Sorry for the blurring when we go full screen, this was edited when we were still learning! Hopefully you can still enjoy the video 😀 let us know your thoughts in the comments! Please check out our Patreon at - www.patreon.com/DNReacts
you are correct that non-hockey fans watched this in 1980. I was 13. I still remember Al Michaels "Do you believe in miracles?" and just breaking down. We fucking did it.
I fan still remember sportscasters noting that "people who don't know a blue line from a clothes line are watching this game." It was a truly tremendous boost for the American psyche.
The nine Team USA players that had played for Brooks at the University of Minnesota (Go Gophers!) were used to the drill that preceded that quote. They called the drills, appropriately, Herbies.
But in reality the reason that they stopped the drills was because OC lost his temper and broke his stick on the glass after about 90 minutes. Herb had figured that he had pushed the players about as far as he could. He needed to know their personal limits and when the first player broke the drills would have stopped.
@@JK-tn4xp eh you’re half right there brother. It was Eruzione who broke his stick on the glass which resulted in Brooks saying “that’s all gentlemen.” That’s why in the movie it was him who said “I play for the United States of America”
No one has mentioned yet, but at 17:21 of this video you can hear the play-by-play audio change for the last several seconds of the game. Al Michaels is the legendary sportscaster who did the broadcast of this game early in his career, and his "do you believe in miracles" call is probably the most famous in American sports history. The filmmakers brought him in to re-record the play-by-play for the movie, but for the end of the game they decided to use the original audio from 1980 as Michaels didn't feel he could replicate it with the same emotion.
Indeed, Al Michaels is a legend. It really bums me out that people were saying he should retire from NFL commentating this year just because he's not quite as peppy as some of the others. Dude's still got it as far as I'm concerned.
The Miracle was holding that Soviet team scoreless for the last 37 minutes. The Soviets scored their 3rd goal 3 minutes into the 2nd period and didn't score again.
I was 6 years old and stayed up and watched this game with my parents. If you had to compare it was like a little league football team beating an nfl super bowl championship team. After this we went to pros- so this is one of the most iconic moments in my life and I am so glad I remembered it. I remember my parents and me holding our hands together as the clock ticked down. Kids today don't get it
The hockey player Buzz Schneider was played by his son Billy Schneider. casting had no clue until after they informed him of who he was to portray in the movie and asked hs full name!
Fun Fact: Ken Morrow (not really featured in the film but on that US Men's Ice Hockey Team) is the only American to ever win Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup in their career. He won his first Stanley Cup that same year as winning Gold in 1980 and would go on to win four straight Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders.
Mike Eruzione's uncle lived two doors down from my parents. He showed up with the gold medal. It was the most surreal experience after living through this era and watching this Olympics. People forget they had to come back to win the gold against Finland.
Playing Russia right before the olympics was genius.. the players knew what to expect.. there was no unknown.. they got to see how fast they were. How physical they were. Thats was huge.. there was no surprises for the team when they played in the olympics.. They knew what to expect and they had to up their own game to beat them...
Just six universities provided the entire roster: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Baker, Schneider, Janaszak, Ramsey, McClanahan, Verchota, Broten, Strobel, Christoff) Brooks coached the Gophers to NCAA championships in 1974, 1976 and 1979. Boston University (Silk, Eruzione, O'Callahan, Craig) The Terriers won the 1978 NCAA championship. University of Wisconsin-Madison (Johnson, Suter) The Badgers won the 1977 NCAA championship. University of Minnesota-Duluth (Pavelich, Harrington) Bowling Green State University (Morrow, Wells) University of North Dakota (Christian)
12 of the 20 players on the USA team were from Minnesota. In Minnesota every year they have the High School Hockey Tournament, many of the kids on those teams go on to play in the NHL.
The special features for this movie are so interesting, one of my favorites. Based on the full tryout the movie required, things about the players and player/actors, how it was filmed… MN - Boston players are massive university hockey rivals Billy Schneider is playing his own real life Dad Buzz. Eddie Cahill (Craig) is the only non player, he could barely skate, and they really helped him. He’s from NY, not Boston, and an established actor. But he had more scenes to do and he looks strikingly like Jim Craig. Nathan West (MacClanahan) was a goalie in real life, not a forward. He trained. He talked about having to film that confrontation with Brooks They really skated for 3 days doing the Herbies. That wasn’t faked. Erik Peter Kaiser (Johnson) was coached by his Dad at one point, and was one of the best players to try out Patrick O’Brien Dempsey was super friendly, not the best player, and grew up not too far from Eruzione. Michael Mantenuto (OC) unfortunately has passed away. He got into a fight in the tryout and had to do the injury scene in his audition. They choreographed all the plays because they had to copy film from very well known games as well as make sure not to hurt cameramen. Some were even handheld, skating.
This is an awesome list, thank you for putting this together. Great read, really appreciate the comment 🙏 Had heard about Michael in other comments, really sad
One of my favorite fun facts about this movie: the guy who played Jack O'Callahan, they initially weren't sure about him, because they thought he might be too short, but he got the role after getting in a full fist fight with someone else in line for the audition
In 1980, the game was held early evening/afternoon so even on the East Coast it wasn't televised live. I recall a NYC sportscaster (probably Warner Wolf) reveal the score, either tied or US traiiling by 1 in the second or third period. We all had to wait for NBC (edit, think it was ABC) to air the game. Unless, of course, you were in the arena.
In the very beginning when the scout said "cross him off the list walt, kid doesnt have a shot in hell at making this team" the player he was referring to was Mike Eruzione who made in the team and ended up being the captain of the team
Sorry if this was already mentioned but one of the great things about this movie is that none of the hockey players in the film were professional actors. They were all hockey players, mostly college for the US team. The Soviet and other non-US players were pulled from lower-tier professional leagues. (A few folks have noted that Billy Schneider played his dad, Buzz.) The filmmakers decided it was easier to teach hockey players to act than to teach actors to play hockey. ... And it means all the hockey in the film is real. 😀
This game was played in the late afternoon and was scheduled to be aired at 8:00 PM that night. NBC was able to keep the result a secret to maintain the suspense. I was driving home from work with the radio on and the news reporter mentioned that the game had ended but didn't give anything away. There's no way that could happen in today's world, as everything would have been on social media within seconds.
In the Washington DC television market, the ABC affiliate aired a preview of their news at 11 in the middle of the game which inadvertently revealed the result and spoiled the moment.
ABC broadcast the game. They made the decision to tape it and then play it during prime time viewing hours (8pm EST and 5pm PST) after the Soviets declined to have the game time moved from 5pm to 8pm. Al Michaels called the game because he was the only broadcaster on ABC's roster at the time with any experience calling a hockey game. The night of the game, in the Delaware Valley area (DelVal) which is Philly and its surrounding areas including South Jersey, there was Channel 6 ABC Action News. My family had the channel on and I think it was around 7pm when they cut into whatever show was on for an important breaking news announcement and that's when they announced that the US had defeated the Soviets. Don't know why they did that. Maybe they wanted to 'get the scoop' or maybe they were so happy because the US needed something to get us out of the overall funk we were in as a nation that they couldn't wait to give people positive. I knew the outcome while watching the game, but I and my family still watched it.
ESPN did a series of documentary films called "30 for 30." One of the films that is in there is called "Of Miracles and Men," which is the Miracle on Ice told from the Soviets' perspective.
if I remember there's a quote from one of the Soviet players (forget which one) while they were lined up watching the Americans celebrate. " they seem to be the happiest guys on earth, I wish i was them. " or something to that effect.
There's also a longer documentary about the Soviets called, I think "Red Army" or something like that which looks at the longer-term consequences of this game for the Soviet hockey program. It's quite good.
We're celebrating the biggest miracle ever in a few days, but... This was probably the biggest upset ever, in any sport. And in terms of national psyche, it couldn't have come at a better time. There is a story about the US and Soviet militaries running into one another in the Pacific Ocean near Japan, where they would try to jam our communications and we would do the same. But one message got through - it was just '4-3.' After a few moments the response came, 'Congratulations.'
