COLORADO, USA — Sports Illustrated declared the "Miracle on Ice" the greatest moment in sporting history.
The United States hockey team's win over the Soviet Union remains the ultimate underdog story, and it made for a great movie.
We caught up a guy who had a leading role on that gold medal team to find out how the group plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary.
Has it really been four decades, since a group of college hockey players pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history?
"We were there to win, just to try to win a hockey tournament. We had no idea it would resonate this long," two-time Olympian Buzz Schnieder said.
Lake Placis was Buzz Schnieder's second Olympic Games.
"Well, we had a pretty good team," Schneider said. "We didn’t know how good until we got into the Olympic Games and started beating the Swedes and the Czechs."
They finished pool play by knocking off Norway, Romania, and West Germany.
Then came the epic showdown in the medal round with the Soviet Union. If you were alive, you remember where you were when the US hockey team stunned the four-time defending gold medalists.
"Yeah it was, it's something. It’s like I said, its amazing its something that’s resonated," Schneider said. "But it was a great game. I’m glad we only played them once."
Many people forget about the gold medal game two days later. Head coach Herb Brooks made sure his players didn't forget about the fins. Telling his team, as Schneider recalls:
"If you lose this one, you take it to your (expletive) grave."
The rest is history.
This weekend, the remaining members of that team will relive it, celebrating the 40th anniversary together in Las Vegas.
"A lot of guys will be jarbing each other, giving each other a bad time," Schneider said. "But we’re a very close team and it will be a lot of fun."
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