From time to time, TheIHLC.com will feature detailed recaps and boxscores of some of the most legendary games in international hockey history, considered to be “IHLC Classics.” Today, to celebrate Independence Day in the United States, we feature the finale of the 1980 Lake Placid Games, Team USA’s post-Miracle victory to clinch Olympic Gold on home ice.

🇺🇸 United States 4-2 Finland 🇫🇮
Olympic Medal Round
Olympic Fieldhouse, Lake Placid 🇺🇸
Sunday, 24 February 1980

It was a Sunday morning 30 years ago today.

You didn’t have to be a hockey fan to want to tune your television set to ABC at 11 a.m. You didn’t even have to be a sports fan, for that matter. If you were an American who wanted to see something magical and inspiring, you made an appointment with your TV that morning because you knew that the greatest of all underdogs had a chance to do something remarkable in the tiny village of Lake Placid, NY.
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