FILE - In this Feb. 22, 1980, file photo, the U.S. hockey team pounces on goalie Jim Craig after a 4-3 victory against the Soviet Union in a medal round match at the the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. The United States upset the mighty Soviets in a breathtaking moment freighted with the tension of the Cold War. After four decades, nobody is willing to stop talking about perhaps the greatest David over Goliath moment in the history of sports. (AP Photo/File)

In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the underdog U.S. hockey team defeated the Soviet team, 4-3, in a medal-round game at Lake Placid, N.Y., on this date in 1980.

1) Made up mostly of college players, the 7th-seeded U.S. team’s average age was only 22, and its team captain, Mike Eruzione, was recruited from the obscurity of the Toledo Blades of the International League.

2) The Soviet team had captured the previous four Olympic hockey golds, going back to 1964, and had not lost an Olympic hockey game since 1968.

3) The Soviets had leads during the game of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2. But a pair of U.S. goals midway through the third period proved decisive, with Eruzione’s 25-foot wrist shot the game-winner.

4) Two days later, the Americans defeated Finland 4-2 to clinch the gold medal in hockey.

5) The improbable victory was later memorialized in a 2004 film, “Miracle,” starring Kurt Russell.

Source: history.com

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