From KOLR Ozarks First
By Chris Pinson
SPRINGFIELD–It’s been 46 years since Team U.S.A. upset the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York and while nearly half a century’s past since the ‘Miracle on Ice’, members of the Missouri State Hockey team still got chills as they practiced and played on the same ice rink where the greatest moment in American sports history occurred.
“It was very powerful,” said Missouri State Hockey General Manager, Ryan Armstrong. “To see a group of college players playing on the same rink that a bunch of college players years and years ago, did something that the entire world had never seen. So, it was fun, it was touching, it was memorable.”
“I’m not gonna lie, I got a little choked up during the national anthem seeing the Missouri State Bears on the bench, getting ready to play and our coach standing in the same spot as Herb Brooks, it was really powerful.”
The Bears were one of four teams to be invited by the American Collegiate Hockey Association to play in Lake Placid at the Fall Face-off — a preseason exhibition. MO State’s impressive resume earned it the honor of representing its region at the three-day event between September 18-20.
“We’ve had several national tournament appearances over the last 10-12 years, both Division I and Division III, so they were trying to kind of space out teams they wanted representing at Lake Placid,” Armstrong said. “From bigger schools to smaller schools, from the east coast to the west coast and we were happy enough to accept as the representative from the Midwest.”
The team left Springfield on a bus, in the early morning, on Wednesday, September 17 and it took just about 24 hours to arrive in Lake Placid, on Thursday. The Ice Bears were able to practice that evening and it came on the same rink Team U.S.A. defeated the Soviet Union.
“They’ve seen the movie, they know some of the story, but what we did was go step further and we wanted to educate them, not only on the hockey aspect but also where the United States was at that point, and that hocket game was a real tipping point for the United State,” said Armstrong.
“Beating the Soviets, the Cold War, I mean, it was huge, huge change in American culture. And for our guys to be able to be at that location and see where they were when the Miracle on Ice, and it really was a miracle on ice, where it happened, it gave them goosebumps.”
Skating on “hallowed ice” gave the team a stronger sense of unity and chemistry, which was evident by its victories in two-out-of-three games. But what makes this trip, and those wins, all the sweeter is the fact that Missouri State Hockey is a club sport, not a sponsored/funded sport by the university.
“I like the distinction of the NCAA athlete, the paid athlete, versus what we do at the club level, where they’re actually paying to be here. That to me shows true love of the game. These players are phenomanol, they’re really, really good hockey players and it’s really good competition.”
You can check out the Ice Bears in action when they have their home opening games October 16 & 17 at Brightspeed Ice Park.
(Originally published at https://www.ozarksfirst.com/sports/ice-bears-recap-trip-to-site-of-miracle-on-ice/)
