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January 1st won’t be the official golden anniversary of the 1960 gold medal (that’d be February 28), but we’ll be celebrating the 50th anniversary anyway as part of the NHL Winter Classic.

If you’re one of the lucky few with tickets to the game, you’ll see the trailer for Forgotten Miracle on the jumbotron at Fenway as part of the NHL’s recognition of the historic achievement of the 1960 US Hockey Team. Of course, that’s just a sideshow for the main event: the Bruins vs Flyers at Fenway Park on New Year’s Day.

By pucksandbooks
21 December, 2009

Imagine setting out to document in film a historic sports achievement which by virtue of its time period offers only minimal archival footage. A great, great story to be told without much in the way of camera-eye evidence. Such was the dilemma-challenge confronted by Andrew Sherburne and Tommy Haines, makers of the celebrated 2007 documentary ‘Pond Hockey,’ with their aim of chronicling the American hockey team’s gold medal performance at the 1960 Winter Olympics in ‘Forgotten Miracle .

And yet in the skilled filmmaking hands of these special hockey hearts what is ostensibly a project-damning weakness is instead turned into an asset: ‘Forgotten Miracle’ is rife with moving imagery alright, it’s just that we’re moved in this movie not so much by big-game footage or delirious, patriotic fan celebrations but rather the misty-eyed reflections of the now aged American sports heroes who carried off America’s first true Miracle on Ice.

This film’s aim is straightforward and noble — to correct the shortsighted presumption all too commonly held that the history of American hockey began in 1980 at Lake Placid. Most assuredly it did not….

To read the entire OFB article please visit onfrozenblog.com

According to an article in the Auburn Journal, a once-lost treasure from the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympic Games might be coming back home.

The puck that was scooped up from the ice by a spectator moments after the UA beat the USSR 3-2 in Blythe Arena has been located in the Midwest. Now, officials woring with the Squaw Valley Olympic Museum are trying to bring it back to California.

Blythe Arena itself is long gone, and much of the Olympic village has been lost to time, so a return of one of the great mementos of the game would be a great addition for the upcoming Squaw Valley 1960 Celbration.

Ten years ago our friend E.M. Swift of SI wrote a fantastic article on a forgotten legend.

December 13, 1999

John Mayasich was a wizard on ice but never got a shot to prove it in the NHL.

Last Friday, at the annual U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction dinner in Minneapolis, the Wayne Gretzky Award, which honors an individual for his or her contributions to U.S. hockey, was introduced. The first recipient, fittingly, was the award’s namesake. Among those who joined in applauding Gretzky was a broad-shouldered, soft-spoken Minnesotan: 66-year-old John Mayasich, who in his playing days could have laid claim to being the Great One of U.S. hockey.

That Mayasich is little known outside his home state is an accident of time and place rather than the result of any limitation in his skills. “I don’t care who you name, John could have played with them,” says former Harvard coach Billy Cleary…

To read the entire Swift article please visit the SI Vault

E.M. Swift wrote a gracious blog post about our film, and in it he reminds us of one of the great side stories that didn’t make the final cut of the film.

The official team photo had to be doctored to include the photos of latecomers Bill and Bob Cleary and John Mayasich.

The photoshopping skills of the time weren’t the best, so its pretty easy to pick out the late additions. John Mayasich had his head slapped over Herb Brooks body (top left), and Bill and Bob Cleary replaced Bob Dupuis and Larry Alm (middle of the front row, and far left of the middle row respectively). The heads of the Cleary brothers were actually taken from a photo snapped by teammate Weldy Olson, himself an avid photographer.

It’s a hack job for sure, but the photo has endured to this day as the only official team photo of this remarkable team.

Become a fan of the 1960 gold medal team on Facebook. Please join the page and swap stories, share photos and videos and support the miraculous feat of a team that would not be denied.

Last night, the members of the 1960 U.S. gold medal hockey team were celebrated as part of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame’s annual induction ceremony. Four members of the team, Jack Riley, Bill Cleary, Bob Cleary and Dick Rodenhiser were present.

As always, good to see the team getting its fair share of acclaim after all these years.

Full story on usahockey.com