II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 94
To award 3 Congressional Gold Medals to the members of the 1980 United
States Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team, in recognition of their extraor-
dinary achievement at the XIII Olympic Winter Games where, being
comprised of amateur collegiate players, they defeated the dominant
Soviet ice hockey team in the historic ‘‘Miracle on Ice’’, revitalizing
morale in the United States at the height of the Cold War, inspiring
generations, and transforming the sport of ice hockey in the United
States.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY15, 2025
Mr. C
RAMER(for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. HICKENLOOPER,
Mr. C
URTIS, Mr. PETERS, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr.
R
OUNDS, and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs
A BILL
To award 3 Congressional Gold Medals to the members of
the 1980 United States Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey
Team, in recognition of their extraordinary achievement
at the XIII Olympic Winter Games where, being com-
prised of amateur collegiate players, they defeated the
dominant Soviet ice hockey team in the historic ‘‘Miracle
on Ice’’, revitalizing morale in the United States at the
height of the Cold War, inspiring generations, and trans-
forming the sport of ice hockey in the United States.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Miracle on Ice Con-4
gressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) The United States Olympic Men’s Ice Hock-8
ey Team competed at the 1980 Winter Olympics, of-9
ficially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and known 10
as the 1980 Lake Placid games, from February 13 11
to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York. 12
(2) Team USA, comprised of collegiate players, 13
defeated the defending Olympic champion the Soviet 14
Union 4–3 on February 22, 1980, in the final round 15
of the 1980 Winter Olympics men’s ice hockey tour-16
nament. 17
(3) The 1980 United States Olympic Men’s Ice 18
Hockey Team roster included— 19
(A) Bill Baker (Grand Rapids, Minnesota); 20
(B) Neal Broten (Roseau, Minnesota); 21
(C) Dave Christian (Warroad, Minnesota); 22
(D) Steve Christoff (Richfield, Minnesota); 23
(E) Jim Craig (North Easton, Massachu-24
setts); 25
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(F) Mike Eruzione (Winthrop, Massachu-1
setts); 2
(G) John Harrington (Virginia, Min-3
nesota); 4
(H) Steve Janaszak (Saint Paul, Min-5
nesota); 6
(I) Mark Johnson (Madison, Wisconsin); 7
(J) Rob McClanahan (Saint Paul, Min-8
nesota); 9
(K) Ken Morrow (Flint, Michigan); 10
(L) Jack O’Callahan (Charlestown, Massa-11
chusetts); 12
(M) Mark Pavelich (Eveleth, Minnesota); 13
(N) Mike Ramsey (Minneapolis, Min-14
nesota); 15
(O) Buzz Schneider (Grand Rapids, Min-16
nesota); 17
(P) Dave Silk (Scituate, Massachusetts); 18
(Q) Eric Strobel (Rochester, Minnesota); 19
(R) Bob Suter (Madison, Wisconsin); 20
(S) Mark Wells (St. Clair Shores, Michi-21
gan); and 22
(T) Phil Verchota (Duluth, Minnesota). 23
(4) The ‘‘Miracle on Ice’’ United States and So-24
viet Union final round game aired on tape delay on 25
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Feb 22, 1980, from Lake Placid and drew 1
34,200,000 average viewers. The match is remem-2
bered as a ‘‘miracle’’ as collegiate ice hockey players 3
defied expectations in defeating a Soviet team that 4
won 4 consecutive gold medals dating back to 1964. 5
(5) Team USA defeated Finland 4–1 in its 6
final game to win the gold medal, its first gold 7
medal since 1960 in men’s ice hockey. 8
(6) Herb Brooks, the last player cut from the 9
1960 United States Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey 10
Team that won gold at Squaw Valley, guided the 11
1980 team to its historic gold medal. Known as a 12
motivator, Brooks molded a team built around hard 13
work, belief in oneself, and belief in teammates. He 14
reminded his team when they played the Soviets, 15
‘‘you were born to be hockey players, everyone one 16
of you . . . and you were meant to be here’’. 17
(7) The tournament occurred at a time when 18
the United States was struggling with rampant stag-19
flation, high gas prices, hostages held in Iran, and 20
increased tensions with the Soviet Union whose inva-21
sion of Afghanistan led to the boycott of the 1980 22
Summer Olympics. 23
(8) The Miracle on Ice was a turning point for 24
ice hockey in the United States. The game was 25
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named the greatest sports moment of the 20th cen-1
tury by Sports Illustrated. 2
(9) The historic win brought ice hockey to the 3
front-page of newspapers everywhere, and forever 4
opened the door to the National Hockey League for 5
players born in the United States. The impact of the 6
event was far-reaching and is still being felt today. 7
(10) Since 1980, interest in the United States 8
in the sport of ice hockey has increased exponen-9
tially. Registrations with USA Hockey have in-10
creased by nearly 400 percent since 1980 from 11
136,000 to over 564,000, and the number of Na-12
tional Hockey League players from the United 13
States has increased from 72 in 1980 to 245 in 14
2024. 15
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS. 16
(a) A
WARDAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 17
House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 18
of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 19
award, on behalf of Congress, of 3 gold medals of appro-20
priate design to the members of the 1980 United States 21
Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team, in recognition of their 22
extraordinary achievement at the XIII Olympic Winter 23
Games where, being comprised of amateur collegiate play-24
ers, they defeated the dominant Soviet hockey team in the 25
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historic ‘‘Miracle on Ice’’, revitalizing morale in the United 1
States at the height of the Cold War, inspiring genera-2
tions, and transforming the sport of ice hockey in the 3
United States. 4
(b) D
ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 5
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 6
Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 7
strike gold medals with suitable emblems, devices, and in-8
scriptions to be determined by the Secretary. 9
(c) D
ISPOSITION OFMEDALS.—Following the award 10
of the gold medals under subsection (a)— 11
(1) one gold medal shall be given to the Lake 12
Placid Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York, 13
where it shall be displayed and made available for 14
research, as appropriate; 15
(2) one gold medal shall be given to the United 16
States Hockey Hall of Fame Museum in Eveleth, 17
Minnesota, where it shall be displayed and made 18
available for research, as appropriate; and 19
(3) one gold medal shall be given to the United 20
States Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado 21
Springs, Colorado, where it shall be displayed and 22
made available for research, as appropriate. 23
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SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 1
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 2
bronze of the gold medals struck under section 3, at a 3
price sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, 4
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 5
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 6
(a) N
ATIONALMEDALS.—Medals struck under this 7
Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 8
31, United States Code. 9
(b) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 10
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 11
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 12
items. 13
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 14
SALE. 15
(a) A
UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 16
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 17
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-18
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 19
this Act. 20
(b) P
ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 21
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 22
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 23
Enterprise Fund. 24
Æ
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