Mike Eruzione is an American former ice hockey player. Eruzione was born on October 25, 1954, to an Italian-American family in Winthrop, Massachusetts.
He is best known as the captain of the 1980 Winter Olympics United States national team that defeated the Soviet Union in the famous “Miracle on Ice” game, in which he scored the game- winning goal.
Eruzione attended Boston University. While at Boston, he averaged over twenty goals a season for four years. He was captain of his team and is the 4th all-time leading scorer in Boston University history.
Eruzione also played for Team USA at the 1975 and 1976 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments. He then spent two seasons with the Toledo Goaldiggers of the International Hockey League, and was named the Rookie of the Year in 1978. He led the team to the Turner Cup championship in that year. After his second year in Toledo, Eruzione was named the Captain of the 1980 Olympic hockey team. Playing Forward, he scored the winning goal against the Soviets and helped the Americans win the Gold
medal against Finland. Eruzione’s winning goal against the Soviet Union has become one of the most played highlights in American sports and was voted the greatest highlight of all time by ESPN viewers in March 2008.