Al Michaels is still broadcasting, now doing Thursday Night Football (NFL) at 79. Think of Al Michaels like Martin Tyler or hell even John Motson. They just did it forever and ever.
same age, though couldn't become anything Hockey cause I lived in the country. But I remember this moment, it was about as epic an event as a 7yr old could ever see.
In casting the movie, they did not search out actors that could skate. They searched out hockey players that had the acting bug. That is what made game scenes so realistic.
I was a kid when this happened, and it is still, to this day, the most exciting sporting event I’ve ever witnessed. Every American, hockey fan or not, was watching this game. It was about so much more than hockey. It’s hard to explain to those who weren’t alive during the Cold War what it was like. This win was so huge for the US. It was America beating Russia. It was democracy crushing communism. I believe this event was the beginning of the chants of “USA” in sporting events. It gave us a much needed boost of pride and patriotism during a very uncertain time in our history. I can’t recall if you’ve watched the actual film of this win, but you should check it out if you haven’t.
you are correct. this game was the birth of the USA chants for our national teams. from here it just carried over, became part of being an American at a national team event. Home country fans pouring every bit of energy they have, to will their players onward.
It was not a big event! Canada have 650000 hockey players today! USA have 500000 hockey players today! Russia have only 80000 hockey players today! Soccer have 4 billion fans around the world! Cricket have 2,5 billion fans around the world! Soccer have 250 million players vs Canada 650000 players that means The Soccer All Stars would beat Orr Gretzky Lemieux easily 100 game Series 93-7! The Soccer All Stars would beat Orr Soviets 9999-1 in 1980! USA had More Ice rinks and hockey players than Russia in 1980! Soviet League goal scoring leaders were in 1980 Shalimov 34 goals Drotzdetzky 31 Varnakov 30 Priodin 27 Lavrentjev 27 they did not played in 1980 olympics!
@@RaineriHakkarainen you know...absolutely nothing about the spiel you just went on. LOL so let me help you. in 1980. NHL players did not play in the olympics !!! does that help you now ? in 1980 the US team was made of college kids. 18-22 yrs old, who've NEVER played professional hockey !! The Soviet team, was made up of PROFESSIONAL players. players that were given ' army ' job designations, so they could qualify for the olympics as amateur athletes. Yet played professionally in Russia. They won the gold medal in the olympics...for 20 years !!! that's the olympics of '64,'68,'72,and '76. why the hell would you even begin to bring Soccer BS into this ? no, no soccer all stars are even remotely thinking about beatting any NHL all stars becase...THEY DON'T FECKING PLAY HOCKEY !!!! 🤡🤡🤡
as mentioned the game v. the Soviets was a semi-final. The US needed to beat Finland in the gold medal game. After two periods the Finns led 2-1. Then the classic Herb Brooks line; If you lose this game, you'll take it to your graves. Took a few steps towards the door, paused, turned around, and said, your f***n graves. 3 third period goals later the US wins gold 4-2
Actually it wasn't single elimination back then like it is now in the medal round, it was played round Robin style and points gained from the opening round games against opponents in your group carried over into the medal round. So before the round even started the Soviets had 2 points with their win over Finland, Finland had 0 points and both Sweden and the US had 1 each for the tie. After beating the Soviets in Game 1 and Finland and Sweden ending in a tie, US had 3 points, Soviets and Sweden had 2 points and Finland 1 point. If the US had lost to Finland in their 2nd game each would've finished with 3 points which would give the winner of Sweden vs Soviets 4 points and the gold medal. There are many ways that ties would've been complicated. By beating Finland the US secured the gold medal by having 5 points and the winner between Soviets and Sweden could only get to 4 points. So US got gold with 5 points, Soviets beat Sweden and got silver with 4 points and Sweden got bronze with 2 points. Finland had 1 point and finished in 4th place. It was a very complicated and convoluted system which is why they changed it to single elimination instead.
great to see you guys react to this. the game wasn't a very big deal globally, but the US was in a recession, morale was extremely low, and this game lifted the collective spirit of the nation. as far as the movie goes, Kurt Russell capture Herb Brooks' mannerisms, voice, cadence, etc. SO well!!
I wasn't born to see this live, but that Al Michaels call at the end is still the most iconic sports call of all time for me. You didn't have to see it live for it to give you chills to watch. In my opinion this is the greatest American sports movie of all time.
One of the big differences between Olympic and NHL back then is that the Olympic rink was 1/3 larger. It used to lead to a more fluid style of play. North American kids always played on the NHL rink so they were use to the more congested style if play. Those days are gone now and the Olympics use the NHL style rink.
The international rink is still larger than NHL rink. Idk if international has gotten smaller since 1980, but they're still not the same size. I do prefer the international rink because it leads to more passing and more space to skate where NHL sees a lot of play on the boards.
also ralph cox got the same cut that coach got years before thats why its so emotional because coach herb knows exactly what ralph cox is feeling when they won the gold
I was so incredibly lucky to have actually been in Lake Placid in 1980 for The Miracle. I was outside the arena during the game and the energy was AMAZING. The buildup to this game was absolutely amazing as the team just kept winning game after game - always coming from behind. And yes, it's considered the biggest single game upset of all time when you consider the difference between the teams AND the importance of the match (Your Woking vs Real Madrid example would be perfect IF the match was for the Champions League final AND the future of global geopolitics was at stake).
Of all the feel good Disney sports movies I've come to love during my childhood, this one was my favorite. Every time I watch it, I get sucked into learning about every detail about the Soviets and all the players and their stories. Also, Kurt Russel killed the role.
Mark Johnson (#10) and Bob Suter (#20) were from my hometown of Madison, WI and my dad was a college ref when they both played for University of Wisconsin. He got to officiate a game between UW and this 80 USA team. Year before he officiated UW vs USSR... Was a great time for American hockey. Mark is now the head coach of UW's women's team and has been very successful.
Nick and Nora Charles are characters from a famous series of films (he's a detective) that started with "The Thin Man" in the 1930's--sharp dialogue, clever--great actors--William Powell and Myra Loy. All of the subsequent films had "Thin Man" in the title--worth watching. I think the last one was in the mid to late 1940s.
in real life the way they got out of running suicides was a player punched out a piece of glass and herb was forced to stop the running. also if youve ever watched the full soviet vs usa game if we didnt have jim craig in goal we wouldve lost 40-3 so all hail jim craig
I watched this game when I was 12/13? I remember my uncle (Army) jumping out of his chair and screaming when we won. He rarely showed any emotion and for him to lose his mind was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time
Fun Fact: This game was not televised live in the US despite the Olympics being held in the US. The network wanted to delay the game to broadcast in prime time but in the Soviet Union the game was already scheduled for 1am so a delay would put it even later. So ABC tape-delayed the game in the US to still broadcast it during Prime Time.
To answer your question about how the medal round works. They didn't have "semifinals" and a "gold medal game" in 1980 like they do now. They would determine the medals based on each team's record against the other 3 teams to make the medal round. That's why the Soviets won the silver, because they beat Finland and Sweden to give them 4 points, and the USA beat the USSR and Finland and tied Sweden to give them 5 points. In the modern Olympics, the winners of the semifinals play each other in the gold medal game, and the losers of the semifinals play each other in the bronze medal game, with the winner getting bronze and the loser not getting any medal.
I’ve only watched this movie like twice but have always really liked it. Proud that it takes places in Minnesota (some of it) with lots of real Minnesotans represented including Herb Brooks!
The Soviets were essentially professional players, who weren't eligible for the NHL due to the cold war. The rest of the teams were considered amateur players since professional players weren't allowed to participate until 1986. So the fact that they beat them, was indeed a miracle.
This was quite possibly the lowest point in our history. These college kids became one with each other and reminded us of what we are. Fact Mike Eruzione never played another competitive game of hockey in his life. He said that NOTHING could ever compare to this. They delivered exactly what we needed it, exactly when we needed it. Al Michaels call at the end of the game will forever live in American sports history..
This is a fantastic movie so thank you for reacting to it. Herb Brooks was, if anything, more profane and played more head games than showed in the movie but that doesn't take away from what he, the coaches, and players accomplished even a little bit. His coaching style simply wouldn't fly anymore because Olympic teams are now made up of professionals brought together for a very brief time. Truly a case of the right coach at the right time.
