Josh Clark

It was such a big deal.

The Soviet Union won the Olympic gold medals in ice hockey in 56, and then 64, 68, 72, and 76.

So...

They ran the Olympics basically from the mid-60s to the mid-70s.

And then 1980 came along and you had a U.S.

hockey team.

And first of all, the Soviets hockey team, I believe there was a player, Fedesov, who said later on that was probably the best team that the Soviet Union had ever put together.

So they were...

the Drago, and we were a little rocky because the American team at the time, this was before they allowed pro players to play in the Olympics.

There was a bunch of college kids, and they were, I mean, to call them underdogs was a massive understatement.

Yeah, and a lot of the credit goes to the coach of the Olympic men's team, Herb Brooks, who was the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey coach.

Kurt Russell.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah, he played him in the movie.

Oh, I thought that was Emilio Estevez.

Well done.

So the United States did not, despite how it ended, they did not get off on a very good footing.

There is an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden a few days before the 1980 Olympics.

Same month and everything.

And the Soviet Union and the United States played in this exhibition match.