COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Miracle on Ice is one of the biggest moments in hockey and Olympic sports, and the scoreboard from that game hangs in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs.
The museum is a 60,000-square-foot building full of Olympic history. Tommy Schield, director of marketing, said there’s one piece of history that hangs a little higher than the rest.
“The T. Rex of the museum, Schield said. “It’s the thing that jumps out at you and everyone wants to see.”
It’s the scoreboard from perhaps the biggest hockey game ever played: the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic game between United States and the heavily favored Russians. It's a game Dave Orgen was at.
“I was working with USA Hockey as their public affairs director," Orgen said.
Forty years later, he’s on the museum board and was one of the key players in bringing that scoreboard to Colorado Springs and into the U.S. Olympic Paralympic Museum.
“It had to be crane-lifted from outside the building, into the building, before they sealed up that side with windows,” Orgen said. “This was a monstrous project.”
Now the scoreboard is lit up and set to the final score and the final seconds of that Team USA-winning game, when Al Michaels asked millions of people if they believe in miracles.
"Listening to Al do the countdown, I can’t watch it today without getting a lump in my throat and clutching," Orgen said.
It’s one of the most memorable moments in sports and one of the biggest attractions at the museum.
“It’s really cool when you think of moments in Winter Olympic history,” Schield said. “This is top of the list for so many people.”
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