I love this movie, but what I like just as much is the ESPN 30 for 30 about it, called “Of Miracles and Men.” It’s about the story from the side of the Soviets and it’s super interesting and really well done. Highly recommend!
The point of the short shifts is to keep everyone fresh...it might not seem like it but you get tired out FAST in hockey. A long shift is about 90-120 seconds...and you're practically dead after that
Unless you were alive you have no idea about the intensity of the Soviet Union United States cold war...then the fact that in 1980 nobody followed hockey in the United States... only in Minnesota and Massachusetts were any players even somewhat skilled...Americans in the NHL was was as rare as Americans in the Premier League...then the Soviets all star team was defeating NHL teams regularly in friendlies (which were NOT friendly)...the tournament was truly miraculous...PS the good guys won!
Fun fact on the production of the movie, they focused on casting actual hockey players who could act, rather than casting actors who they'd have to train in how to play hockey. They wanted to have people who could actually move on the ice like real hockey players, so they thought, let's just get real hockey players. Also, Kurt Russell who plays Herb Brooks, he took on this role partly because his son Wyatt (who is also now an actor) was playing junior hockey at the time and did actually go on to have a hockey career before it was ended by an injury.
The Miracle on Ice remains, bar none, the greatest moment in the history of American sport - full stop. Jesse Owens's performance in the 1936 Olympics is second best - not because it was less impressive, but rather because it was an individual achievement. If the US were somehow able to win the 2026 World Cup, on home soil, whilst the country is celebrating its 250th birthday, that *MIGHT* come close. But, I still don't think that would do it. For one thing, the country *needed* that 1980 team, simply to give people a reason to feel good. It was a rough time in America. Second, a comparison between the amateurs on that hockey team and the professionals on the USMNT is laughable. We have actual proper international footballers who play in the best leagues in the world. Not true of that hockey team. Beating the Soviets on that stage would be like a National League side beating Man City at full strength for the FA Cup. It was that shocking. The game itself was tape delayed. It was played earlier in the day at the request of the Soviets in order to facilitate their domestic television audience. Many parts of the country were completely unaware they weren't watching a live event. I didn't learn that until I was in college (in Minnesota - yes, hockey is a religion there) a decade later.
The USA Hockey coach almost wanted his players to hate him. In his mind it would bring the players together and give them a common bond of hating their coach.
I was born in 1982 so sadly I’m not old enough to have witnessed this but 44 years later my father can tell you exactly where he was, who he was with, and how he felt the night the United States hockey team defeated the Soviets at Lake Placid
Funny story: my father in law was alive for this game from Massachusetts. He said mostly everywhere the game wasn’t televised or broadcasted on radio because they thought it was going to be a terrible loss
I was 10 years old. They didn’t show the Olympics during the day. Most of the events were tape delayed and shown during prime time back then especially during the week.
The best line from this whole thing couldn't be put in a Disney movie. Before the final game (against Finland) when the US could have still ended up without any medal, Herb's pregame speech went down in history. He walks in, looks at the team and says just one thing: "If you lose this game, you'll take it to your graves. [pause] Your FU**ING GRAVES" and walked out.
“Herbies” the conditioning drill where he makes the players skate to every line and back, is the conditioning drill of choice for all the coaches I had, those things are hell, they are so bad I cannot imagine doing them for hours I’ve only ever done five with a one minute break between each one
A lot of this movie was filmed in Vancouver and Whistler. The hockey scenes were filmed at the Pacific Coliseum, the former home of the Vancouver Canucks, as well as the PNE Agrodome, just a stone's throw away. During the scenes at Madison Square Garden, the commentator you see and hear for that Soviet blowout is none other than the late, great John Ashbridge, the former P.A. voice of the Vancouver Canucks.
@@DNReacts UK Connection: John Ashbridge was born in Hastings, ENG. He took over the Canucks PA job in 1987, and held it until his passing in 2018. Among Canucks fans, we've come to know him as the "voice of God". Besides his PA work for the Canucks, he was also the longtime voice of "Crimestoppers" on local radio and TV, where would profile high-profile criminals that were on the loose in BC. He also did PA work for the Vancouver Giants of the WHL and the BC Lions of the CFL. He's gone but not forgotten in Vancouver. If you'd never seen his face, you'd recognize his voice instantly.
I can say I was alive when the Miracle on Ice happened, I was about 7 Weeks old. Obviously no memories of it, but from this movie and the stories I've heard, it was an amazing thing that happened. Also, 16:44, when you said the clock is moving so slow, made me think thst as part of a documentary about this, Eruzione said the last 10 minutes of this game felt like the longest 10 minutes of his life.
You really need to see this movie,this movie came out in 2016. this is a true story about@@DNReacts3 female African American Mathematicians at NASA during the Space Race.they were known as the " human computer".
I was in the US Army and studied Russian in the early 1980's. We had an instructor, a 30-something former Soviet, who told us he couldn't believe such "young guys" could beat the Soviets, who were basically professionals. He also told us that the Soviets only considered a gold medal as valid. Silver and bronze? Nothing. Years later, I was at a writers conference where Mike Rich, the initial screenwriter of this film, was lecturing. I spoke with him afterwards and told him what the instructor had said. He told me that the Soviets called the American team "the students" because they were so young. In his research, he tried to speak with anyone from either team to get as much authentic background as he could. He said the Soviet players would not talk with him but instead acted like war veterans who didn't want to talk about the war.
This is my favorite movie of all time. I grew up playing hockey and every year we were in the Can/Am tournament in lake placid and playing in that rink was always special. Think I could recite this movie from the start til the end with how many times I’ve seen it
To your questions about how the Medal Round worked, it has changed since the time of the game. At the time, there were 2 halves of the competition, top 2 teams from each half advanced. In the medal round, each team played the 2 teams from the other half. Each win was worth 2 pts, a draw 1, a loss 0. After those games were over, the point total for the game against the other team from your half in the play-in round as well as the points from the 2 medal games were added up, giving the ranking 1-4. Thus when the US beat the USSR, they still needed at least 1 point from the final game, otherwise the USSR would still have won gold.
Back in high school, I was on the school's computer for a reading and pronouncing assignment in class, and all of them were true stories. One of them was titled "Miracle on Ice". imagine my surprise when I found the found the movie.
This was the biggest upset ever in the history of sports!! I still remember that!! This and Zero Dark Thirty are my favorite movies!! It’s hard to say which one I love more!
actually cone heads are a skit in Saturday night live that first aired in june of 1977 with Dan Akryod, Jane Curtain, and Lorraine Newman. They were aliens with huge cone heads but they told everybody they were "from france".
Coneheads came from characters in a popular recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live. They were space aliens disguised as middle class Americans whose behavior didn't quite fit in, not to mention they had tall pointed tops to their heads which made them stand out, but almost nobody really questioned why (their cover excuse for any questionable behavior or appearance was that they had immigrated from France. "We're from France" in their monotonous alien voices became a bit of a catch phrase) That's why that scoring line was called the Coneheads, because they were a little different in both play and personalities.
It’s hard to convey how much more than just a hockey game that game was. Under Carter, mortgage rates skyrocketed to almost an inconceivable 20%, a fuel crisis blew up gasoline prices, and the shortage was so severe that you could only purchase gas on even or odd days, depending on your license plate number, the Iranian hostage crisis dragged on for 444 days, where over 60 Americans were held hostage, and the economy was in the tank. That game channeled all that hopelessness into the idea that we really could overcome impossible odds. We watched that win play out in real time on a little tv all smashed together in a tiny dorm room on campus. We were screaming so loud people must have thought we lost our dang minds, lol. But the indescribable joy it poured into the heart of every American was palpable. It was like watching David whip Goliath. I will never forget it. 🇺🇸
Definitely one of the best American sports movies ever!!!!! I’ve seen it well over 20 times and I still cry and cheer. Glad you guys watched and liked it.
