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It’s been 45 years since Crew USA pulled off some of the surprising upsets in historical past with a victory over the Soviet Union within the Olympic hockey showdown often called the Miracle on Ice. They went on to win a gold medal, they usually could quickly have the ability to complement it with one other one due to a invoice making its approach by means of Congress.
You don’t have to be a hockey fan to know what transpired when the US and the Soviet Union met on the hockey rink on the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid in 1980.
I beforehand outlined simply how dominant the Soviet juggernauts had been within the lead-up to the showdown that decided who would earn a spot within the gold medal recreation.
Nevertheless, an American squad that seemingly had no enterprise hanging with an opponent that had outscored them to the tune of 117-26 of their earlier dozen video games managed to eke out a 4-3 victory earlier than Al Michaels capped issues off with the decision that led to the competition being immortalized because the Miracle on Ice.
The gold medal recreation was a little bit of an afterthought primarily based on the magnitude of what transpired within the semifinal, however Crew USA capped off the Cinderella story by rallying again from a 2-1 deficit within the third interval of the championship showdown by scoring three unanswered objectives to earn the highest spot on the rostrum with a 4-2 win over Finland.
February twenty second will mark the forty fifth anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, and it appears like there’s an opportunity the staff might get one other form of gold medal to commemorate their beautiful victory.
In accordance with The Related Press, a invoice to award Congressional Gold Medals (America’s highest civilian honor) to the blokes chargeable for the Miracle on Ice has been reintroduced to the Home of Representatives after it was initially proposed towards the top of the earlier legislative session.
The invoice is primarily being championed by Pete Stauber, a Republican representing Minnesota’s eighth District who gained a nationwide championship whereas taking part in school hockey at Lake Superior State and pivoted to a profession in legislation enforcement after a neck harm hampered his short-lived stint within the Purple Wings farm system.
Stauber desires to fee three Congressional Gold Medals that might be displayed on the U.S. Hockey Corridor of Fame in Minnesota, the Olympics Heart in Lake Placid, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado.
17 of the 20 gamers who represented Crew USA are nonetheless alive (head coach Herb Brooks died in 2003, whereas Bob Suter, Mark Pavelich, and Mark Wells respectively handed away in 2014, 2021, and 2024), and Stauber alluded to the truth that they’re of their late 60s whereas stressing for a little bit of urgency to make sure they’ll “have the ability to cherish and admire this throughout their lifetime,”
It’s laborious to think about any members of Congress will vote towards a invoice that can have to be signed by Donald Trump, so right here’s to hoping they’ll have the ability to get their act collectively by the point February rolls round.
