1960 and 1980 squads linked to each other and current team
As the United States men’s hockey team prepares for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, USA Hockey is celebrating a pair of special anniversaries.
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It has been 30 years since an amateur American team defeated the Soviet Union’s hockey machine at the 1980 Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., and went on to capture the gold medal. The achievement instantly cemented a prized victory not just for sports fans but also for the nation. It is a moment as treasured today as it was then — one that lives on as a tangible triumph during the Cold War.
“It’s one of those things that it’s placed in your mind if you’re alive and old enough to remember the game,” said broadcaster Al Michaels, who called the game for ABC and ended it with his legendary line “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
“So many things like that are memorable for the wrong reasons,” Michaels continued. “If you’re old enough to remember Kennedy’s assassination, Pearl Harbor or, more recently, 9/11 — those were terrible events and you remember where you were and how you learned about them. And you think about something like [the 1980 team] and it’s all positive, it’s all good.”
While the victory in 1980 has been well-preserved in print and film — the 2004 movie “Miracle” and countless documentaries — the 1960 squad that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year inked its own spot in hockey history 20 years before the “Miracle on Ice.”
Just like its countrymen would in Lake Placid, the 1960 team entered a small American resort village as a heavy underdog only to come out on top of world powers Canada and the Soviet Union. While the media coverage wasn’t nearly as extensive, many associated with the team say their triumph was as unlikely as the one two decades later.
“It’s nice to still be around to celebrate what we did,” said Bill Cleary, a forward on the 1960 team. “I think it did have something to do with the growth of hockey. It caused a great stir here.”
Despite the underdog status handed to the 2010 edition of USA Hockey, Jack O’Callahan, a defenseman on the 1980 team, has a theory that the team will benefit from some “good karma.” The brash blueliner calls it “The USA Hockey/Kevin Bacon Theory.”
It’s pretty simple. The 1960 team featured brothers Bill and Roger Christian. Bill’s son, Dave Christian, took to the ice for the United States in 1980 alongside defenseman Bob Suter. Suter’s son, Ryan, is a defenseman for the Nashville Predators and is set to lead the Americans in Vancouver this month.
One other major connection between the 1960 and 1980 teams was the contribution of the late Herb Brooks. The coach who became a national hero in 1980 with a no-nonsense, blue-collar attitude also was the last player cut from coach Jack Riley’s team just before the 1960 Games in Squaw Valley, Calif.
Brooks, who died in a car accident in 2003, later would recall watching that team win the gold on television at home with his father. “Looks like they cut the right guy,” the elder Brooks remarked.
Though the 1960 and 1980 teams share a common history, Cleary easily could identify a major difference between the two squads.
“We were in black and white,” he said. “They were in color.”
Is O’Callahan is on to something? The Americans hope so, as they go after their third hockey gold medal.
