The men's ice hockey tournament at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, United States, was the 14th Olympic Championship. Twelve teams competed in the tournament, which was held from February 12 to 24, 1980. The United States won its second gold medal, including a win over the heavily favored Soviet Union that became known as the held at the Olympic Fieldhouse (8,000) and the Olympic Arena (2,500).<!--https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll8/id/30906/rec/50 -->
Format
The IIHF ceased running a World championship in Olympic years. Nations that did not participate in the Lake Placid Olympics were invited to compete in the inaugural Thayer Tutt Trophy in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia.
Going into the games, the teams were ranked and divided into two groups. Teams were ranked based on performance during the 1979 World Ice Hockey Championships. Included were the eight teams in the 1979 top Championship Division (Pool "A") as well as the top four teams in the 1979, second-tier, "B" Pool tournament. While Poland finished 8th place in Pool A, the Netherlands, winners of Pool B, were ranked 8th while Poland was ranked 9th going into the Olympics. The total ranking was: Soviet Union (1), Czechoslovakia (2), Sweden (3), Canada (4), Finland (5), West Germany (6), United States (7), Netherlands (8), Poland (9), Romania (10), Norway (11), Japan (12). East Germany was originally ranked tenth, but declined to participate, with Japan filling their spot.
Overview
thumb|left|250px|United States vs. Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics|alt=Black and white in-game action photo including a goaltender, two defenders, and two attacking forwards
The Soviet Union had won the gold medal in five of the six previous Winter Olympic Games, and were the favorites to win once more in Lake Placid. The team consisted primarily of professional players with significant experience in international play. By contrast, the United States' team—led by head coach Herb Brooks—consisted exclusively of amateur players, and was the youngest team in the tournament and in U.S. national team history. In the group stage, both the Soviet and U.S. teams were unbeaten; the U.S. achieved several notable results, including a 2–2 draw against Sweden, and a 7–3 upset victory over second-place favorites Czechoslovakia.
For the first game in the medal round, the United States played the Soviets. Finishing the first period tied at 2–2, and the Soviets leading 3–2 following the second, the U.S. team scored two more goals to take their first lead during the third and final period, winning the game 4–3. Following the game, the U.S. went on to clinch the gold medal by beating Finland in their last game. The Soviet Union took the silver medal<!--Please do not change to Bronze. the USSR won Silver it was a round robin medal round--> by beating Sweden.
The victory became one of the most iconic moments of the Games and in U.S. sports. Equally well-known was the television call of the final seconds of the game by Al Michaels for ABC, in which he declared: "Do you believe in miracles?! YES!" In 1999, Sports Illustrated named the "Miracle on Ice" the top sports moment of the 20th century. As part of its centennial celebration in 2008, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) named the "Miracle on Ice" as the best international ice hockey story of the past 100 years.
Medalists
thumb|right|250px|A postage stamp issued by the Soviet Post Office for the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games. The Soviet Union had won the previous four Olympic ice hockey tournaments between 1964 and 1976.
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Bill Baker<br>Neal Broten<br>Dave Christian<br>Steve Christoff<br>Jim Craig<br>Mike Eruzione<br>John Harrington<br>Steve Janaszak<br>Mark Johnson<br>Rob McClanahan<br>Ken Morrow<br>Jack O'Callahan<br>Mark Pavelich<br>Mike Ramsey<br>Buzz Schneider<br>Dave Silk<br>Eric Strobel<br>Bob Suter<br>Phil Verchota<br>Mark Wells
|<!-- DO NOT CHANGE THIS!!! Medals were determined by points in a final round robin. There was no knockout round and gold medal game as there is today. The US beating Finland in their last game does not mean that Finland won silver. See the "Final round" section below. --><hr>
Helmuts Balderis<br>Zinetula Bilyaletdinov<br>Viacheslav Fetisov<br>Alexander Golikov<br>Vladimir Golikov <br>Alexei Kasatonov<br>Valeri Kharlamov<br>Vladimir Krutov<br>Yuri Lebedev<br>Sergei Makarov<br>Alexander Maltsev<br>Boris Mikhailov<br>Vladimir Myshkin<br>Vasili Pervukhin<br>Vladimir Petrov<br>Alexander Skvortsov<br>Sergei Starikov<br>Vladislav Tretiak<br>Valeri Vasiliev<br>Viktor Zhluktov
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Mats Åhlberg<br>Sture Andersson<br>Bo Berglund<br>Håkan Eriksson<br>Jan Eriksson<br>Thomas Eriksson<br>Leif Holmgren<br>Tomas Jonsson<br>Pelle Lindbergh<br>William Löfqvist<br>Harald Lückner<br>Bengt Lundholm<br>Per Lundqvist<br>Lars Molin<br>Mats Näslund<br>Lennart Norberg<br>Tommy Samuelsson<br>Dan Söderström<br>Mats Waltin<br>Ulf Weinstock
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First round
Blue Division
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<small>All times are local (UTC–5).</small>
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Red Division
thumb|right|Canada vs. the Netherlands
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<small>All times are local (UTC–5).</small>
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Consolation round
The third-placed teams in each division played each other to determine fifth place.
