By Brandon Zhu
On this day in 1980, the U.S. ice hockey team defeated the heavily favored Soviet Union 4-3 in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history. Dubbed the “Miracle on Ice”, Sports Illustrated marked the event as the top sports moment of the 20th century. The Soviet Union dominated ice hockey and has won Gold in the previous four Olympics. The Soviet Union team had gone 27-1-1 since 1960, and had not lost an Olympic game since 1968. The U.S. team consisted of mostly amateur players, and only four players with some minor-league experience. The U.S. team was also the youngest in the tournament. The win against the Soviet Union propelled the U.S. to the finals against Finland. The U.S. were down 2-1 at a point, but came back to win 4-2 against Finland. This marked the second time the U.S. won Gold in hockey.