltender Jim Craig, and captain Mike Eruzione.[25]
Just earning a spot on the team was a victory in and of itself. 84 players tried out; 26 were named to the initial roster that would eventually be cut to 20 before the Games. McClanahan says, “To be honest with you, another monumental moment for me occurred in August of 1979 at the tryouts, when Herbie [Herb Brooks] named the 26 players for that roster, and my name was on that. 58 players didn't hear their name called. I was lucky enough to have my name called, and I'm as proud of that as winning the gold medal.”[26]
The team played 61 pre-Olympic games against foreign, college, and professional teams, finishing with a record of 42-16-3. The young Americans, with an average age of 21 years old, were considered an underdog going into the Olympic Games in February of 1980, especially after a crushing 10-3 defeat by the Soviet team just days before facing off in Lake Placid.[27] The uphill battle was no secret to the team. McClanahan himself admits, “[You’d] hear all of us, any of us, say, ‘If we play them a hundred times, we lose ninety-nine.’”[28]
But the Americans only needed to beat the Soviets once. They tied the first game against Sweden, scoring in the final 27 seconds of the third period to make the score 2-2. This electric goal galvanized the team, propelling them to win the next four games against Czechoslovakia, Norway, Romania, and West Germany and earning them a face-off with the Soviets.
The cover of O'Callahan's hometown newspaper, the Charlestown Patriot, after the win in February 1980.
A Miracle Occurs
The Soviets were the last team standing in the way of the gold medal round with Finland. The game garnered colossal support from all around the world. McClanahan says, “We would receive telegrams daily from people from all over the country…One of the telegrams was from a woman in Texas, and all it said was, ‘Beat those commie bastards.’”[29]
The attention got so extreme leading up to the game that the team took to sneaking away. Eruzione, captain and winger on the team, says, “[Lake Placid] was such a quaint little place, you could hide at the beginning. But as we started winning, you couldn't hide anymore.” Luckily for the players, they found shelter with family. The parents of the players were all staying together, and their house became the team’s de facto meeting spot. “A lot of guys after practice or after games, we'd go back to—we called it the hostage house, because the hostages were in Iran at the time. My mother would make dinner for the other parents, and the parents got to know each other…so we'd go back to the house and hang with our parents rather than go downtown and be seen.”[30]
After months of preparation, the face-off finally came. As soon as the puck dropped, the fight was on. The Soviets got the puck in the net early but were answered with a successful slap shot by American winger Buzz Schneider. The Russians retaliated just three minutes later with another goal of their own, only for center Mark Johnson to tie it up 2-2 in the final seconds of the first period.
In a shocking start to the second period, Soviet coach Victor Tikhanov replaced all-star Soviet goaltender Tretiak with the backup goalie, a rare but sure sign of frustration with Tretiak’s performance. Still, the Russians took the lead with another goal, outshooting the Americans 30 attempts on net to 10 over the first two periods.[31]
At the start of the third period, the U.S. was trailing 2-3. Eight minutes in, Johnson found the net again to tie the game. A few minutes later, the magic happened one more time. Schneider sent the puck into the Russian zone to be picked up by Mark Pavelich. Pavelich sent a textbook pass to the top of the circle, where Eruzione fired off Lake Placid’s own “shot heard round the world.”[32]
“I just took great pride in knowing that I was able to help out at a time when we needed it,” Eruzione says. “But it didn't change, in my opinion, how well everybody else played to make that moment happen… Even, you know, 45 years later, I still smile [looking back].”[33]
The last ten nail-biting minutes on the clock inched by, the Soviets held off by Jim Craig’s stunning performance in net. The crowd counted down the final seconds, erupting in thunderous applause when the buzzer blared as commentator Al Michaels asked and answered the now-famous question, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”[34] The Americans had overcome all odds to topple the Russian hockey dynasty and move on to the gold medal round. Gloves and sticks littered the ice, thrown by the players in the midst of celebration. The Soviet team looked on in solemn disbelief.
McClanahan reflects on the win, “We were ready for that moment. Herbie made sure of that...Unless you do the work and you go through the process to prepare for that, that opportunity will come and go, and you won't even know it.”[35]
A dogpile occurs after the win.