I was in college in 1980, in the US eastern time zone. I have a recollection this was actually played earlier in the evening perhaps? But the result was not reported. Or if it was reported, I didn't see/hear it. All I remember was it was a Friday and my (then) girlfriend had a college volleyball match that evening. So I went to the v-ball game. Sitting down I heard people talking about the USA team beating the Russian team. I also recall the game was re-broadcast again on Saturday...perhaps afternoon. I remember watching it, but not the time of day. What I remember vividly was watching the live broadcast of the Final against Finland, on Sunday morning...and another comeback. It's hard to put into words what that win meant to many, many people after almost a full decade (1970's) that seemed like everything was deteriorating around us - as depicted in the opening credits of the movie. During the Christmas party scene in the movie, the films director overlayed audio of a 1979 Pres. Carter speech, "for the first time a majority of our people believe that the next 5 years will be worse than the past 5 years", which was the actual text of the speech. And it felt that way. Perhaps it was because it was a new decade, but I don't believe it is overly dramatic to say the 1980 Olympic team somehow provided a sense that things were turning upward.
There wasn't a sound outside that Friday night from when the ref dropped the puck until the last second of the game. Do you believe in Miracles? When the buzzer sounded....noise from everywhere it was loud, everywhere! The USA was back!!! It was rough here for a long while.
Hey guys, you asked how the tournament works about 13 minutes in. In the present day, the teams that move on from group play will play a knockout round where the losers of the semifinals will play for bronze and the winners play for gold. However, it was a bit different back then. This will be a long comment but it provides a lot of context so please bear with me. You made a note how they called it the medal round; in previous years such as 1980, they had group play and then a medal round where whoever finished with the most points would win the gold medal. There were two groups and the top two teams in each would move on to place for a medal. The result of the game between the teams that moved on from group play would carry over into the medal round. For example, the United States tied Sweden 2-2 and they moved on into the next round. Since they both had one point thanks to the draw, they started the medal round with one point each. In the other group, the Soviet Union beat Finland 4-2, so they started the medal round with two points and Finland had none. The final round standings would begin like this: URS (2 pts) SWE (1 pt) USA (1 pt) FIN (0 pts) The teams would then play the two teams from the other group. The United States beat both the Soviet Union and Finland for four more points. The Soviet Union only beat Sweden for two more, and Sweden and Finland finished in a draw, each team got one point. The final round standings shook out like this: USA (5 pts) 🥇 URS (4 pts) 🥈 SWE (2 pts) 🥉 FIN (1pt) After beating the Soviet Union, the United States was still not guaranteed a medal of any kind; there was a slim chance that if they lost their second game to Finland, then they could have come away from the tournament with nothing even after one of the biggest upsets of all time. In fact they were actually LOSING that game going into the final period. Thankfully, Coach Brooks gave them a reality check to make the dream come true. I’d recommend reacting to highlights of the actual game. Always great to revisit and the energy still permeates all these years later.
The US vs Sweden game was each team's first game in that Olympics. The US scored the tying goal with 27 seconds left in the game. Without that goal from so early in the tournament, they wouldn't have won the gold medal.
If you want to see the the arena the University of Minnesota played in during the time Brooks had coached. There is a movie called Ice Castles. Filmed in late 79’s before this game and when Brooks coached the Gophers. One scene the pair of figure skaters are supposed to be competing at a figure skating competition. Is filmed in the arena At the time marricucci arena was located on one end of a building with the basketball arena Williams arena on the other half. The building wasn’t long enough for hockey. And the ceiling above one net is fairly low. Pucks hitting the ceiling was out of play. Whereas the end had big glass windows protected with chaining fencing. School mascot often rallied fans on a catwalk this wall while opposing teams would clear pucks at the mascot. Great venue. Miss it.
I was a young teen at the time of this game, it was a tough time in my life on a personal level, but I was also impacted by the Iranians hostage taking even more, and to this day I'm not sure why I was, but this game meant the world to me, restored some pride for me I guess. The scene when they leave the locker room and the players tap all the telegrams and messages gives me chills, shows how much this meant for the US to have something good to believe in again.
I was 7yrs old when they won gold & my grandpa took me to see to all these games including the gold medal game. Even at such a young age, it still is a vivid memory I have.
So idk if anyone has mentioned this in the comments or not but back then the medal round was different. So after the US beat the Soviets they played Finland. But if they would've lost to Finland they wouldn't have won a medal at all. Now a days the two winning teams play for gold and silver and the two losing teams play for bronze. But back in the 80s it wasn't like that
Nick and Nora Charles were the main characters in The Thin Man movie franchise in the 1930. They were played by William Powell and Myrna Loy. Also a neat bit of trivia. Buzz Schneider is played by his son Billy.
I ask my parents how my home town in Texas reacted to the Miracle on Ice, they said the sky lit up like the 4th of July or the 5th of November for you Brits with load cheers and jubilations.
Hi guys, I pop over every once in a while to watch your reactions. Always a treat to get our “cousin’s” point of view on movies. I heard you mention “Slap Shot”. It is a really solid sports / comedy movie about an amateur hockey team in Pennsylvania (I think). Paul Newman is the big name but there are a ton of character actors you might recognize as well. But it was made in 1977 so it is a little older but it is hilarious.
The game took place in the middle of the day.. I don’t remember the exact time but it was not shown live.. it was not broadcast until 8:30 that night..
![SAFEPLANET - ดาวเคราะห์ [ THE PLANET ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4X1XL3I_k3c/mqdefault.jpg)
Sorry for the blurring when we go full screen, this was edited when we were still learning! Hopefully you can still enjoy the video 😀 let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Please check out our Patreon at - www.patreon.com/DNReacts
Thanks for posting about this, I saw it but I wasn't going to bring it up because you guys are amazing and I'm sure super busy! Love the reactions!
lmao, I thought my internet was lagging out
Haha no that’s on us 😂 sorry!
Really appreciate that, we thought it was better than putting out nothing 😊
FUN FACT: Billy Schneider who played Buzz Schneider... that's his son!
Love a fun fact! Thank you for this one, appreciate the comment 🙏
Didn’t know that! That’s how they found a player that looks so much like the original player!! Awesome!!
you are correct that non-hockey fans watched this in 1980. I was 13. I still remember Al Michaels "Do you believe in miracles?" and just breaking down. We fucking did it.
This is awesome! What a moment! Appreciate the info and the comment, thank you 🙏
"For people who don't know the difference between a blue line and a clothesline, it's irrelevant"
I fan still remember sportscasters noting that "people who don't know a blue line from a clothes line are watching this game." It was a truly tremendous boost for the American psyche.
That moment where he says “I play for the United States of America” gives me chills every time…
Yeah that was a great moment!
The nine Team USA players that had played for Brooks at the University of Minnesota (Go Gophers!) were used to the drill that preceded that quote. They called the drills, appropriately, Herbies.
It makes me cry like a baby!
But in reality the reason that they stopped the drills was because OC lost his temper and broke his stick on the glass after about 90 minutes. Herb had figured that he had pushed the players about as far as he could. He needed to know their personal limits and when the first player broke the drills would have stopped.
@@JK-tn4xp eh you’re half right there brother. It was Eruzione who broke his stick on the glass which resulted in Brooks saying “that’s all gentlemen.” That’s why in the movie it was him who said “I play for the United States of America”
No one has mentioned yet, but at 17:21 of this video you can hear the play-by-play audio change for the last several seconds of the game. Al Michaels is the legendary sportscaster who did the broadcast of this game early in his career, and his "do you believe in miracles" call is probably the most famous in American sports history. The filmmakers brought him in to re-record the play-by-play for the movie, but for the end of the game they decided to use the original audio from 1980 as Michaels didn't feel he could replicate it with the same emotion.
Indeed, Al Michaels is a legend. It really bums me out that people were saying he should retire from NFL commentating this year just because he's not quite as peppy as some of the others. Dude's still got it as far as I'm concerned.
They should have just left Al Michaels audio alone and not re-recorded anything it just sounds fake compared to the original audio.
idk if anyone has mentioned this yet but this game was the first ever recorded instance of an american crowd chanting "USA USA"
Ironically the special features reveal these extras were Canadian, because that’s where those scenes were filmed.
