Speaker 1: Welcome to this Moment in Sports History podcast, The Miracle
Speaker 1: on Ice takes its first step January eighth, nineteen eighty.
Speaker 1: On January eighth, nineteen eighty, the United States Olympic hockey
Speaker 1: team began their journey toward what would become one of
Speaker 1: the greatest upsets in sports history at the Winter Olympics
Speaker 1: in Lake Placid, New York. While the Miracle on Ice
Speaker 1: game itself wouldn't occur until February twenty second, this date
Speaker 1: marked a crucial exhibition game with a ragtag American squad
Speaker 1: faced off against the Soviet Union in Madison Square Garden
Speaker 1: and got absolutely demolished ten to three. Now you might
Speaker 1: be thinking, wait, how is getting crushed a significant sports moment? Well,
Speaker 1: that's what makes this story so delicious. Coach Herb Brooks
Speaker 1: had assembled a team of college kids and amateur players
Speaker 1: the average age was just twenty one to compete against
Speaker 1: the most dominant hockey dynasty the world had ever seen.
Speaker 1: The Soviet Big Red Machine had won four consecutive Olympic
Speaker 1: gold medals and hadn't lost an Olympic hockey game since
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight. They were professionals in everything but name,
Speaker 1: playing together year round, while Brooks's boys were still figuring
Speaker 1: out each other's names. That January exhibition game was a
Speaker 1: reality check served ice cold. The Soviets, led by the
Speaker 1: legendary Vladislav Tretiakin goal and featuring superstars like Valeri Karlamov
Speaker 1: and Boris Mikhailov, skated circles around the Americans. It wasn't
Speaker 1: just a loss, it was a hockey clinic that exposed
Speaker 1: every weakness in the American game. The Soviet's passing was crisp,
Speaker 1: their positioning impeccable, and their finishing ruthless. But here's where
Speaker 1: Brooks's genius came in. He didn't let his team sulk. Instead,
Speaker 1: he used this humiliation as fuel. Books was known for
Speaker 1: his psychological warfare. He was tough, demanding, and sometimes downright
Speaker 1: mean to be. He needed these college rivals from Minnesota,
Speaker 1: Boston and elsewhere to stop thinking of themselves as individuals
Speaker 1: and become a team capable of competing against hockey's mont Olympus.
Speaker 1: In the weeks following that beating, Brookes drove his players mercilessly.
Speaker 1: His practices were legendary in their brutality. After one exhibition
Speaker 1: game where he felt they didn't give full effort. He
Speaker 1: kept them on the ice doing wind sprints long after
Speaker 1: the arena lights had been turned off, skating them until
Speaker 1: some literally couldn't stand. The beauty of the Januar of
Speaker 1: the January eighth drugging was that it removed any illusions.
Speaker 1: Nobody expected these Americans to meddle, much less challenged the Soviets.
Speaker 1: The pressure was off, and paradoxically, that freedom allowed them
Speaker 1: to play loose and fearless when it mattered most Fast
Speaker 1: forward six weeks and these same teams would meet again
Speaker 1: in the Olympic medal round, but this time in one
Speaker 1: of the most stunning upsets in sports history. The United
Speaker 1: States would defeat the Soviet Union four to three, with
Speaker 1: announcer Al Michaels delivering his immortal call, do you believe
Speaker 1: in miracles? Yes, but none of that miracle happens without
Speaker 1: January eighth, nineteen eighty. Without that humbling defeat, without seeing
Speaker 1: just how far they had to climb, those young Americans
Speaker 1: might never have found the resolve to achieve the impossible.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the most significant moments in sports history aren't the
Speaker 1: victories themselves, but the defeats that forge the character necessary
Speaker 1: to achieve those victories. The lesson never underestimate the motivational
Speaker 1: power of getting your butt kicked. That ten to three
Speaker 1: loss was the crucible that transformed a group of talented
Speaker 1: college kids into a team capable of defeating an empire
Speaker 1: and changing the course of American sports history forever. And
Speaker 1: that wraps it up. Join us tomorrow and be sure
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Speaker 1: daily slice of sports history. This has been a quiet
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Speaker 1: a I. Thank you for listening.