Every USA Olympic hockey team, ranked by miracles on ice

5. Sapporo Olympics, 1972

There are two schools of thought here. You can decide how you view it. It’s like those choose your own adventure books. Except much shorter and you don’t die at the end. Unless you chose the wrong adventure.

The first school tells you that Canada didn’t send a team. With Canada bailing on the Olympics because they were upset that all their best talent was in the NHL and the Soviet Union got to send their best players, things should have been easier for Team USA. The best non-NHL Canadian players are better than the best non-NHL American hockey players. Except for this year. We got this.
The second school is that the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, and Finland were all still pegged as being better than Team USA. Let’s not forget that Team USA finished sixth in 1968 and fifth in 1964.

They walked away with silver in 1972.

It was a miracle that they were able to fend off everyone except the Soviet Union. Granted, they lost 5-1 to Sweden and 7-2 to the Soviet Union, but they were able to beat Czechoslovakia 5-1 and Finland 4-1. The win over Czechoslovakia is considered by many to be the biggest upset in Team USA history, behind the 1960 and 1980 victories over the Soviets.

Craig Sarner led Team USA in scoring with nine points.

It doesn’t get the publicity as the two gold medal wins, but at the time, it was a big deal. I’d probably rank it higher if I wasn’t 16 years away from birth.