- Ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics
At the
1980 Winter Olympics hosted inLake Placid, New York , oneIce Hockey event was held: Men's Ice Hockey, played at the Olympic Center, now known as theHerb Brooks Arena .Background
These Olympics came at a difficult time for
United States -USSR relations, as they were deep in theCold War . Only months before the games began, the USSR invadedAfghanistan , and there was a possibility that the strong Soviet team might not show up. However, they competed in the Lake Placid games in the end, although the Americans later boycotted the1980 Summer Olympics inMoscow .The Soviets had won every Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament since the
1960 Winter Olympics , were well-seasoned and had been playing together for many years (though they lacked young players). In contrast, the Americans were a collection of college students (some from rival schools such as theUniversity of Minnesota andBoston University ) with little history of playing together. However, the US team also featured several highly promising players who would go on to have successful careers in theNational Hockey League after the Olympics.Three days before the Olympics, Coach
Herb Brooks scheduled an exhibition game atMadison Square Garden inNew York City . The Americans lost 10 - 3, and Jack O'Callahan (defense) tore a ligament, though he returned before the medal round. Coach Brooks gave only a few interviews after the game.Despite these setbacks, Coach Brooks managed to unify his players, train them for a year (the core of the team had been assembled since the 1979
Ice Hockey World Championship tournament inMoscow ) and lead them to victory. In the end, the Americans were better prepared both physically and mentally than their opponents and the US team also got stellar goaltending from Jim Craig in the important games.Highlights
The USA vs USSR game, called the "
Miracle on Ice " in the United States, is the best-remembered game of the tournament and the best-remembered international hockey game in the United States. It was the USA's penultimate game of the tournament's round-robin medal round. The USA's final game, againstFinland , was the game which won the gold medal for the United States. Finland finished 4th in the overall standings. One of the better upsets is not remembered and/or known and that is Poland defeating Finland 5-4 in the first game for both teams. Poland was outshot 49-25 and almost lost the game after leading 5-3, giving up a goal at 36:57 toMikko Leinonen and 46:05 toReijo Leppänen . But Polish goalieHenryk Wojtynek held on for the win. This may not be remembered because Poland did not advance to the medal round or the 5th place game and it did not prevent Finland from advancing.Medalists
*February 12:
**Netherlands 1-10 Canada
**Poland 5-4 Finland
**Japan 0-16 USSR
*February 14:
**Netherlands 4-17 USSR
**Poland 1-5 Canada
**Japan 3-6 Finland
*February 16
**Japan 3-3 Netherlands
**USSR 8-1 Poland
**Canada 3-4 Finland
*February 18
**Canada 6-0 Japan
**Netherlands 5-3 Poland
**Finland 2-4 USSR
*February 20
**Poland 5-1 Japan
**USSR 6-4 Canada
**Finland 10-3 NetherlandsMedal Round
The top two teams from each group play the top two teams from the other group once. Points from previous games against their own group carry over, excluding teams who failed to make the medal round. First place team wins gold, second silver and third bronze.
*February 22
**USA 4-3 USSR (seeMiracle on Ice )
**Finland 3-3 Sweden
*February 24:
**Sweden 2-9 USSR
**USA 4-2 FinlandCarried over group matches:
*February 12 Sweden 2-2 USA
*February 18 Finland 2-4 USSR5th place game
*February 22 Czechoslovakia 6-1 CanadaLeading scorers
Hat Tricks
3 GOALS
Ken Berry, Canada vs.Netherlands
Doru Tureanu , Romania vs.West GermanyAleksandr Golikov , Soviet Union vs.JapanVladimir Krutov , Soviet Union vs.NetherlandsYuri Lebedev , Soviet Union vs.NetherlandsHelmut Balderis , Soviet Union vs.PolandMats Aalberg , Sweden vs.NorwayJack de Heer , Netherlands vs. PolandPeter Stastny , Czechoslovakia vs.West GermanyJaroslav Pouzar , Czechoslovakia vs.West GermanyMilan Novy , Czechoslovakia vs.West GermanyFinal ranking
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#
#External links
* http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1980/orw1980v2.pdf
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.