The miracle on Ice

[jstnrgrs]

So I was watching it earlier this evening, and I noticed Al Michals talking about standings and points. I had always been under the impresion that the game was in the semi-final of a knockout phase of the competition, but aparently that was not the case. The thing that I don't get is that Al said that with the win over the USSR, the Americans controled their own destiny against Finland.
The standings that they showed were:

Team W L T Pts.
USSR 1 0 0 2
USA 0 0 1 1
Sweeden 0 0 1 1
Finland 0 1 0 0

It seams to me that even with the wins over USSR and Finland, the USA could have ended up tied with Sweeden if they had won their final two games. Had the USA already clinched the tiebreaker or something? Does anyone know anything about the structure of this tournament?

[girgy44]

The USA vs USSR game that everyone talks abotu where Eurizione(sp?) scores with 10 min left is after the round robin pahse of the tourney was over. It was the final four so to speak and this game was the semis.

[jstnrgrs]

[ QUOTE ]
The USA vs USSR game that everyone talks abotu where Eurizione(sp?) scores with 10 min left is after the round robin pahse of the tourney was over. It was the final four so to speak and this game was the semis.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I always thought, but it sure didn't seam that way from the comentary. (And the standings that they showed.)

[judgesmails]

Not exactly. The medal round was a round robin format, not a single elimination tourney. If the US lost to Finland and Sweden beat the Russians (neither happened) the deciding factor for medal standing would be decided by goal differential and there was a chance the US could have ended up without a medal.

[MrFeelNothin]

Yes, it WAS down to the final four, but I'm pretty sure they played the final four round-robin style as well. In the first game we tied Sweden and Russia beat Finland. The Miracle was the second game and I think that when Al said "we controlled our own destiny" that Finland had beaten Sweden in their second game. So if we lost to Finland, Finland would have gold with a 2-1 record if Sweden beat USSR; if USSR won and the US lost, USSR would have gold with a 2-1 record and the tiebreaking win over Finland. Only the US could say, if we win, we win it all.

I'm not at all sure that any of this is true as I was not born until 1984, its mostly just put together from what I've heard from various people/other sources.

[jstnrgrs]

So when the miracle is called the 1980 olympic semi-final, that is actually incorrect. It was just a medal round game.

[Dynasty]

There's lots of bad information in this thread. Since this is one of my favorite sports moments, I think I can clear things up a little.

1980 Olympic hockey competition had twelve teams competing for medals. They were divided into two groups (Red and Blue). The six teams in each group played a round robin format to determine which two teams from the group would advance to the medal round. The standings of the groups finished like this:

<font color="red">Red Group</font>
1. Soviet Union 5-0-0
2. Finland 3-2-0

3. Candada 3-2-0
4. Poland 2-3-0
5. Holland 1-3-1
6. Japan 0-4-1

<font color="blue">Blue Group</font>

1. Sweden 4-0-1
2. United States 4-0-1

3. Czechoslovakia 3-2-0
4. Romania 1-3-1
5. Germany 1-4-0
6. Norway 0-4-1

I'm not sure why Finland advanced over Canada in the Red Group. The obvious assumpion is that Finland won their head-to-head game. I'm also not sure why Sweden was considered the first place team in Group B. But, Sweden did have a better GF-GA than the USA (26-7 vs. 25-10)).

So, in the medal round, the standings started with each team already having played one game since the Soviet Union-Finland and United States-Sweden games carried over.

Soviet Union 1-0-0
United States 0-0-1
Sweeden 0-0-1
Finland 0-1-0

The medal round was not a tournament. It had a fixed schedule of Red 1 vs. Blue 2 and Red 2 vs. Blue 1 in the first round. Then, Red 1 vs. Blue 1 and Red 2 vs. Blue 2 in the second round.

The winner of the gold medal would be the team with the best 3-game record. Those standings finished.

United States 2-0-1
Soviet Union 2-1-0
Sweden 0-1-2
Finland 0-2-1

[ QUOTE ]
The thing that I don't get is that Al said that with the win over the USSR, the Americans controled their own destiny against Finland.

[/ QUOTE ]

The United States-Soviet Union was the first game played in the medal round. After that win and the Sweden-Finland tie a few hours later, the U.S. did indeed control their destiny in the game against Finland. The standings became:

United States 1-0-1
Soviet Union 1-1-0
Sweden 0-0-2
Finland 0-1-1

I can only assume that Al Michaels made his comment not only after the US-USSR game but also after the Sweden-Finland game. The US-USSR game was not shown live in the US. It was tape delayed by about three hours. So, if Michaels said that in post-game comments, he may have already had knowledge of the Sweeden-Finland game.

[Dynasty]

While the Kurt Russell movie Miracle is very good. I prefer this documentary (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0276918/) which is currently playing on HBO.