The ‘80 Winter Olympics is also known for US speed skater Eric Heiden who won 5 Golds from 500m all the way up to 10,000 meters.
Wow, that’s incredible! Thank you for the info and comment 🙏
"the name in the front is a helluva lot more important than the ones on the back. get that through your head!"
That’s a great line!
@@DNReacts it’s a line every athlete should remember
The Buffalo Bills signed Keaton Bills, and someone was joking about this the other day.
The Miracle was holding that Soviet team scoreless for the last 37 minutes.
The Soviets scored their 3rd goal 3 minutes into the 2nd period and didn't score again.
I was 6 years old and stayed up and watched this game with my parents. If you had to compare it was like a little league football team beating an nfl super bowl championship team. After this we went to pros- so this is one of the most iconic moments in my life and I am so glad I remembered it. I remember my parents and me holding our hands together as the clock ticked down. Kids today don't get it
The hockey player Buzz Schneider was played by his son Billy Schneider. casting had no clue until after they informed him of who he was to portray in the movie and asked hs full name!
Mike Eruzione was the commencement speaker at my high school graduation.
Fun Fact: Ken Morrow (not really featured in the film but on that US Men's Ice Hockey Team) is the only American to ever win Olympic Gold and the Stanley Cup in their career. He won his first Stanley Cup that same year as winning Gold in 1980 and would go on to win four straight Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders.
That’s an awesome stat, and I love a fun fact! Keep em coming. Thank you for the comment 🙏
"Do you believe in Miracles?" Classic Al Michaels
yes!!!
Mike Eruzione's uncle lived two doors down from my parents. He showed up with the gold medal. It was the most surreal experience after living through this era and watching this Olympics. People forget they had to come back to win the gold against Finland.
Playing Russia right before the olympics was genius.. the players knew what to expect.. there was no unknown.. they got to see how fast they were. How physical they were. Thats was huge.. there was no surprises for the team when they played in the olympics.. They knew what to expect and they had to up their own game to beat them...
Just six universities provided the entire roster:
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Baker, Schneider, Janaszak, Ramsey, McClanahan, Verchota, Broten, Strobel, Christoff)
Brooks coached the Gophers to NCAA championships in 1974, 1976 and 1979.
Boston University (Silk, Eruzione, O'Callahan, Craig)
The Terriers won the 1978 NCAA championship.
University of Wisconsin-Madison (Johnson, Suter)
The Badgers won the 1977 NCAA championship.
University of Minnesota-Duluth (Pavelich, Harrington)
Bowling Green State University (Morrow, Wells)
University of North Dakota (Christian)
SKI-U-MAH
12 of the 20 players on the USA team were from Minnesota. In Minnesota every year they have the High School Hockey Tournament, many of the kids on those teams go on to play in the NHL.
The special features for this movie are so interesting, one of my favorites. Based on the full tryout the movie required, things about the players and player/actors, how it was filmed…
MN - Boston players are massive university hockey rivals
Billy Schneider is playing his own real life Dad Buzz.
Eddie Cahill (Craig) is the only non player, he could barely skate, and they really helped him. He’s from NY, not Boston, and an established actor. But he had more scenes to do and he looks strikingly like Jim Craig.
Nathan West (MacClanahan) was a goalie in real life, not a forward. He trained. He talked about having to film that confrontation with Brooks
They really skated for 3 days doing the Herbies. That wasn’t faked.
Erik Peter Kaiser (Johnson) was coached by his Dad at one point, and was one of the best players to try out
Patrick O’Brien Dempsey was super friendly, not the best player, and grew up not too far from Eruzione.
Michael Mantenuto (OC) unfortunately has passed away. He got into a fight in the tryout and had to do the injury scene in his audition.
They choreographed all the plays because they had to copy film from very well known games as well as make sure not to hurt cameramen. Some were even handheld, skating.
This is an awesome list, thank you for putting this together. Great read, really appreciate the comment 🙏 Had heard about Michael in other comments, really sad
One of my favorite fun facts about this movie: the guy who played Jack O'Callahan, they initially weren't sure about him, because they thought he might be too short, but he got the role after getting in a full fist fight with someone else in line for the audition
Have you watched the Special features? It’s all good stories like that.
It’s so sad that he’s passed on though. 😭
This win was like Mrs. Crimshaw's 5th grade class beating the Chicago Bulls with Micheal Jordan.
In 1980, the game was held early evening/afternoon so even on the East Coast it wasn't televised live. I recall a NYC sportscaster (probably Warner Wolf) reveal the score, either tied or US traiiling by 1 in the second or third period. We all had to wait for NBC (edit, think it was ABC) to air the game. Unless, of course, you were in the arena.
In the very beginning when the scout said "cross him off the list walt, kid doesnt have a shot in hell at making this team" the player he was referring to was Mike Eruzione who made in the team and ended up being the captain of the team
Sorry if this was already mentioned but one of the great things about this movie is that none of the hockey players in the film were professional actors. They were all hockey players, mostly college for the US team. The Soviet and other non-US players were pulled from lower-tier professional leagues. (A few folks have noted that Billy Schneider played his dad, Buzz.) The filmmakers decided it was easier to teach hockey players to act than to teach actors to play hockey. ... And it means all the hockey in the film is real. 😀
This game was played in the late afternoon and was scheduled to be aired at 8:00 PM that night. NBC was able to keep the result a secret to maintain the suspense. I was driving home from work with the radio on and the news reporter mentioned that the game had ended but didn't give anything away. There's no way that could happen in today's world, as everything would have been on social media within seconds.
Yep no question
In the Washington DC television market, the ABC affiliate aired a preview of their news at 11 in the middle of the game which inadvertently revealed the result and spoiled the moment.
ABC broadcast the game. They made the decision to tape it and then play it during prime time viewing hours (8pm EST and 5pm PST) after the Soviets declined to have the game time moved from 5pm to 8pm. Al Michaels called the game because he was the only broadcaster on ABC's roster at the time with any experience calling a hockey game.
The night of the game, in the Delaware Valley area (DelVal) which is Philly and its surrounding areas including South Jersey, there was Channel 6 ABC Action News. My family had the channel on and I think it was around 7pm when they cut into whatever show was on for an important breaking news announcement and that's when they announced that the US had defeated the Soviets. Don't know why they did that. Maybe they wanted to 'get the scoop' or maybe they were so happy because the US needed something to get us out of the overall funk we were in as a nation that they couldn't wait to give people positive. I knew the outcome while watching the game, but I and my family still watched it.
ESPN did a series of documentary films called "30 for 30." One of the films that is in there is called "Of Miracles and Men," which is the Miracle on Ice told from the Soviets' perspective.
if I remember there's a quote from one of the Soviet players (forget which one) while they were lined up watching the Americans celebrate. " they seem to be the happiest guys on earth, I wish i was them. " or something to that effect.
I loved the line from the Russian announcer when the Soviets trailed by a goal late. "There is still time to correct the situation"
@randyhanson9441 I was laughing harder than I should at that quote. Reminds me of "What is your opinion of his performance?"
There's also a longer documentary about the Soviets called, I think "Red Army" or something like that which looks at the longer-term consequences of this game for the Soviet hockey program. It's quite good.
@jdocs5572 didn't they go on to form the core of the Red Wings?
We're celebrating the biggest miracle ever in a few days, but...
This was probably the biggest upset ever, in any sport. And in terms of national psyche, it couldn't have come at a better time. There is a story about the US and Soviet militaries running into one another in the Pacific Ocean near Japan, where they would try to jam our communications and we would do the same. But one message got through - it was just '4-3.' After a few moments the response came, 'Congratulations.'
Al Michaels is still broadcasting, now doing Thursday Night Football (NFL) at 79. Think of Al Michaels like Martin Tyler or hell even John Motson. They just did it forever and ever.
That’s awesome! Thank you for the comment 🙏
I was 7 when I watched them win gold. Made me become a hockey player, hockey coach and proud American. A moment I’ll never forget! 🇺🇸
same age, though couldn't become anything Hockey cause I lived in the country. But I remember this moment, it was about as epic an event as a 7yr old could ever see.
