Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act passes Senate

Olympic rings

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The bipartisan Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act has passed the Senate.

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith announced the passing of the act.

The House of Representatives passed this legislation, which was led by Representative Peter Stauber and co-sponsored by the entire Minnesota Congressional Delegation.

The amended bill now returns to the House for another vote before heading to the president’s desk.

The legislation will award three Congressional Gold Medals to members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team to recognize the 45th anniversary of their extraordinary victory at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games, where they defeated the Soviet Union.

If signed, three medals will be displayed at the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minnesota, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado, and the Lake Placid Olympic Center in New York.

In February 1980, the United States Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team defeated the Soviet Union 4-3 in the first game of the medal round of the 1980 Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament in Lake Placid, New York. Team USA, which included 12 hockey players born in Minnesota and was coached by University of Minnesota championship-winning hockey coach Herb Brooks.

The win defied expectations by defeating the four-time Olympic champion Soviet Union team in a game referred to as the “Miracle on Ice.”