Gloves and sticks scatter across the ice as five men throw themselves at one another, full tilt and reckless. One skater slips, and others pile on top, thumping his back and head and chest with bare fists. Even the goalie joins the fray, his massive pads cushioning the impact as he barrels into the scrum. And yet no whistle is blown. No referee comes skating in to break up the melee. The crowd noise has reached a fever pitch, screaming, stomping, not in anger but in glee and disbelief.
“Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” The voice of Al Michaels, ABC’s play-by-play announcer, pumps through the speakers, relaying the ecstasy into millions of television sets and car radios across the nation. Team USA had beaten the Soviets in a game that would come to be called the Miracle on Ice, in the semifinals of the 1980 Winter Olympics, the greatest moment in the history of American sports.
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