The Aftermath, through the Players’ Eyes
The national response was instantaneous, and beyond what any of the players expected. As McClanahan summates, prior to the win, “[The country] was at an epic low point, psychologically, morale-wise, just at an epic, epic low point...We were a bunch of young, upstart college kids upending the Soviet machine…We were a breath of fresh air, and the psyche of the U.S. citizen immediately improved.”[36]
O’Callahan adds, “I don't think any other group of people have experienced the kind of 100% support that we've gotten. I've never seen a waiver. People find out, even at this point in my life, that I played on that team, and their eyes light up, and they're amazed that they're actually talking to me. It's been the most fun experience in my life.”[37]
Before the game, the team did not realize the full scope of attention that they had amassed. Eruzione describes the players’ connection to the outside world, “We weren't allowed to talk to the media. We didn't do press conferences. Unlike today, there [were] only three TV stations then: ABC, NBC and CBS. There was no Twitter [or] Facebook. So we…had no clue the world was watching the way they were. There was never that burden of pressure of, ‘This is huge for the country.’”[38]
Eruzione continues, “It wasn't until we went to the White House, when the plane landed in Washington…and the streets were lined with people, [that we understood], ‘Wow, this was a big deal.’ And then we realized that it was a big deal because of not only us winning, but because of…the Soviets and the political climate…Years later, we still realize it was a moment to touch the country.”[39]
The public may have imposed enormous significance upon the game, but forty-five years after the fact, McClanahan affirms that it was a hockey game first and foremost to him and the other players. “We don't look at it like [a political statement] at all. I think I can speak for all my teammates…That went along with it all, and everybody can use that, but not for the team, not for us.”[40]
Eruzione says, “I think a lot of people in the country made it more of a political feeling than we as players did…We didn't think about the Soviets until the day before the game, because we had to get to that point to play them. But even when the game was being played, it was a hockey game.”[41]
O’Callahan finishes, “We understood the political side of it, but at the end of it, it was really about hockey, about pride [in the] U.S.A., and about doing our best and showing up ready to play. That's what Americans do. We get ready, we prepare, we show up, and we play hard. And, we win.”[42]
The event inspired a renewed sense of patriotism that had long been lacking in the U.S., not only due to events like the Iranian hostage crisis and the invasion of Afghanistan, but also the Vietnam War, which triggered protests across the country. Eruzione recalls after the win, “For once, Americans were waving a flag.”[43]
Even the team’s status as amateur players, previously considered a drawback when facing their seasoned opponents, ultimately contributed to boosting public support. O’Callahan says, “There is still this sense of American pride in our team that we played against the Soviets [who] were professionals, basically…cheating, and that we were playing wholesome American hockey [as] wholesome American boys from middle America. We stood up and spit in the eye of the tiger.”[44] The population watched honest hard work triumph over loopholes taken advantage of by the Soviets, and it restored faith in the American way of life.
Today, each player affirms their gratitude for the experience. O’Callahan says, “We've had an incredible run of love and acceptance and patriotism, and it's meant everything to us. I'd like to say that I saw it coming, but… I don't think anyone saw this coming. We've been very blessed, very fortunate, and we're very proud of what we did and very thankful for the way the country has responded and continues to respond to us.”[45]
Though unintentionally, the 1980 U.S. Olympic team sparked a torrent of national camaraderie over a sporting event, the magnitude of which has yet to be replicated, and it could not have been more timely. Skyrocketing gas prices, the perceived encroaching threat of communism, the Iranian hostage crisis, and the Vietnam War had dealt serious blows to the country’s morale. Then twenty young Americans overcame all odds to beat the Soviets, the best team in the world, before going on to win gold in the Olympics. More than a victory on the ice, they reinvigorated the nation, pulling together a fractured country and reminding Americans of their potential for resilience in the face of global turmoil.
As Eruzione puts it, “For some people, it was a hockey game. But for a lot more people, it was far greater than a hockey game.”[46]
Today, Mike Eruzione serves as Director of Special Outreach for BU Athletics. Jack O’Callahan is a Senior Managing Director at Ziegler Capital Management. Rob McClanahan retired this past February from Craig-Hallum Capital Group. All have remained deeply engaged in the hockey community. The International Relations Review thanks each of them for their enthusiastic participation and generous donation of time in support of this article.
[1] Tara Murphy, “Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games,” Adirondack Experience, 8 April 2021, www.theadkx.org/lake-placid-winter-olympic-games/.
[2] Steven Petrella, “What Would USA’s Moneyline Have Been in 1980 Miracle on Ice?” Action Network, 22 February 2024,
www.actionnetwork.com/nhl/what-would-usa-ussr-moneyline-have-been-in-1980-miracle-on-ice.
[3] Dave Roos, “‘Miracle on Ice’: When the US Olympic Hockey Team Stunned the World,” History, A&E Television Networks, 1 June 2021,
www.history.com/articles/miracle-on-ice-hockey-olympic-game.