In casting the movie, they did not search out actors that could skate. They searched out hockey players that had the acting bug. That is what made game scenes so realistic.
Fetisov on the Soviet team went on to play in the NHL for several teams and won back-to-back Stanley Cups with Detroit in 1997 and 1998.
I was a kid when this happened, and it is still, to this day, the most exciting sporting event I’ve ever witnessed. Every American, hockey fan or not, was watching this game. It was about so much more than hockey. It’s hard to explain to those who weren’t alive during the Cold War what it was like. This win was so huge for the US. It was America beating Russia. It was democracy crushing communism. I believe this event was the beginning of the chants of “USA” in sporting events. It gave us a much needed boost of pride and patriotism during a very uncertain time in our history. I can’t recall if you’ve watched the actual film of this win, but you should check it out if you haven’t.
you are correct. this game was the birth of the USA chants for our national teams. from here it just carried over, became part of being an American at a national team event. Home country fans pouring every bit of energy they have, to will their players onward.
It was not a big event! Canada have 650000 hockey players today! USA have 500000 hockey players today! Russia have only 80000 hockey players today! Soccer have 4 billion fans around the world! Cricket have 2,5 billion fans around the world! Soccer have 250 million players vs Canada 650000 players that means The Soccer All Stars would beat Orr Gretzky Lemieux easily 100 game Series 93-7! The Soccer All Stars would beat Orr Soviets 9999-1 in 1980! USA had More Ice rinks and hockey players than Russia in 1980! Soviet League goal scoring leaders were in 1980 Shalimov 34 goals Drotzdetzky 31 Varnakov 30 Priodin 27 Lavrentjev 27 they did not played in 1980 olympics!
@@RaineriHakkarainen you know...absolutely nothing about the spiel you just went on. LOL so let me help you.
in 1980. NHL players did not play in the olympics !!! does that help you now ? in 1980 the US team was made of college kids. 18-22 yrs old, who've NEVER played professional hockey !!
The Soviet team, was made up of PROFESSIONAL players. players that were given ' army ' job designations, so they could qualify for the olympics as amateur athletes. Yet played professionally in Russia. They won the gold medal in the olympics...for 20 years !!! that's the olympics of '64,'68,'72,and '76.
why the hell would you even begin to bring Soccer BS into this ? no, no soccer all stars are even remotely thinking about beatting any NHL all stars becase...THEY DON'T FECKING PLAY HOCKEY !!!! 🤡🤡🤡
"maybe they aren't gonna pull their goalie" they never did, and it is wild that they didn't
Definitely surprised me, appreciate the comment 🙏
as mentioned the game v. the Soviets was a semi-final.
The US needed to beat Finland in the gold medal game. After two periods the Finns led 2-1.
Then the classic Herb Brooks line; If you lose this game, you'll take it to your graves. Took a few steps towards the door, paused, turned around, and said, your f***n graves.
3 third period goals later the US wins gold 4-2
Actually it wasn't single elimination back then like it is now in the medal round, it was played round Robin style and points gained from the opening round games against opponents in your group carried over into the medal round. So before the round even started the Soviets had 2 points with their win over Finland, Finland had 0 points and both Sweden and the US had 1 each for the tie. After beating the Soviets in Game 1 and Finland and Sweden ending in a tie, US had 3 points, Soviets and Sweden had 2 points and Finland 1 point. If the US had lost to Finland in their 2nd game each would've finished with 3 points which would give the winner of Sweden vs Soviets 4 points and the gold medal. There are many ways that ties would've been complicated. By beating Finland the US secured the gold medal by having 5 points and the winner between Soviets and Sweden could only get to 4 points. So US got gold with 5 points, Soviets beat Sweden and got silver with 4 points and Sweden got bronze with 2 points. Finland had 1 point and finished in 4th place. It was a very complicated and convoluted system which is why they changed it to single elimination instead.
@@WillRose-q1s Point was more you don't beat the unbeatable Soviets then lose to bloody Finland. He was right, they would never live that down lol
great to see you guys react to this. the game wasn't a very big deal globally, but the US was in a recession, morale was extremely low, and this game lifted the collective spirit of the nation.
as far as the movie goes, Kurt Russell capture Herb Brooks' mannerisms, voice, cadence, etc. SO well!!
I wasn't born to see this live, but that Al Michaels call at the end is still the most iconic sports call of all time for me. You didn't have to see it live for it to give you chills to watch. In my opinion this is the greatest American sports movie of all time.
One of the big differences between Olympic and NHL back then is that the Olympic rink was 1/3 larger. It used to lead to a more fluid style of play. North American kids always played on the NHL rink so they were use to the more congested style if play. Those days are gone now and the Olympics use the NHL style rink.
The international rink is still larger than NHL rink. Idk if international has gotten smaller since 1980, but they're still not the same size. I do prefer the international rink because it leads to more passing and more space to skate where NHL sees a lot of play on the boards.
also ralph cox got the same cut that coach got years before thats why its so emotional because coach herb knows exactly what ralph cox is feeling when they won the gold
I was so incredibly lucky to have actually been in Lake Placid in 1980 for The Miracle. I was outside the arena during the game and the energy was AMAZING. The buildup to this game was absolutely amazing as the team just kept winning game after game - always coming from behind.
And yes, it's considered the biggest single game upset of all time when you consider the difference between the teams AND the importance of the match (Your Woking vs Real Madrid example would be perfect IF the match was for the Champions League final AND the future of global geopolitics was at stake).
Of all the feel good Disney sports movies I've come to love during my childhood, this one was my favorite. Every time I watch it, I get sucked into learning about every detail about the Soviets and all the players and their stories. Also, Kurt Russel killed the role.
Mark Johnson (#10) and Bob Suter (#20) were from my hometown of Madison, WI and my dad was a college ref when they both played for University of Wisconsin. He got to officiate a game between UW and this 80 USA team. Year before he officiated UW vs USSR... Was a great time for American hockey.
Mark is now the head coach of UW's women's team and has been very successful.
Love this, appreciate the comment thank you 🙏
Nick and Nora Charles are characters from a famous series of films (he's a detective) that started with "The Thin Man" in the 1930's--sharp dialogue, clever--great actors--William Powell and Myra Loy. All of the subsequent films had "Thin Man" in the title--worth watching. I think the last one was in the mid to late 1940s.
During the coach’s speech, he actually said to them, “If you lose this game, you will take it to the fucking grave.”
in real life the way they got out of running suicides was a player punched out a piece of glass and herb was forced to stop the running. also if youve ever watched the full soviet vs usa game if we didnt have jim craig in goal we wouldve lost 40-3 so all hail jim craig
I watched this game when I was 12/13? I remember my uncle (Army) jumping out of his chair and screaming when we won. He rarely showed any emotion and for him to lose his mind was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time
Brilliant memory ❤
Fun Fact: This game was not televised live in the US despite the Olympics being held in the US. The network wanted to delay the game to broadcast in prime time but in the Soviet Union the game was already scheduled for 1am so a delay would put it even later. So ABC tape-delayed the game in the US to still broadcast it during Prime Time.
and also (sorry for the triple comment) the "do you believe in miracles? YES!" was the real call from the olympic broadcast back when it happened
I LOVE THIS MOVIE! I wasn’t alive for the real thing, but dammit, I remember where I was when I first watched the game.
Great movie and great moment!
I love that you guys recognize him as Tag from Friends 😂
Haha! That’s all I know him from 😂
He was also a one of the main characters on CSI: Miami. A crime drama set in Miami. That's what I know him from.@@DNReacts
There was a joke by Rodney Dangerfield, "I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out."
To answer your question about how the medal round works. They didn't have "semifinals" and a "gold medal game" in 1980 like they do now. They would determine the medals based on each team's record against the other 3 teams to make the medal round. That's why the Soviets won the silver, because they beat Finland and Sweden to give them 4 points, and the USA beat the USSR and Finland and tied Sweden to give them 5 points.
In the modern Olympics, the winners of the semifinals play each other in the gold medal game, and the losers of the semifinals play each other in the bronze medal game, with the winner getting bronze and the loser not getting any medal.
