Friday evening, February 22, 1980, I had just finished eating dinner and had tuned our black-and-white RCA console television to WKBW-Channel 7, the ABC affiliate in Buffalo. I was 15 years old, and already a huge hockey fan, but more than that, I loved watching the Winter Olympics, and this evening the USA hockey team was set to play the Soviets.

This past weekend marked the 40th Anniversary of “The Miracle on Ice,” as the U.S. hockey team defeated the team from the USSR, in the semifinals of the Olympic hockey tournament.

Although the game was played a few hours earlier in Lake Placid, New York, 400 miles northeast of my home in Jamestown, New York, nobody knew the outcome, yet. Remember, this was in the days prior to the internet and instant news. Media outlets covering the game were sworn to secrecy, and the results of the game were embargoed until after ABC had a chance to air it on a tape delayed basis. In fact, before the game aired, ABC’s Olympics host Jim McKay mentioned the game had already occurred but that they had promised not to share the results until after it aired.

My good friend Jim Riggs, sports editor of the Jamestown Post-Journal, was in Lake Placid to cover the Olympics, and I knew he was at this game, because he too was a huge hockey fan and planned to be at all of Team USA’s games. I would find out when he returned home, that because of the significance of this game and mass number of media members covering the event, Riggs had been ushered to the media overflow room, where he, like millions of others, watched the game on television. Besides, the Lake Placid Field House was filled to its capacity of 8,500 and had very little room for the media.

The Soviets entered the Winter Olympics as the heavy favorite, having won four consecutive gold medals dating back to 1964, and they had won five of the last six golds. In 1960, the USSR took the bronze medal at Squaw Valley, and that was the last time the USA had won the gold in hockey.

This American team, assembled by head coach Herb Brooks, was made up of young college hockey players. The average age of the USA team was 21; the youngest in USA history to compete in the Olympics. The Soviet team was made up of men in their late-20s and early 30s, who had many years of international hockey experience. They weren’t technically professional hockey players, but rather employed by the military and factories for the sole purpose of playing on the national team.

The Soviets scored first, just nine minutes into the game, followed by a tying goal by the American’s Buzz Schneider. Then USSR took the lead with only 2:26 left in the first period, but the USA’s Mark Johnson tied the game, 2-2, with one second left on the clock.

Never did the Soviet’s think their goalie, Vladislav Tretiak, who was ranked No. 1 in the world, would give up two goals to the Americans in one period, and he was pulled for backup goalie Vladimir Myshkin to start the second period. USSR scored one goal in the second, and led 3-2 going into the third period. However, the Americans were not ready to give.

At 8:39 of the third period, Johnson scored his second goal of the game, on a power play, tying the game, 3-3. Then, less than two minutes later, USA captain, Mike Eruzione, fired a shot past Myshkin, giving USA its first lead of the game, 4–3, with exactly 10 minutes remaining to play. Now it was nail biting time. As far as I was concerned, the clock couldn’t run down fast enough. I wanted so badly for the USA team to win this one, and I knew that the Soviets could practically score at will and had plenty of time for a comeback.

The final few minutes were especially intense, as the Soviets, sensing defeat, attacked the USA goal with a fury of shots. Jim Craig, the Americans goalie, was masterful in his defense of the net, and faced 39 shots on goal in the game.

In the final seconds, I was jumping up and down while watching this in my living room, and I counted along with the fans in Lake Placid, as Al Michaels said, “You’ve got ten seconds, the countdown on right now! Morrow up to Silk. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

Wow, it really happened, Team USA had defeated the power house Russians at a sport they had dominated for so long, but it wasn’t over. The Americans still had to face Finland in the gold medal game on Sunday.

I don’t remember if I skipped church that morning to stay home and watch the live broadcast, or if I just hurried home after church to catch the second and third periods, but I do remember watching the USA team defeat Finland, 4-2, to win their first hockey gold in 20 years.

We will never have those feelings again as we did in 1980. For one thing, the Cold War with Russia is now behind us, and professionals are now allowed to play in the Olympics, so the magnitude of the USA win over USSR will never be duplicated. But, that one miracle moment I will never forget.