Lake Placid, 1980. The Miracle on Ice took place during the Winter Olympics in the final round of men’s ice hockey between the United States and the Soviet Union. In a period of turmoil, where the Soviets had invaded Afghanistan and President Carter decided to boycott the summer Olympics in Moscow, the U.S. team was the underdog. Despite the Soviet teams reputation as the best hockey team in the world, the United States, made up of mostly amateurs, pulled off an upset that reinvigorated the American spirit.