Miracle on Ice 2.0? US victory over Canada sends bold message: ‘Screw Old Glory? To your peril!'

While Glenn Beck isn’t a sports enthusiast, occasionally a match “[transcends] and [defines] the era we live in.”

“Sometimes, it says out loud what we're all thinking, and like the horns of Jericho, it announces our arrival and our future,” he says.

On these rare athletic occasions, Glenn will tune in.

Last weekend was one of those times. The United States National Men's Hockey Team faced off against Canada in Montreal in a match that was more about national glory than athletic glory.

While the U.S. national anthem was playing, Canadian fans booed loudly, angering several of the American players.

“When the puck finally dropped at the start of the game, the American center barely looked at the puck. He didn't care about playing the game at that point. He immediately tore off his gloves, dropped his stick, and clocked his opponent, taking him to the ground,” Glenn recounts.

“When the referees pulled the American away, he skated with his head high, glaring at the hostile crowd.”

The scuffle was one of three fights that broke out in the first nine seconds of the game.

“Our boys were a little sick and tired of being booed,” says Glenn.

The United States’ 3-1 victory further underscored the message of the match: “Screw Old Glory? To your peril!”

“It was kind of awesome,” says Glenn, calling the face-off reminiscent of the iconic 1980 Miracle on Ice game, in which the United States beat the heavily favored Soviet Union in a match that symbolized American patriotism in the Cold War.

“In 1980, the United States was in the same situation we're in right now, and it was a hockey game that changed everything,” Glenn reflects.

“By and large the world had lost respect for us because, just like now, we lost respect for ourselves. Our nation had gone through some of the most intense movements in civil unrest that we had ever seen. The left seized on it, keeping us in a perpetual cycle of class and societal warfare,” he continues.

The summer before the Miracle on Ice game, President Jimmy Carter addressed America’s issues in a televised speech, in which he claimed that “a crisis of confidence” had taken the nation.

“It's a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in confidence in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of unity and purpose for our nation. The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and political fabric of America,” he said.

“Wow! Does that sound familiar,” sighs Glenn, noting that Carter could “deliver impassioned speeches” and then go back to Washington and “double down on the policies” that were creating the problem.

Glenn recalls how during this time, inflation climbed, “[hitting] a fever pitch by 1980, interest rates spiked ... banks stopped lending, unemployment skyrocketed, the economy was clearly in a recession, the geopolitical landscape” was dire.

“Any of this sound familiar?” he asks.

“We had lost respect for ourselves, so the world didn't respect us. The Soviet Union appeared to be winning the war for global hearts and minds, and then — hockey,” he says.

On February 22, 1980, the ice rink became “the battlefield of the Cold War” when the United States national team under the leadership of coach Herb Brooks faced off against the Soviet Union.

Although the U.S. team was composed of mostly amateurs while its Soviet opponents were four-time-defending gold medalists and highly favored to win the match, the American underdogs scored the winning goal in the final five seconds of the game. The victory is one of the most iconic moments in sports history.

Was last weekend’s hockey game between the U.S. and Canada Miracle of Ice 2.0?

“I don’t know ... but I couldn’t help but feel the same way on Saturday,” says Glenn.

“I think America is back. We're not ashamed; we're not going to be intimidated, nor cower anymore.”

To hear more of Glenn’s commentary, watch the clip above.

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