It was a story no one could write. The ultimate example of David conquering Goliath and capturing the hearts of everyone. It was so miraculous that no one would believe that it happened twice. The story of the 1980 Olympic United States hockey team is well publicized in American and world sports history as the greatest underdog story of all time. It has been immortalized by Al Michael’s phrase, “Do you believe in miracles? YES!” Still within the grip of the Cold War, a team of college kids took down the all-mighty Soviet Union. The Soviet team had won the last four Olympics and were widely considered the best hockey team to ever put on a pair of skates. In 1980, the scene set in Lake Placid, New York, the U.S. Olympic team became enshrined in hockey history as they beat the Soviets 4-3. The 1980 team seemed destined to repeat the less well known success of the 1960 team. Widely overlooked in the pages of hockey history stands the story of the 1960 United States hockey team and its gold medal now known as the “Forgotten Miracle.” Although twenty years separated the two teams, their stories are strangely similar. Both teams played the Soviet Union when political tensions polarized the two countries. Behind the bench of both teams were demanding coaches leading a bunch of amateur players from Boston and Minnesota. Each team had talented amateurs but relied on comebacks and star-studded performances by the goaltenders. Both teams won their medals on U.S. soil. The 1960 team won in Squaw Valley, California and the 1980 team won in Lake Placid, New York. The Christian family ensured their place in U.S. hockey history with brothers Roger and Bill playing on the 1960 team and Bill’s son Dave playing on the 1980 team. Both teams were given no shot in hell to win the gold medal. Another common thread between the 1960 and 1980 teams was the presence of Herb Brooks. Brooks, who famously coached the 1980 team, was a player on the 1960 team and was controversially cut within weeks of the opening ceremonies. Like many players, Brooks tried out for the team three months prior to the Olympics hoping to have the honor of playing for his country. Brooks made the initial squad led by former Army coach Jack Riley. However the team opened up camp without its two leading scorers from the 1956 silver medal team, Jon Mayasich and Bill Cleary. In addition, the team was without their top goaltender, John Magasich, who refused to come because of a minor league commitment. For those who did make the initial roster, the next few months were some of the toughest in their lives. Though Riley knew the Americans had a talented squad, he saw that the only way to beat the Soviets and the Canadiens was to “out-condition” them. Riley forced his team into leg conditioning drills that lasted three hours a day. This brutal conditioning combined with 18 exhibition games pushed the players almost to the brink. After a string of poor performances by his team, Riley knew he had to make some changes. One of these changes was to bring Jon Mayasich and Bill Cleary into camp two weeks before the opening ceremonies. Cleary, who had been a standout at Harvard and one of Riley’s most sought-after players, worked for an insurance company and initially said that he couldn’t give up three months to attend camp. Two weeks prior to the Olympics, Riley convinced Cleary to play. Cleary only agreed to play on the condition that his brother Bob also be allowed to play. Riley happily obliged. Anyone who knew amateur hockey at the time knew that Bill Cleary and Jon Mayasich deserved to play with the team because of their tremendous talent. It was the addition of Bob that threw the team into turmoil. Many of the members believed that Bob was not as talented as either Bob Dupuis or Herb Brooks who had to be cut to make way for the Cleary brothers. Riley’s decision almost broke apart the U.S. team before the Olympics even started. At a practice in Denver, Colorado many of the team members began a mutiny against Coach Riley, saying that they wouldn’t play unless both Dupuis and Brooks were put back on the team. To this demand, Riley simply stated, “ To hell with them, we’ll bring our wives. ....We’ll have a nice time.” The team eventually let down the threat and agreed to play. However there was little cohesion and the Clearys were ostracized. Despite the tension, the team was starting to take shape, with one exception. The team was still without a goaltender. At the team’s request Riley called up Jack McCartan, an All-American at the University of Minnesota in both hockey and baseball. McCartan had already been cut from the team months earlier and had enlisted in the Army. With a few negotiations, McCartan was “loaned” by the army to the U.S. team during the Olympics. Now with the addition of a soldier and two insurance salesmen, the talented and yet divided U.S. team looked to represent their country well on home ice. As the 1960 team arrived in Squaw Valley, they had the advantage of playing on home soil but were huge underdogs to the Canadiens, Soviets and Czechoslovakians. The Soviets had won the gold medal four years earlier and were beginning to establish their power around the hockey world. The Canadiens had won six of the seven gold medals given out for hockey up to 1956 (their only loss coming from Great Britain in 1936, imagine that). Those two teams came in as overwhelming favorites and if any team was to beat them, it would be the Czechs. To top it all off, if the U.S. was going to