Feb. 27, 1960 – Squaw Valley, CA – Before a national television audience and a crowd of 10,000 spectators filling the 8,500-seat Blyth Arena, the United States shocked the favored USSR hockey team 3-2. Continuing a tradition of a different game, a different hero, US forward Bill Christian netted his only two goals of the medal round to lead the US back from a 2-1 deficit. It was the first time in 10 international games that the United States had beaten the USSR.

Early in the first period, Bill Cleary put the US ahead 1-0, bringing the crowd to its feet. But, the Soviets answered less than a minute later, and added a second goal in the first period to take a 2-1 advantage. It was in the second period that Bill Christian took a pass from his brother Roger and beat Soviet goalie Nikolai Puchkov on a one-on-one. With half of the game yet to play, both goalies kept the puck out of the net until 5 minutes remained in the game. That’s when Bill Christian found a loose puck in front of Puchkov and batted it between his legs. The goal gave the Americans a 3-2 lead with only minutes to play.

The USSR pressed hard in the last few minutes, but goalie Jack McCartan was stellar, as he had been all tournament. The raucous crowd counted down the final 10 seconds as the United States players killed the final 6 on 5 Soviet attack. The team rushed to center ice to celebrate their second improbable win in three days. The victory gave the US a 4-0 record in the medal round, with one game the following morning against Czechoslovakia to decide the gold medal.

Box Score
USA vs USSR | February 27, 1960

Scoring

Goalie Saves

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Feb. 24, 1960 – Squaw Valley, CA – Team USA runs their Olympic record to 4-0 with a 9-1 win over Germany. In the victory, Bill Cleary netted 4 goals and an assist and John Mayasich added two tallies. The US scored their first two goals on a Power Play after an interference penalty on Germany. The rules in international competition in 1960 required the player to serve the full two minutes of a minor penalty, even if a goal was scored. This allowed the US to capitalize twice on the same power play.

The win also kept the US in a first place medal round tie with a 2-0 record. Still, the US now faced their toughest competition with three games in four days against the best remaining teams in the tournament, Canada, the USSR and Czechoslovakia. The real competition would begin the following day, Feb. 25 when the US faced Canada.

Box Score
USA vs Germany | February 24, 1960

Scoring

Goalie Saves

Bill Cleary plays ping pong with Alexandrov from Forgotten Miracle on Vimeo.

Feb. 6, 1960 – Colorado Springs, CO – In the second of back to back games versus Denver University, the US manages a 5-5 tie. New team members Bill and Bob Cleary joined the team on the ice. During warmups their new teammates refuse to pass them the puck, giving them the cold shoulder to show their displeasure for the cutting of former teammates Herb Brooks, Larry Alm and Bob DuPuis. With the tie, the US has a record of 9 wins, 4 loses and 3 ties heading into their final tuneup against the Czechs in Los Angeles.

Feb. 5, 1960 – Colorado Springs, CO – The US Olympic hockey team loses 7-5 to Denver University. Bill and Bob Cleary join the team and Larry Alm, Bob DuPuis and Herb Brooks are cut from the team to make room. Some of the US players threaten to leave the team in protest to the last minute cuts. Coach Riley tells general manager Jim Claypool to “find our where they want to go, get them their plane tickets and get them out of here.” Claypool and captain Jack Kirrane convince the disgruntled players to stay or they’ll “never play for another US amateur team for the rest of their days.” The players agree to stay.