Final round
<section begin=Final />The top two teams from each group play the top two teams from the other group once. Head to head results from the preliminary round (Soviet Union defeated Finland 4–2, Sweden and United States tied 2–2) were carried over.
Head-to-head results carried forward from group games:
- February 12: Sweden 2–2 USA
- February 18: Finland 2–4 USSR<section end=Final />
Final round games:
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Statistics
Average age
Team Japan was the oldest team in the tournament, averaging 30 years. Gold medalists Team USA was the youngest team in the tournament, averaging 22 years and 5 months. Silver medalists Team USSR averaged 26 years and 5 months. Tournament average was 25 years and 5 months.
Leading scorers
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!width="20"|Rank
!width="200"|Player
!width="20"|
!width="20"|
!width="20"|
!width="20"|
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|1
|align=left| Milan Nový
| 6 || 7 || 8 || 15
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|2
|align=left| Peter Šťastný
| 6 || 7 || 7 || 14
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|3
|align=left| Jaroslav Pouzar
| 6 || 8 || 5 || 13
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|4
|align=left| Aleksandr Golikov
| 7 || 7 || 6 || 13
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|5
|align=left| Jukka Porvari
| 7 || 7 || 4 || 11
|-
| rowspan="2" |6
|align=left| Boris Mikhailov
| 7 || 6 || 5 || 11
|-
|align=left| Vladimir Krutov
| 7 || 6 || 5 || 11
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|8
|align=left| Marián Šťastný
| 6 || 5 || 6 || 11
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| rowspan="2" |9
|align=left| Sergei Makarov
| 7 || 5 || 6 || 11
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|align=left| Mark Johnson
| 7 || 5 || 6 || 11
|}
Hat trick scorers
- (vs. Netherlands)
- (vs. West Germany)
- (vs. West Germany)
- (vs. Canada)
- (vs. West Germany)
- (vs. Poland)
- (vs. West Germany)
- (vs. Poland)
- (vs. Japan)
- (vs. Netherlands)
- (vs. Netherlands)
- (vs. Norway)
Leading goaltenders
thumb|150px|Jim Craig
Goaltenders with 40% or more of their team's total minutes.
{| class="wikitable"
!width="20"|Rank
!width="190"|Goaltender
!width="20"|
!width="20"|
!width="20"|
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|1
|align=left|
| 419:36 || 15 || 163 || 2.14 || 91.57
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|2
|align=left|
| 180:00 || 10 || 90 || 3.33 || 90.00
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|3
|align=left|
| 260:00 || 9 || 77 || 2.08 || 89.53
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|4
|align=left|
| 236:50 || 11 || 82 || 2.79 || 88.17
|- align=center
|5
|align=left|
| 300:00 || 18 || 124 || 3.60 || 87.32
|}
Shutouts
- (vs. Japan)
- (vs. Norway)
- (vs. Romania)
- (vs. Japan)
Final ranking
thumb|right|Team USA jersey worn by [[Dave Christian during the 1980 Winter Olympics]]
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<small>These standings are presented as the IIHF has them; however, the IOC maintains that Poland and Romania tied for 7th, the Netherlands and West Germany tied for 9th, and Norway and Japan tied for 11th.</small>