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It’s been nearly 45 years since a team of college-aged hockey players knocked off the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, known as the “Miracle on Ice,” en route to Olympic gold.
While that team prevailed in late February 1980, another gold medal could soon be coming the team’s way.
“It’s more than an athletic achievement,” said 1980 team captain Mike Eruzione, who scored the winning goal for the Americans against the Soviets on Feb. 22, 1980.
“I wasn’t born until 1984, but my dad was actually in Lake Placid the night when that happened. I grew up hearing that story about how inspirational it was and what a time to be an American,” Rep. Elise Stefanik said.
Stefanik is co-sponsoring a bill that would award the 1980 team the Congressional Gold Medal.
“When I heard our team had a possibility of receiving the Congressional Gold Medal, I was absolutely blown away by it,” Eruzione said.
Eruzione has long said that at the time, the team probably did not understand the true gravity of what it had accomplished. However, as the years and decades pass, he said the honor of being a part of it only grows stronger.
“When you look at the names of the people who have received the Congressional Gold Medal. It just makes you go, ‘my God,’ ” Eruzione added.
The honor may mean just as much to Lake Placid, the village in the Adirondacks where the Olympics took place — and where that game leads an Olympic tourism boom that has carried on for decades.
“They are just as much a part of the fabric and part of our family here. So any honor bestowed on to them that continues the legacy, we are excited to hear about,” said Darcy Norfolk, director of communications for the Olympic Regional Development Authority.
As part of the bill, Lake Placid would also receive a Congressional Gold Medal to display in the Olympic Center. There would also be replica medals made, which would be sold as souvenirs.
