June 5 - A Journey Back in Time

Do you remember the "Miracle on Ice???"
That's right...1980 Lake Placid Olympics - USA defeats USSR 4-3 in Olympic Hockey.

The Hockey Arena in Lake Placid - just as it looked in 1980

Liz and I gave Beth a break from her role as our personal and private tour guide and hostess for just an hour or two yesterday. We sneaked off to the Lake Placid Olympic Ice Arena where we took an amazing and informative tour. There's so much history in this town and the ice arena plays no small part. We were floored at how much we recalled about the 1980 Winter Olympics, yet how much we never knew about the magic called The Miracle on Ice.

For starters I asked our tour guide if he knew Ruth Hart, Beth's mom and the anointed queen of Lake Placid. Obviously, he did. I told him we were staying with Ruth's daughter, Beth. He mentioned he was her next door neighbor. An argument ensued because I insisted that "I" was her next door neighbor. Finally, after an arena referee stepped in and broke up the ruckus, we were able to agree and understand that I was her Texas next-door neighbor and he was her Lake Placid next-door neighbor. Glad that's settled. Having firmly established that we were mutual friends of Lake Placid royalty, we then received a VIP tour par excellence.

The only change to the arena since 1980 is the addition of the Jumbotron that now hangs from the ceiling at the top of the photo above.

A few fun-filled Lake Placid Olympic facts:

• Lake Place is one of only three cities to have hosted the Winter Olympics two (2) times.
• Lake Placid is the most compact olympic site with only 11 miles separating all the event venues.
• Lake Placid is unique in that its venues are geared to the athletes rather than the fans.
• The arena above and several olympic facilities are booked year round every year for all kinds of hockey and skating training schools, camps and events.
• The arena above seats only 8500 spectators

Sean is pointing to a familiar name - Sonja Henie

• The first Lake Placid Olympic Games were held in 1932 and only the 3rd Winter Olympics ever held
• Sonja Henie won Women's Figure Skating Gold at age fifteen. At age 11, in the previous Winter Games she failed to medal at all.
• There were only 14 events at the '32 Olympics
• There were no "alpine" skiing events at the '32 Olympics.

Typically, a country is only allowed to host the Olympics once every two (2) decades. The 1960 Winter Games were held in Squaw Valley, CA. Lake Placid put its name up for consideration every 4 years thereafter and won the bid in 1980.

Above is the outdoor rink where Eric Heiden won five (5) of the six (6) gold medals for Team USA. The flags represent the countries that competed in those games. Three of those countries no longer exist today.

1980 Olympic fun facts:

• Our cool friend, Beth, was employed by ABC as an olympic hostess during those games.
• Her father was the official doctor for the 1980 games.
• Her mother, Ruth, was Princess of Lake Placid Village soon to become Queen.
• The outdoor rink above was the site of Eric Heiden's five (5), gold medal victories. That's five events and five victories.
• Heiden's opponents only specialized in one event each and were extremely proficient.
• Excepting one event wherein he almost fell and had to regain his stride, Heiden defeated every opponent by a margin significantly larger than the margin between 2nd and 3rd place.
• Every Heiden victory was an Olympic record and one a world record.
• At the awards ceremony the silver and bronze medalists hoisted Heiden onto their shoulders.
• The village of Lake Placid has won more Winter Olympic medals than almost all countries competing.
• The Olympic Torch at Lake Placid is still lighted in concert with each subsequent Winter Olympics, but for only a few hours. The cost of burning the torch for 24 hours is a staggering $8000.

Sean, our fabulous host and neighbor (in Lake Placid)

I could go on and on with more interesting facts Sean shared during our 1 hour 45 minute tour. As you can see in the picture above, there were many more events in 1980 than in 1932, but the most memorable event was The Miracle on Ice. Here then are but a few of those facts in case you have forgotten or never knew them:

• Olympic Hockey is an "amateur"event
• Team USA was just that, composed of young men in their early twenties who had never played together.
• The USSR team was comprised of 30 year olds that had been playing and training together 11-12 months per year for many years.
• The USSR team had won 40 and tied only one of their last 42 games.
• The USSR had handily defeated many of the US and Canadian profession hockey teams like the Mapleleafs and the Rangers. They had also defeated the reigning Stanley Cup Champions.
• It was not uncommon for the USSR team to run up extremely high scores like ten (10) goals per game.
• The USSR never used the end game strategy of pulling the goalie and using their sixth man for additional offense. The reason: they never lost and had no need for such a strategy.
• ABC covered almost all sporting events during the 70's and 80's, but had no hockey announcer. Reason: no one in the US cared about hockey before the Miracle on Ice.
• ABC hired Al Michaels to call the game, but Michaels tried to refuse. Reason: He didn't want to be embarrassed. ABC convinced Michaels that he was in no danger because no one would be watching the hockey events anyway.
• USSR was seeded 1st of twelve (12) teams. The USA was seeded 7th.
• USSR played all its games on the big, olympic arena.
• USA and the higher seeds (6-12) played their qualifying rounds on the smaller, adjacent arena, a dirigible hanger converted into an ice arena.
• The first game in the Olympic Ice Arena had only 3000 of the 8500 seats occupied.
• When the USA team faced off against the USSR there were 10,000 attendees in the small arena.
• Locals recount that grown men were crying throughout the arena when the final buzzer sounded and the US team emerged victorious.
• Are you aware that the USA and the USSR still had a game each left that would ultimately determine the Gold Medal winners? 
• The victory became known as the Miracle on Ice and was considered the sporting event of the century.
• It also single-handedly spawned the US hockey craze we still enjoy today.

I must stop, but I could go on and on with the amazing facts shared on this special journey back through history. Wish you could have been there with us!