It was fitting that there was a lot of buzz around international hockey this week with the 4 Nations Face-Off with many calling it the biggest international hockey game since the 1980 Miracle on Ice, which just so happened to have taken place 45 years ago Saturday.

It is — without question — the most important moment in American sports history. The impact that a team had on hockey, and our nation at large, continues to be seen to this very day.

I was born 15 years after the 1980 Olympics, so I don’t have any kind of “I remember where I was…” story. I could probably ask my dad what he was up to while magic happened on an Olympic-sized sheet of ice in Lake Placid, New York, but that’s about as close as we’d get.

But still, my entire childhood, I was very aware of what the 1980 Olympic team did and why it was so important.

I was a few months away from turning 7 when the team reunited to light the Olympic flame ahead of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, and also remember hearing the tragic news that the team’s legendary coach Herb Brooks had been killed in a car crash the following year.

But, it wasn’t until 2004, when the movie Miracle (which was made by Disney; back before they went all woke on all of us) that I could fully comprehend how big that win over the Soviets on February 22, 1980, truly was.

I mean, that story is perfect for the Hollywood treatment. You’ve got the Rocky (or I guess, a little more accurately Rocky III)-like underdog story of this team of college hockey players going up against a team of Soviet players that, in another era, would have been full of NHL superstars.

You don’t think Vladislav Tretiak would’ve won at least a couple of Vezinas? You’d be mistaken.

And while that alone would be enough for a serviceable movie, there’s more. You had the geopolitical situation at the time, with the Cold War reaching its apex.

And — as if that wasn’t enough — you’ve got some very human stories sprinkled about, like the fact that Brooks was himself cut from the 1960 US Olympic team that won gold in Squaw Valley (although he did play in the ‘64 and ’68 Games, which were both won by the Soviets), plus you get to see the entire team go from college rivals to becoming a true team that will live on forever.

I love that Fred Shero quote, “Win today, and we walk together forever.”

There may be no team that may be truer than the Miracle On Ice team.

I don’t think it’s a secret that people my age aren’t exactly history buffs, but I can assure you that every kid who grew up playing in the US knows the names Herb Brooks, Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione, Jack O’Callahan, and more.

Plus, I think most could recite Brooks’ legendary speech before the game against the Soviets word-for-word.

And still, almost half a century after Al Michaels made the most iconic call in the history of broadcast sports, Eruzione can still bring the house down just by walking onto the TD Center ice like he did on Thursday night.

Chills.

That’s how much that one game almost 50 years ago still means to all of us who either love hockey, love the United States, or — as I think is probably the case for many of us — both.

At some point, today, do yourself and watch the final minute of the game (I embedded it below, so no excuses), and be sure to tip your cap or tap your stick to the Miracle On Ice team, the most impactful team in US sports history.

(PS, I watched it again too, and I got goosebumps).