IIHF Hall Of Fame Induction 2024
Al MICHAELS (USA)
IIHF Media Award
Born Brooklyn, New York, United States, November 12, 1944
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Matt Zambonin
“Eleven seconds…We’ve got ten seconds…The countdown going on right now…Morrow, up to Silk… Five seconds left in the game…Do you believe in miracles? Yes! Unbelievable!”
It is a call like no other in U.S. hockey history, a call that captured a moment, that defined a victory, that changed the course of hockey in the United States forever. Virtually to a man, the Americans who won the World Cup in 1996 pointed to the Miracle on Ice as a starting point, a first inspiration to play the game—a reason to dream big.
That call remains an integral part of the game in 1980 and its place in American sporting history. Imagine watching the game’s ending without that call? Impossible.
The words came from Al Michaels, the first recipient of the new IIHF Media Award.
oday, Michaels is known mostly as a commentator for American football (NFL), but he got his first prominent assignment in hockey in 1972, covering that year’s Olympics, which included the USA’s “quiet miracle” silver medal with a team that was playing in B Pool at the World Championship in the same year.
Later, he called games at the 1984 and ’88 Olympics and the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs. Later still, he was in-studio host for several years of the Stanley Cup finals, but despite his 60 years in the booth and coverage of virtually every sport, it is his “Miracle on Ice” call for which he will always be best remembered.
Years later, Michaels reflected on the game, an improbable 4-3 win over the Soviets that led to Olympic gold. “When I look back, obviously Lake Placid would be the highlight of my career. I can’t think of anything that would ever top it. I can’t dream up a scenario.”
It is a call like no other in U.S. hockey history, a call that captured a moment, that defined a victory, that changed the course of hockey in the United States forever. Virtually to a man, the Americans who won the World Cup in 1996 pointed to the Miracle on Ice as a starting point, a first inspiration to play the game—a reason to dream big.
That call remains an integral part of the game in 1980 and its place in American sporting history. Imagine watching the game’s ending without that call? Impossible.
The words came from Al Michaels, the first recipient of the new IIHF Media Award.
oday, Michaels is known mostly as a commentator for American football (NFL), but he got his first prominent assignment in hockey in 1972, covering that year’s Olympics, which included the USA’s “quiet miracle” silver medal with a team that was playing in B Pool at the World Championship in the same year.
Later, he called games at the 1984 and ’88 Olympics and the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs. Later still, he was in-studio host for several years of the Stanley Cup finals, but despite his 60 years in the booth and coverage of virtually every sport, it is his “Miracle on Ice” call for which he will always be best remembered.
Years later, Michaels reflected on the game, an improbable 4-3 win over the Soviets that led to Olympic gold. “When I look back, obviously Lake Placid would be the highlight of my career. I can’t think of anything that would ever top it. I can’t dream up a scenario.”
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation