There would be no miracle in Utah on Friday the way there was in Lake Placid 22 years ago when the United States faced off in an epic Olympic hockey game against the Soviet Union.
Nope, there would be no miracle because there would be no need for one.
In 1980 it was unbelievable that the Americans won. In 2002 it is unbelievable how they won.
They outskated, outpassed and outshot Russia, and after they survived the expected hellacious assault in the third period, they skated off with a dramatic 3-2 victory in front of 8,599 raucously patriotic fans.
Now they unexpectedly skate into the gold-medal game Sunday. OK, so there is something similar to 1980.
“This is a chance of a lifetime,” said Blackhawks defenseman Phil Housley, who at 37 has had one of Team USA’s longer lifelines and also scored what turned out to be the winning goal on a power play. “It feels so good and means so much in our locker room.”
What’s more, the U.S. team will face rival Canada for the gold medal, pitting two teams that didn’t medal in 1998, the first year National Hockey League pros were allowed to play in the Olympics.
“I’ve been waiting for this for four years,” said U.S. winger and Hawks captain Tony Amonte, who played in the Nagano Games. “This is the dream matchup.”
Funny that’s exactly what U.S.-Russia was supposed to be, coming on the anniversary that it did, coming on U.S. soil, coming with coach Herb Brooks behind the bench then and now.
Most of the participants downplayed the similarities, saying everything is different.
Maybe not.
“It was designed to have this final between the U.S. and Canada,” Russian coach Slava Fetisov said, intimating there is an NHL/International Olympic Committee conspiracy to have the two North American teams in the championship game.
More Top Picks Best Sequential Compression Devices For Lymphedema
Just because this was an Olympic hockey game played 22 years to the day of the “Miracle on Ice” game in 1980 between the Americans and Soviet Union–and just because Soviets lost that hockey battle and the political landscape has changed since then–that doesn’t mean nasty international politics are gone from international hockey.
The Russian federation, which threatened a pullout from the Olympics over a cross-country skier’s disqualification because of a failed doping test and the figure skating judging, raised a ruckus before the game over officiating. A Russian spokesman told NBC-TV through an interpreter that the Russians didn’t want NHL official Bill McCreary working the game, claiming they feared biased calls.
The Russian spokesman admitted he knew his federation was limited in its protest by contractual agreements. When asked why the Russians went through the process, he made a motion as if to stir a pot.
But wait. Near the end of warmups, U.S. forward Keith Tkachuk fired pucks from his end of the ice at the Russian goal 175 feet away before finally putting one into an empty net.
Even though he dressed for warmups, Tkachuk did not play for the third straight game because of a leg injury. This led to the suspicion that he was trying to start something with the Russians and perhaps get them roiled before a game in which he knew he wasn’t going to play.
That aside, something real happened in the Russian locker room. According to several Russian players, they were told by Olympics doping authorities an hour before faceoff that there was something wrong with starting goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin’s doping test.
“To give us the result right before the game is [chicken],” screamed Russian defenseman Boris Mironov, who also plays for the Hawks.
Whatever supposed irregularities there were, Khabibulin played and played well in stopping 46 of 49 U.S. shots. But the Russians were rankled.
“It’s not right,” said Russian and Hawks center Alex Zhamnov. “You can’t tell someone an hour before. But I don’t want to talk about it. I want to talk about hockey.”
Indeed, the hockey was worth talking about in what figured to be the most-watched game in U.S. history as a sequel to the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” game that remains the most talked about.
The Americans controlled the puck when they had it and they jumped the passing lanes when they didn’t. They were positionally sound and they were patient. They limited the Russians’ speed at equal strength and capitalized on three power plays. They beat the Russians at their own game.
Oh, sure, there were some anxious moments–such as the entire third period.
Leading 3-0 after 40 minutes, the U.S. team lost its aggressiveness and gave up a bad goal to Alexei Kovalev 11 seconds into the third period, then another to Vladimir Malakhov at 3:21. That made it 3-2.
That made it nerve-wracking.
“They got that first goal and the fans were kind of, `Ooohhh,”‘ Amonte said. “We were on our heels for the first three or four minutes.”
In all the Russians fired 19 shots at goalie Mike Richter in the third period but gotnothing else. They thought they had the tying goal midway through the period when Sergei Samsonov beat Richter during a power play. But his shot hit the post and skittered through the crease. The Russians screamed for a video review but got none.
The Americans faced several more assaults, including three faceoffs in their own zone in the final 78 seconds when the Russians had an extra skater because they pulled Khabibulin. But the Americans survived.