Mark Pavelich, a center on the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team, has passed away at the age of 63. At the Lake Placid games, that team defeated the heavily favored Soviet Union, perhaps the greatest win in the history of team sports. The American victory has since come under fire from the left, which dislikes the idea of the United States as a winner. Back in 1980, the nation was losing badly at home and abroad. The Soviets were on the march in Afghanistan and their proxies making inroads in Central America. Iran was still holding American hostages and humiliating the United States. Jimmy Carter’s surging “misery index” left the nation with little to cheer for, but at Lake Placid, help was on the way.
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