win the gold medal they had to win seven games in nine days playing on an outdoor rink that at times was more like a pond because of the rain and warm weather of California. Still the U.S. came in expecting to win. As Riley proudly stated, “I don't care who we play. We're going to be undefeated. We're going to beat every team here and the hell with it.” Even with this confident approach the team still had to deal with their lack of team cohesiveness. Prior to their opening game against the Czechs, Bill Cleary stood up in front of his team saying, “I didn't come 3,000 miles to lose. We don't have to hug and kiss. I just want you to pass me the puck.” The team got the message as Cleary went on to lead the team in points and won their opening game 7-5. The confidence continued to roll as the U.S. trounced Australia 12-1, winning their group and putting themselves in the final group play. With wins against Sweden and Germany, the undefeated U.S. came up against the undefeated Canadiens. “Beating the Canadiens in hockey would be like Canada beating the U.S. in baseball,” Bill Cleary said. As the puck dropped the experts gave the U.S. the same chance as the 1980 team had of beating the Soviets. The U.S. took the early lead with a rebound goal by Bob Cleary, the same Bob Cleary that wasn’t good enough to make the team. Later in the second period the U.S. doubled their lead with a breakaway goal by Paul Johnson. The story of the game though was the goaltending of Jack McCartan whose performance rivaled that of Jim Craig’s against the Soviets twenty years later. McCartan stifled the Canadiens stopping, 39 of 40 shots during the game and stopping 20 in the 2nd period alone. Though the Canadiens dominated the later stages of the game the “soldier” on loan stood his ground and set the stage for the upset. No time for celebration however as the Soviet team loomed. Although the U.S. was the only undefeated team left they had never beat the Soviets and were huge underdogs coming into the game. A crowd of 9,000 attended the game along with 40 million watching at home. This was the first Olympics to be televised; Americans around the U.S., (many of them watching hockey for the first time) sat riveted as their young amateurs took on the powerful Soviets. With the Soviets leading in the second period 2-1, Soviet goaltender Nikolai Puchkov uncharacteristically misplayed an angle and Bill Christian scored what he called “an easy goal”. Still with half the game remaining, the U.S. and Soviets skated toe to toe until Bill Christian scored again with five minutes remaining making the game 3-2 United States. The spectators in Blyth Arena along with all the viewers at home were on the edge of their seats as Jack McCartan and his teammates held off the Soviets for the biggest win in U.S. history up to that time. Sure the U.S. win over Canada was a bigger win as far as hockey was concerned but the Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviets made this victory even sweeter. Again the Americans did not have much time to celebrate as the next morning they were scheduled to play the Czechs at 8:00 am. Although they had just beaten the two best teams in the world, the Czechs were no walkthrough and wanted to avenge their loss to the U.S. earlier in the tournament. Within ten seconds the United States was down 1-0. Some would blame it on fatigue while others blamed the sun that was beaming into Jack McCartan eyes. The U.S. team was down 4-3 after two periods. During the second intermission the U.S. team received an unexpected visit from Soviet captain Nikolai Sologubov. Unable to speak English, Sologubov used hand gestures to encourage the U.S. players to take oxygen before the third period to combat the high altitude of Squaw Valley.
Much has been said of the visit that Nikolai Sologubov made to the U.S. locker room. Was he helping himself, his new found friends or both? Many believed that the Soviet captain wanted the U.S. to win. Although Sologubov never disclosed his motivation the animosity between the Soviets and Czech’s cannot be understated. In 1948, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia and imposed communist control. The Czechs were vocal in their resentment of Soviet domination and it makes sense that Sologubov would want the U.S. to beat the rival Czechs. The U.S. rallied to score 6 goals in the third period and beat the Czechs 9-4 securing our country’s first ever gold medal. Only eight players took the advice of Sologubov, whose Soviet team took home the bronze, but the U.S. comeback victory capped off the most dramatic Olympic run to date. The players returned to their normal jobs and normal lives knowing that the medals around their neck served as the sole reminder of what they had accomplished. Bill Cleary was the only player to be offered a pro contract but to him, being an amateur was far more satisfying. “Knowing what I know now, I could win ten Stanley Cups and that wouldn’t equal the Olympics.”
As Herb Brooks sat at home with his father watching his former team win the gold medal his father looked at him and said, “Looks like Riley made the right decision.” As demoralizing as this must have been, the fire that burned in Brooks propelled him to become coach of the 1980 team. There is no doubt that Riley treated Brooks poorly and although Brooks missed playing on the 1960 Olympic team, Riley taught him how and what it takes to win. Both of them did win and their wins made us realize that miracles can happen. Twice.
