It is as vivid a memory to me today as it was 25 years ago #- the United States hockey team beating Finland to win the gold medal.

The chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A" still stick in my mind, incredibly a quarter century later.

Where the heck has 25 years gone?

One moment, I'm in seventh grade at East Middle School, in Mr. Halpin's science class and Mr. Edmunds' social studies #- the next, I'm married and father of two girls.

The majority of the team will be in Lake Placid this weekend to celebrate their momentous accomplishment. To me, it is the greatest moment in American sports history because it transcended sports.

If you're over 30, you remember what 1980 was like. Iran held 52 Americans hostage, inflation was nuts and the Soviet Union was occupying Afghanistan. We still had a Vietnam hangover.

We needed something to unite us, to make us feel good to be Americans again.

No one thought it would be a group of college kids that played hockey.

That's part of what made it special, it was unexpected, there wasn't any hype that the U.S. was going to win the gold medal, it was supposed to be the USSR in a cakewalk.

But then came that fateful Friday night in the Adirondacks. There are two misconceptions about the U.S.-U.S.S.R. game.

First, it did not decide the gold medal. The U.S. had to play Finland two days later, if they had lost, they may have been out a medal entirely.

Second, the game was not on live television. Of course now we rarely expect to see the Olympics on live TV, but back then most sports were live.

But the game was played in the afternoon and was shown on tape delay. What happened was a lot of local newscasts reported the score so you knew to watch.

Then came the Finland game that decided the gold medal. My best memory is watching it with my father (who hasn't watched a hockey game since) and then after the U.S. won 4-2, jumping up and down and hugging him.

It was that special. But it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment; the perfect storm of conditions will never be duplicated.

Sometimes ESPN Classic will reair the USSR game with the classic call by Al Michaels and Ken Dryden (a former Cornell goalie).

So the players, most in their mid 40s, will gather in our state and reminisce. It won't be the same because coach Herb Brooks tragically died in a car crash almost two years ago.

Someday, I hope to get up to Lake Placid. I want to sit in that small hockey arena, close my eyes and imagine what that place must have been like in February 1980.

I want those memories of "U-S-A, U-S-A" to echo in my mind and to touch a piece of history.

Sciria, The Citizen's sports editor, can be reached at 253-5311, ext. 258 or at citizensports@lee.net