“You’ve got 10 seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? YES!”  – Al Michaels, Miracle on Ice, February 22, 1980

At first glance, the Herb Brooks Arena isn’t that imposing of a building: it’s just a simple rectangular building with a myriad of national flags from around the world. Inside, a single sheet of ice with 8,000 or so red and yellow seats with a single small scoreboard hanging over center ice. There are no flashy LED ribbons around the rink, no luxury suites, no unique amenities that can compare to the modern arenas of today’s NHL. But forty years ago today, on February 22, 1980, the then-named Olympic Center in the small village of Lake Placid, New York hosted one of the most famous hockey games of all time.

It’s a game that changed Mike Eruzione’s life forever.

That night, Eruzione captained the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team against the heavily-favored Soviet Union team to a stunning 4-3 upset in the semifinals of the Olympic hockey tournament. Today, that game is famously known as the “Miracle on Ice”.

A few months ago, I had the privilege of speaking with Mike about his time with the U.S. Hockey team and the impact that the Miracle made on his personal and professional life.

Eruzione grew up in Winthrop, Massachusetts, and played baseball and football in addition to hockey. “I wasn’t recruited by anybody coming out of high school, and went to prep school for a year trying to get a scholarship to New Hampshire” Eruzione recalled. A summer pick-up game resulted in a chance encounter with legendary Boston University hockey coach Jack Parker, who offered Eruzione a scholarship.

After graduating from BU, he tried out for the New York Rangers and played two seasons of minor league hockey in Toledo, Ohio and Philadelphia. Eruzione said, “I was a little disappointed in the process with the NHL. In those years, Americans and college players weren’t given the same opportunities to play.” It was his disappointment with the NHL that led to his desire to join the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team.

In addition to playing for Jack Parker at BU, Eruzione played for the U.S. Olympic team under coach Herb Brooks, a three-time NCAA champion coach at the University of Minnesota. “He was brilliant, a great motivator,” Eruzione said of Brooks. “Herb taught you about hard work and respect and work ethic, things that are important in all aspects of life.”

Brooks named Eruzione as the captain of the U.S. team, and the team surprised many at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid by upsetting powerhouse teams such as Czechoslovakia and Sweden in the preliminary round. Eventually, the Americans made it to the semifinal round, awaiting a now infamous matchup with the Soviet Union, the world’s best team and four-time defending Olympic champions.

At the height of the Cold War, the game represented a chance for the Americans to get an upper hand on their political rivals by mounting an upset on American soil. But for Mike and the rest of the team, it was just another hockey game. He had “the same feeling you have before any big game you play, it’s still a hockey game. You just go out any play. We were prepared, we were eager to play.” Though he did admit to me that the team was “a little more excited, a little more anxious”.

Not only did Eruzione captain the Americans forty years ago, he was also the game’s winning goal scorer. At exactly 10:00 of the third period, Eruzione found an opening at the high slot and fired a wrist shot past a screened Vladimir Myshkin to give the Americans a 4-3 lead. It was a lead the team would never relinquish en route to one of the greatest upsets in sports history, and eventually, a gold medal. Mike recalled, “Herb always said it on the bench: play your game, play your game.”

Despite his Olympic success, Eruzione did not pursue an NHL career, instead retiring from competitive hockey after the 1980 Olympics (talk about going out on a high note!) Instead, he pursued opportunities in broadcasting and coaching, and currently works back at his alma mater of Boston University as Director of Special Outreach. “BU gave me my opportunity as a hockey player and my role now is an ambassador role, meeting with recruits, donors, and encourage them to support the University. It’s great being around student-athletes and the student lifestyle,” he told me.

As for his plans for the anniversary? Mike plans to join his teammates in Las Vegas at the invitation of the Golden Knights.

Mike was a pleasure to speak with and as a diehard hockey fan, it was a pleasure to hear first-hand about his experience with the 1980 team and the Miracle on Ice. Forty years later, the Miracle still lives on as one of the greatest moments in Olympic history and one of the greatest hockey games ever played.