Thank you for the explanation and breakdown of this, appreciate it 🙏
I’ve only watched this movie like twice but have always really liked it. Proud that it takes places in Minnesota (some of it) with lots of real Minnesotans represented including Herb Brooks!
That’s awesome. Appreciate the comment 🙏
The Soviets were essentially professional players, who weren't eligible for the NHL due to the cold war. The rest of the teams were considered amateur players since professional players weren't allowed to participate until 1986. So the fact that they beat them, was indeed a miracle.
This was quite possibly the lowest point in our history. These college kids became one with each other and reminded us of what we are. Fact Mike Eruzione never played another competitive game of hockey in his life. He said that NOTHING could ever compare to this. They delivered exactly what we needed it, exactly when we needed it. Al Michaels call at the end of the game will forever live in American sports history..
This is a fantastic movie so thank you for reacting to it. Herb Brooks was, if anything, more profane and played more head games than showed in the movie but that doesn't take away from what he, the coaches, and players accomplished even a little bit. His coaching style simply wouldn't fly anymore because Olympic teams are now made up of professionals brought together for a very brief time. Truly a case of the right coach at the right time.
I love this movie, but what I like just as much is the ESPN 30 for 30 about it, called “Of Miracles and Men.” It’s about the story from the side of the Soviets and it’s super interesting and really well done. Highly recommend!
Thank you for the recommendation! It’s a great movie 😀
The point of the short shifts is to keep everyone fresh...it might not seem like it but you get tired out FAST in hockey. A long shift is about 90-120 seconds...and you're practically dead after that
Unless you were alive you have no idea about the intensity of the Soviet Union United States cold war...then the fact that in 1980 nobody followed hockey in the United States... only in Minnesota and Massachusetts were any players even somewhat skilled...Americans in the NHL was was as rare as Americans in the Premier League...then the Soviets all star team was defeating NHL teams regularly in friendlies (which were NOT friendly)...the tournament was truly miraculous...PS the good guys won!
Fun fact on the production of the movie, they focused on casting actual hockey players who could act, rather than casting actors who they'd have to train in how to play hockey. They wanted to have people who could actually move on the ice like real hockey players, so they thought, let's just get real hockey players. Also, Kurt Russell who plays Herb Brooks, he took on this role partly because his son Wyatt (who is also now an actor) was playing junior hockey at the time and did actually go on to have a hockey career before it was ended by an injury.
The Miracle on Ice remains, bar none, the greatest moment in the history of American sport - full stop.
Jesse Owens's performance in the 1936 Olympics is second best - not because it was less impressive, but rather because it was an individual achievement.
If the US were somehow able to win the 2026 World Cup, on home soil, whilst the country is celebrating its 250th birthday, that *MIGHT* come close.
But, I still don't think that would do it. For one thing, the country *needed* that 1980 team, simply to give people a reason to feel good. It was a rough time in America. Second, a comparison between the amateurs on that hockey team and the professionals on the USMNT is laughable. We have actual proper international footballers who play in the best leagues in the world. Not true of that hockey team.
Beating the Soviets on that stage would be like a National League side beating Man City at full strength for the FA Cup. It was that shocking.
The game itself was tape delayed. It was played earlier in the day at the request of the Soviets in order to facilitate their domestic television audience.
Many parts of the country were completely unaware they weren't watching a live event. I didn't learn that until I was in college (in Minnesota - yes, hockey is a religion there) a decade later.
And the academy award goes to the crowd made up entirely of Canadians chanting “USA, USA, USA”. 😊
They didn’t pull the goalie in the last minute because they’ve literally never been in this position. The coach had no idea what to do.
That you knew Mean Joe Green’s name was awesome !
They've come a long way!!
The USA Hockey coach almost wanted his players to hate him. In his mind it would bring the players together and give them a common bond of hating their coach.
Definitely an interesting approach that yielded results. Thanks for the comment and info, appreciate it 🙏
Slap Shot is SURPRISINGLY tightly written, a lot of one-off jokes which required knowledge of hockey culture I only noticed on a second watch
I was born in 1982 so sadly I’m not old enough to have witnessed this but 44 years later my father can tell you exactly where he was, who he was with, and how he felt the night the United States hockey team defeated the Soviets at Lake Placid
Funny story: my father in law was alive for this game from Massachusetts. He said mostly everywhere the game wasn’t televised or broadcasted on radio because they thought it was going to be a terrible loss
yup..it was a 2 hour tape delay
I was 10 years old. They didn’t show the Olympics during the day. Most of the events were tape delayed and shown during prime time back then especially during the week.
That movie flew by, felt like only 20 minutes
Eh, felt more like 20:49 to me
They won 47 games in a row, so pulling the Goalie was a concept they did not understand, LOL.
The best line from this whole thing couldn't be put in a Disney movie. Before the final game (against Finland) when the US could have still ended up without any medal, Herb's pregame speech went down in history. He walks in, looks at the team and says just one thing: "If you lose this game, you'll take it to your graves. [pause] Your FU**ING GRAVES" and walked out.
That’s wild but completely understandable after that epic miracle against the Soviet Union. Appreciate the info and the comment 🙏
“Herbies” the conditioning drill where he makes the players skate to every line and back, is the conditioning drill of choice for all the coaches I had, those things are hell, they are so bad I cannot imagine doing them for hours I’ve only ever done five with a one minute break between each one
A lot of this movie was filmed in Vancouver and Whistler.
The hockey scenes were filmed at the Pacific Coliseum, the former home of the Vancouver Canucks, as well as the PNE Agrodome, just a stone's throw away.
During the scenes at Madison Square Garden, the commentator you see and hear for that Soviet blowout is none other than the late, great John Ashbridge, the former P.A. voice of the Vancouver Canucks.
Thanks for the info! Really appreciate it 😀
@@DNReacts UK Connection: John Ashbridge was born in Hastings, ENG. He took over the Canucks PA job in 1987, and held it until his passing in 2018.
Among Canucks fans, we've come to know him as the "voice of God".
Besides his PA work for the Canucks, he was also the longtime voice of "Crimestoppers" on local radio and TV, where would profile high-profile criminals that were on the loose in BC.
He also did PA work for the Vancouver Giants of the WHL and the BC Lions of the CFL.
He's gone but not forgotten in Vancouver. If you'd never seen his face, you'd recognize his voice instantly.
I can say I was alive when the Miracle on Ice happened, I was about 7 Weeks old. Obviously no memories of it, but from this movie and the stories I've heard, it was an amazing thing that happened.
Also, 16:44, when you said the clock is moving so slow, made me think thst as part of a documentary about this, Eruzione said the last 10 minutes of this game felt like the longest 10 minutes of his life.
My dad went to high school with one of the guys on the team. Being from Minnesota, too, I grew up hearing about this game from an early age.
Have you guys ever seen the movie "Hidden Figures"?
We haven’t no!
You really need to see this movie,this movie came out in 2016. this is a true story about@@DNReacts3 female African American Mathematicians at NASA during the Space Race.they were known as the " human computer".
Best US sports movie of all time. Miracle speech gives me tears every time
I was in the US Army and studied Russian in the early 1980's. We had an instructor, a 30-something former Soviet, who told us he couldn't believe such "young guys" could beat the Soviets, who were basically professionals. He also told us that the Soviets only considered a gold medal as valid. Silver and bronze? Nothing. Years later, I was at a writers conference where Mike Rich, the initial screenwriter of this film, was lecturing. I spoke with him afterwards and told him what the instructor had said. He told me that the Soviets called the American team "the students" because they were so young. In his research, he tried to speak with anyone from either team to get as much authentic background as he could. He said the Soviet players would not talk with him but instead acted like war veterans who didn't want to talk about the war.
After watching this movie, you can definitely see why this moment has become such a huge part of American sporting lore.
one od my favorite movies of all time, the speech just hits every single time.
