Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Reading the posts I know I'm old enough to be a lot of you guys father or older brother:) I agree with you that the Olympic hockey was a lot better when it was just the college players on the team.
The same is also true with the Olympic basketball. I remember watching the 1968 Olympics and a young player by the name of Spencer Haywood out of Detroit Pershing High School and Trinidad Junior College dominate for the US team. Haywood was the leading scorer for the US team and at 6'-8" or 6'-9" dominated the competition. In the days before the pro players you were pretty sure the US would win in basketball, but it wasn't a given. And you knew the hockey team would compete for a medal. Today, the NBA all-stars should always win and the US NHL players will go thru the motions and always finish second or third to the Canadian NHL players.

I wasn't yet born, although I've long been aware of that day and had the chance to watch the game in its entirety on tv a few years ago.

Too bad that it's almost unimaginable that a locale like Lake Placid could ever again host such an event. Has gotten too political in recent years with countries and cities spending fortunes just to have a chance at hosting it, all but eliminating a small community like this one from future consideration.

Neat to think that Lake Placid hosted it twice though when I'm there, usually in the middle of the night. Heading to the Adirondacks is what I usually do if I'm in the mood to take a drive.

I am glad to see, read and hear people's comments about the 1980 Olympic Men's Hockey Team beating the Russians and eventually going to win the Gold Medal. In reading your comments, I agree as that was one heck of a team back then with all that talent and the way that they were assembled and came together as a team and united in integrity, valor, honor and most importantly the love for their country and their teammates. Yes, I also agree about how the Minnesota connection played a huge part and how it was made up of all College Hockey Players that went on later to become huge stars in the Pro Ranks. I also agree about how adding NHL players to the Olympics has sort of downgraded the Hockey Tournament but, at least it is something to watch let's not forget that and it is exciting to watch. You have to remember that the Olympics don't care about the viewers it is ratings and what better way than to have NHL players play in the Hockey games? At least when they first tried it out, it might have been okay. I was only eight at the time and knew nothing about Hockey or the Olympics and did not get involved with Hockey until the Wings won the Cup in the 1990s. Although I did not watch or see much of the 2014 Olympics, I like the Winter games better than the Summer ones as they are more exciting and fun to watch. The Summer games are boring as heck IMO! Anyone like the Winter better than Summer?

I was one year old :) Being that I grew up playing hockey I've seen the game 1000x's.

I remember the 1980 Olympic hockey games very well. It seemed like everyone watched it. Minnesotans took particular pride in the fact that several of the US team players were from Minnesota, and I remember my surprise that so many people I knew who were non-hockey fans took an interest.
In my opinion (and I know many hockey fans will disagree with me), participation by NHL players has been a disaster for Olympic hockey in general, and the US team in particular. Watching the NHL millionaire US players in last year's Bronze Medal game where they displayed no effort, no heart, no spirit, seemingly anxious to just get on the plane and go home, convinced me to discontinue watching Olympic mens hockey in the future. I think it would be great if the NHL decided to not participate in the 2018 games. I, for one, would not miss them at all.
On the other hand, I was very proud of the US women that lost the Gold Medal game to a great Canadian team while displaying valiant effort, heart, and spirit. In other words, even though they didn't win they did their best in keeping with the tradition of the Olympic games. I look forward to watching them again in 2018!

I sure do remember that final game. Lucky for me I was a hockey fan, because I had no choice but to watch it. I was at 30,000+ feet on a business trip. The entire plane went nuts when that game ended...

I also remember another historical moment, again at 30,000+ feet, finding out who shot J.R.

One must remember that these 'kids' were Very good college players. They were the 'cream of the crop' in college hockey at that time. This was shown when they played for the Gold Metal. Most went on to be drafted into professional hockey just after the Olympics. I remember watching them play in all their games - and they were Very good !

Never paid any attention to the Olympics until 80. This has to be the greatest team ever due to the fact that they were all college players and the Russian team were high level pros. Amazing when you consider the talent they were up against.

Anyone seem to remember or recall what event took place on this date 35 years ago on February 22, 1980? Well if you forgot or were not around perhaps the word "Miracle" could refresh your memory? Maybe if that doesn't work perhaps the word "Hockey" might also bring back some memories? Okay already I will get to the point and that is it was on this date that the US Men's Olympic Hockey team "Shocked the World" and beat the Soviet Union team 4-3 in the 1980 Lake Placid, New York Winter Olympics. Two days later they would go on to win the Gold Medal vs either the Finland or the Sweden team? Yesterday on the 21st they had the reunion of that famous team in New York and only two members of that famous team were absent. Coach Herb Brooks who was tragically killed in 2003 in an auto accident and Bobby Suter who passed away last September at age 57. If you never seen "Miracle" the Disney movie made in 2004 about the 1980 hockey team, I highly recommend it as it is a great movie and dvd and tells the story and has the actual call of the game by Al Michaels. It is one of the greatest sports movies I've ever seen and watched and never get tired of seeing it!