Miracle on Ice

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Every goal from the game, back to back, before the minute-by-minute begins.

Before the reconstruction starts, here's the whole game in under two minutes: Krutov's opener, Schneider's answer, Johnson's rebound with one second left in the first, Maltsev's power play, Johnson's second, and Eruzione's game-winner.

Thirteen days before the Olympic game, the Soviets beat Team USA 10-3 in an exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonov later admitted the lopsided score led his team to underestimate the Americans heading into the tournament — a mistake that would matter.

Photo: ArtemisiaGentileschiFan · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Team USA marches in matching cowboy hats as VP Mondale opens the Games.

Nine days before the USSR game, Vice President Walter Mondale formally opened the Lake Placid Games. The US delegation marched in matching white cowboy hats and blue coats — a uniform choice that became its own small piece of 1980 iconography. The hockey team would play its games at the 8,500-seat Olympic Center (now Herb Brooks Arena), a small, loud building by modern standards.

The USSR opens the scoring, 1–0.

Vladimir Krutov buried a rebound at 9:12 of the first period, assisted by Alexei Kasatonov, to put the heavily favored Soviets ahead 1-0 in front of 8,500 fans at the Olympic Center.

Buzz Schneider beat goaltender Vladislav Tretiak with a shot from the left circle, assisted by Mark Pavelich, tying the game 1-1 and giving the partisan Lake Placid crowd its first real jolt of belief.

Photo: Henry Zbyszynski · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mark Johnson buries a rebound as the period horn sounds — 2–2.

With one second left on the clock, Mark Johnson jammed home a rebound to tie the game 2-2 right at the first-period buzzer — one of the most replayed sequences of the tournament. Between periods, Tikhonov benched legendary goaltender Tretiak in favor of backup Vladimir Myshkin, a decision he later called the biggest mistake of his coaching career.

Alexander Maltsev scored on the power play, assisted by Krutov, in what turned out to be the only goal of the second period — a period in which the U.S. was heavily outshot but somehow kept the deficit to one.

Mark Johnson's second goal of the game, on the power play and assisted by Mark Silk, tied it 3-3 with just over eleven minutes left — setting up the final act.

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Captain Mike Eruzione scores what proves to be the winning goal, 4–3.

Team captain Mike Eruzione scored the go-ahead goal, assisted by Pavelich and Harrington, to make it 4-3. Jim Craig then held off a wave of Soviet pressure for the final ten minutes, finishing with 36 saves, as Al Michaels delivered the call that outlived the game itself: "Do you believe in miracles? YES!"

Photo: David Tenenbaum · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Two days later, the U.S. beats Finland 4–2 to actually win gold.

It's easy to forget this was the medal-round semifinal, not the gold medal game. Two days later, Team USA beat Finland 4-2 to clinch the gold. This photo of goaltender Jim Craig, draped in the American flag, is from that Feb. 24 celebration — not the USSR game itself, though it's the image most associated with the whole run.

"We didn't even know the score — it was tape-delayed."

A hypothetical photo contribution, shown here as an example.

"Section C, $67.20 face value. He still says he has no idea how he managed to get tickets to that game." Illustrative placeholder for what a real fan photo submission would look like in the timeline.