[4] Chris Peters, “Inside the Miracle on Ice: How Team USA Defied the Numbers to Beat the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics,” ESPN, 19 February 2020,
[5] Rob McClanahan, interview by Katie Rouse, 12 February 2025.
[6] Sarah Pruitt, “How ‘duck-and-Cover’ Drills Channeled America’s Cold War Anxiety,” History, A&E Television Networks, 26 March 2019,
www.history.com/articles/duck-cover-drills-cold-war-arms-race;
Andrew Glass, “JFK Urges Americans to Build Nuclear Bomb Shelters, Oct. 6, 1961,” Politico, 6 October 2017, www.politico.com/story/2017/10/06/jfk-urges-americans-to-build-nuclear-bomb-shelters-oct-6-1961-243469.
[7] Tom Smith, “The Polls: American Attitudes toward the Soviet Union And ...” NORC, University of Chicago, 1983,
gss.norc.org/Documents/reports/social-change-reports/SC15 The Polls - American Attitudes Toward the Soviet Union and Communism.pdf.
[8] “The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the U.S. Response, 1978–1980,” Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, accessed 2025,
history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/soviet-invasion-afghanistan.
[9] “Détente,” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed 2025,
www.britannica.com/topic/detente.
[10] “U.S.-Russia Detente Ends | January 2, 1980,” History, A&E Television Networks, last updated 13 March 2025, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-russia-detente-ends.
[11] Jack O’Callahan, interview by Katie Rouse, February 6, 2025.
[12] “Yom Kippur War,” Encyclopedia Britannica, last updated 20 March 2025,
www.britannica.com/event/Yom-Kippur-War.
[13] “Oil Embargo, 1973–1974,” Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, accessed 2025,
history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/oil-embargo#:~:text=During%20the%201973%20Arab%2DIsraeli,the%20post%2Dwar%20peace%20negotiations.
[14] “Arab Oil Embargo,” Encyclopedia Britannica, last updated 20 March 2025,
www.britannica.com/event/Arab-oil-embargo.
[15] Ibid.
[16] “Iran Hostage Crisis,” Encyclopedia Britannica, last updated 18 Mar. 2025,
www.britannica.com/event/Iran-hostage-crisis.
[17] Ibid.
[18] “U.S. Hockey Team Beats the Soviets in the ‘Miracle on Ice,’” History, A&E Television Networks, 14 March 2025,
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-hockey-team-makes-miracle-on-ice.
[19] “Team Soviet Union - Olympics - Lake Placid 1980 - Player Stats,” QuantHockey, accessed 10 April 2025, www.quanthockey.com/olympics/en/teams/team-soviet-union-players-1980-olympics-stats.html.
[20] Risto Pakarinen, “1980 Soviet Union Squad Was History’s Greatest International Hockey Team,” ABC News, 15 September 2016,
abcnews.go.com/Sports/1980-soviet-union-squad-historys-greatest-international-hockey/story?id=42117760.
[21] Ibid.
[22] “The 1980 U.S. Olympic Team,” U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, accessed 10 April 2025,
www.ushockeyhalloffame.com/page/show/831562-the-1980-u-s-olympic-team.
[23] Boris Vinokur, “How the Russian Break the Olympic Rules,” The Christian Science Monitor, 15 April 1980, https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0415/041531.html
[24] “The 1980 U.S. Olympic Team.”
[25] Steve Babineau, “Reunion of BU Miracle on Ice Alums,” BU Today, 3 March 2020, www.bu.edu/today/close-ups/2020/miracle-on-ice-alums-reunite/.
[26] McClanahan, interview.
[27] “The 1980 U.S. Olympic Team.”
“Miracle on Ice: Olympic Hockey: 45th Anniversary: Lake Placid: Adirondacks,” ADK Taste, 27 January 2025, www.adktaste.com/blog/1980-winter-olympics-hockey-miracle-on-ice-2025.
[28] McClanahan, interview.
[29] Ibid.
[30] Mike Eruzione, interview by Katie Rouse, February 7, 2025.
[31] “The 1980 U.S. Olympic Team.”
[32]Ibid.
[33] Eruzione, interview.
[34] “The 1980 U.S. Olympic Team.”
[35] McClanahan, interview.
[36] Ibid.
[37] O’Callahan, interview.
[38] Eruzione, interview.
[39] Ibid.
[40] McClanahan, interview.
[41] Eruzione, interview.
[42] O’Callahan, interview.
[43] Eruzione, interview.
[44] O’Callahan, interview.
[45] Ibid.
[46] Eruzione, interview.