38 - "Miracle" (2004)

     In the 1980 Winter Olympic games held in Lake Placid, NY, the U.S. Men's Hockey team beat the Soviet Union in the semi-final game, and would later go on to win the gold medal...Typing it out like that, it just doesn't sound like that big of a deal. But boy was it ever a big deal. The game is known as the "Miracle on Ice" and in a 1999 article, Sports Illustrated called it the best moment in sports in the 20th century....Yes, a hockey game was THE biggest moment in 100 years of sports. How big of a miracle was it really though?? Well, the Soviet Union team had won every gold medal since 1964 in hockey and during that time they went 27-1-1 with a goal differential of 175-44. Prior to the Olympics, the Soviet team played the NHL All-Stars in an exhibition game and beat them 6-0. This was by far the best team on ice. In contrast, the U.S. team was a group of kids from different colleges who had never played together before. But coach Herb Brooks instilled a team first attitude in them and during training pushed the players so hard to improve their speed and conditioning. While they weren't the best players on the ice, they would be in the best shape. It was because of this, that on that night in 1980 the biggest upset in sports history occurred. Miracle is the story of that team and stars Kurt Russell as coach Brooks. While it will definitely help to have a little knowledge of hockey going into this movie, it is by no means a necessity. Miracle is very inspirational and after watching it you feel like you can accomplish anything. Every once in a while, David does beat Goliath.