This is my favorite movie of all time. I grew up playing hockey and every year we were in the Can/Am tournament in lake placid and playing in that rink was always special. Think I could recite this movie from the start til the end with how many times I’ve seen it
To your questions about how the Medal Round worked, it has changed since the time of the game. At the time, there were 2 halves of the competition, top 2 teams from each half advanced. In the medal round, each team played the 2 teams from the other half. Each win was worth 2 pts, a draw 1, a loss 0. After those games were over, the point total for the game against the other team from your half in the play-in round as well as the points from the 2 medal games were added up, giving the ranking 1-4. Thus when the US beat the USSR, they still needed at least 1 point from the final game, otherwise the USSR would still have won gold.
Back in high school, I was on the school's computer for a reading and pronouncing assignment in class, and all of them were true stories. One of them was titled "Miracle on Ice". imagine my surprise when I found the found the movie.
This was the biggest upset ever in the history of sports!! I still remember that!! This and Zero Dark Thirty are my favorite movies!! It’s hard to say which one I love more!
Cone heads is a reference to the Hanson brothers in the movie Slapshot starring Paul Newman.
actually cone heads are a skit in Saturday night live that first aired in june of 1977 with Dan Akryod, Jane Curtain, and Lorraine Newman. They were aliens with huge cone heads but they told everybody they were "from france".
Coneheads came from characters in a popular recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live. They were space aliens disguised as middle class Americans whose behavior didn't quite fit in, not to mention they had tall pointed tops to their heads which made them stand out, but almost nobody really questioned why (their cover excuse for any questionable behavior or appearance was that they had immigrated from France. "We're from France" in their monotonous alien voices became a bit of a catch phrase) That's why that scoring line was called the Coneheads, because they were a little different in both play and personalities.
It’s hard to convey how much more than just a hockey game that game was. Under Carter, mortgage rates skyrocketed to almost an inconceivable 20%, a fuel crisis blew up gasoline prices, and the shortage was so severe that you could only purchase gas on even or odd days, depending on your license plate number, the Iranian hostage crisis dragged on for 444 days, where over 60 Americans were held hostage, and the economy was in the tank. That game channeled all that hopelessness into the idea that we really could overcome impossible odds. We watched that win play out in real time on a little tv all smashed together in a tiny dorm room on campus. We were screaming so loud people must have thought we lost our dang minds, lol. But the indescribable joy it poured into the heart of every American was palpable. It was like watching David whip Goliath. I will never forget it. 🇺🇸
Definitely one of the best American sports movies ever!!!!! I’ve seen it well over 20 times and I still cry and cheer. Glad you guys watched and liked it.
Love this, and thank you 🙏 A really great movie and incredible story
The game was played at 5:00 PM EST.
The broadcast did not air until 8:00 PM.
I was in college in 1980, in the US eastern time zone. I have a recollection this was actually played earlier in the evening perhaps? But the result was not reported. Or if it was reported, I didn't see/hear it. All I remember was it was a Friday and my (then) girlfriend had a college volleyball match that evening. So I went to the v-ball game. Sitting down I heard people talking about the USA team beating the Russian team. I also recall the game was re-broadcast again on Saturday...perhaps afternoon. I remember watching it, but not the time of day. What I remember vividly was watching the live broadcast of the Final against Finland, on Sunday morning...and another comeback.
It's hard to put into words what that win meant to many, many people after almost a full decade (1970's) that seemed like everything was deteriorating around us - as depicted in the opening credits of the movie. During the Christmas party scene in the movie, the films director overlayed audio of a 1979 Pres. Carter speech, "for the first time a majority of our people believe that the next 5 years will be worse than the past 5 years", which was the actual text of the speech. And it felt that way. Perhaps it was because it was a new decade, but I don't believe it is overly dramatic to say the 1980 Olympic team somehow provided a sense that things were turning upward.
There wasn't a sound outside that Friday night from when the ref dropped the puck until the last second of the game. Do you believe in Miracles? When the buzzer sounded....noise from everywhere it was loud, everywhere! The USA was back!!! It was rough here for a long while.
Hey guys, you asked how the tournament works about 13 minutes in. In the present day, the teams that move on from group play will play a knockout round where the losers of the semifinals will play for bronze and the winners play for gold. However, it was a bit different back then. This will be a long comment but it provides a lot of context so please bear with me.
You made a note how they called it the medal round; in previous years such as 1980, they had group play and then a medal round where whoever finished with the most points would win the gold medal. There were two groups and the top two teams in each would move on to place for a medal. The result of the game between the teams that moved on from group play would carry over into the medal round. For example, the United States tied Sweden 2-2 and they moved on into the next round. Since they both had one point thanks to the draw, they started the medal round with one point each. In the other group, the Soviet Union beat Finland 4-2, so they started the medal round with two points and Finland had none. The final round standings would begin like this:
URS (2 pts)
SWE (1 pt)
USA (1 pt)
FIN (0 pts)
The teams would then play the two teams from the other group. The United States beat both the Soviet Union and Finland for four more points. The Soviet Union only beat Sweden for two more, and Sweden and Finland finished in a draw, each team got one point. The final round standings shook out like this:
USA (5 pts) 🥇
URS (4 pts) 🥈
SWE (2 pts) 🥉
FIN (1pt)
After beating the Soviet Union, the United States was still not guaranteed a medal of any kind; there was a slim chance that if they lost their second game to Finland, then they could have come away from the tournament with nothing even after one of the biggest upsets of all time. In fact they were actually LOSING that game going into the final period. Thankfully, Coach Brooks gave them a reality check to make the dream come true. I’d recommend reacting to highlights of the actual game. Always great to revisit and the energy still permeates all these years later.
The US vs Sweden game was each team's first game in that Olympics. The US scored the tying goal with 27 seconds left in the game. Without that goal from so early in the tournament, they wouldn't have won the gold medal.
If you want to see the the arena the University of Minnesota played in during the time Brooks had coached.
There is a movie called Ice Castles.
Filmed in late 79’s before this game and when Brooks coached the Gophers.
One scene the pair of figure skaters are supposed to be competing at a figure skating competition. Is filmed in the arena
At the time marricucci arena was located on one end of a building with the basketball arena Williams arena on the other half. The building wasn’t long enough for hockey. And the ceiling above one net is fairly low. Pucks hitting the ceiling was out of play.
Whereas the end had big glass windows protected with chaining fencing. School mascot often rallied fans on a catwalk this wall while opposing teams would clear pucks at the mascot.
Great venue. Miss it.
I was a young teen at the time of this game, it was a tough time in my life on a personal level, but I was also impacted by the Iranians hostage taking even more, and to this day I'm not sure why I was, but this game meant the world to me, restored some pride for me I guess. The scene when they leave the locker room and the players tap all the telegrams and messages gives me chills, shows how much this meant for the US to have something good to believe in again.
I was 7yrs old when they won gold & my grandpa took me to see to all these games including the gold medal game. Even at such a young age, it still is a vivid memory I have.
Love this, that’s incredible. Appreciate the comment 🙏
We beat them once but that Soviet team was the best team of all time.
So idk if anyone has mentioned this in the comments or not but back then the medal round was different. So after the US beat the Soviets they played Finland. But if they would've lost to Finland they wouldn't have won a medal at all. Now a days the two winning teams play for gold and silver and the two losing teams play for bronze. But back in the 80s it wasn't like that
Nick and Nora Charles were the main characters in The Thin Man movie franchise in the 1930. They were played by William Powell and Myrna Loy.
Also a neat bit of trivia. Buzz Schneider is played by his son Billy.
My whole family and all our friends watched the final game together. There was quite a celebration after.
Love this, that’s awesome, what an occasion! Thank you for the comment 🙏
I ask my parents how my home town in Texas reacted to the Miracle on Ice, they said the sky lit up like the 4th of July or the 5th of November for you Brits with load cheers and jubilations.
Hi guys, I pop over every once in a while to watch your reactions. Always a treat to get our “cousin’s” point of view on movies. I heard you mention “Slap Shot”. It is a really solid sports / comedy movie about an amateur hockey team in Pennsylvania (I think). Paul Newman is the big name but there are a ton of character actors you might recognize as well. But it was made in 1977 so it is a little older but it is hilarious.
Thank you! We will check it out!
The game took place in the middle of the day.. I don’t remember the exact time but it was not shown live.. it was not broadcast until 8:30 that night..