Winter Olympics boost efforts to build ‘Miracle on Ice’ monument in Lake Placid
By Jack Thurston
Click here for updates on this story
LAKE PLACID, New York (WPTZ) — A nonprofit organization is working to add a new landmark to the village of Lake Placid honoring the most famous moment from the 1980 Winter Olympics, the “Miracle on Ice.” It will commemorate Team USA’s upset victory over the Soviet Union in ice hockey and will be known as the “Monument to a Miracle.”
Volunteers are now using the attention on the 2026 Winter Olympics as a way to tell their story and build interest in their fundraising efforts for the monument.
“We’re really excited to capitalize on the momentum and the focus of the Olympic Games,” said Jeff Potter, a member of the group Friends of the 1980 Miracle on Ice Hockey Team. “Obviously, any time there’s an Olympic Games, the chant of ‘USA, USA’ always comes up and the 1980 hockey team is always at the forefront of that conversation. We’re hoping that we can generate some excitement about the monument and capitalize on what’s about to happen here in the next couple of weeks.”
A red building which used to house a restaurant called the Arena Grill currently sits outside the Olympic Center. It is scheduled to be demolished and the Friends of the 1980 Miracle on Ice Hockey Team plan to replace it with a park and a dramatic life-sized bronze statue of the hockey team who won gold in 1980.
Potter said the group is currently working to raise several million dollars to make the Monument to a Miracle a reality and establish a long-term maintenance fund. He added that the addition should create an impressive welcoming sight outside the Olympic Center.
Potter said the monument will be unveiled in time for the 50th anniversary of the hockey victory over the Soviet Union that changed history for Lake Placid. He added that the attention on the current Olympics should help the Friends of the 1980 Miracle on Ice Hockey Team with their fundraising appeals to sponsors and individual donors.
“People are writing with their stories, sending in $19.80 checks, telling us what that moment meant to them and how it affected their lives,” Potter said in an interview with NBC5 News. “That’s been a really interesting part of this whole journey is hearing from people across the nation and what this moment meant to them.”
The effort will also see the creation of a statue honoring Eric Heiden, the Olympic speedskater who broke records in 1980, becoming the first athlete to win five individual gold medals in a single Winter Olympics. Potter noted that it was members of the 1980 men’s hockey team that requested Heiden be included in the creation of any monuments commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1980 Winter Games. The statue of Heiden will overlook the speedskating oval, Potter added.
More information on the efforts to build the Monument to a Miracle can be found on the organizers’ website. Donations to the cause are tax-deductible, Potter said.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.