John Steigerwald: Hockey in Pittsburgh makes major strides since 'Miracle on Ice'

Hockey has come a long way. Especially in Pittsburgh.

Forty years ago Saturday, Al Michaels opened ABC’s tape-delayed telecast of what would become the greatest moment in American sports history with this: “A lot of people in this building don’t know the difference between a blue line and a clothesline.”

Before drawing the hockey assignment in the 1980 Winter Olympics, Michaels, who was 35 years old, had called one hockey game in his life.

Here’s what his analyst, Hall of Fame goaltender Ken Dryden, said when Michaels asked him for his thoughts: “For the U.S. team, this is a time of discovery. It’s one thing to be young and promising and quite another to be good. In the next two and half hours, the U.S. will go through the most demanding and infuriating time of their lives. They’ll be playing against a very good team that’s better than they are, and after that time, this team will find out a lot about themselves. They’ll find out just how good they are.”

We all found out.

USA 4, USSR 3.

Who could have imagined the captain of that team, Mike Eruzione, and several of his teammates being introduced at a huge rally for a President Donald Trump exactly 40 years later?

The greatest moment in sports history was seen live by 8,500 people. That’s how many could fit into the ice arena in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Canadians, Russians and most of Europe saw it live. But, because it was played at 5 p.m. to accommodate the Soviets, who cared about hockey a lot more than the Americans and didn’t want the game to be played at 4 a.m. Russian time, Americans got a tape-delay broadcast.

After all, it was only hockey. In most American cities, the ABC affiliate probably was showing reruns of “Three’s Company” or “The Brady Bunch.”

I anchored the 6 p.m. sports for the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh (WTAE) that night. If I remember correctly, out of respect for viewers who were waiting for the tape delay, I gave a 30-second warning for people who wanted to turn down their sound and look away.

After the gold-medal win, there was a lot of talk about how hockey’s popularity was going to soar in the U.S.

Hockey in Pittsburgh sure needed a boost.

The Penguins were an afterthought in February 1980.

The Steelers won their fourth Super Bowl a month earlier. Dan Marino and Pitt finished 11-1 with a Christmas Day win over Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl, and the Pirates won the World Series in October.

Pitt basketball’s Sam Clancy was a bigger star than anyone on the Penguins, and Duquesne basketball was a bigger deal.

The Penguins drew an average of 10,653 fans in 1979-80.

In 1980-81, they drew 10,335 per game. So much for the gold-medal bump.

Forty years later, the Penguins are Pittsburgh’s most successful pro franchise and, among some demographics, its most popular.

Mario Lemieux did what a gold medal could not. By the time he arrived in 1984, the Penguins were drawing 6,800 per game with no sellouts. There were no more than 20 games on television, and they all were away games.

Who could’ve predicted 12 straight sold-out seasons?

Yeah, hockey has come along way since that night in Lake Placid, N.Y, 40 years ago when most people in Pittsburgh — including many in the media — didn’t know the difference between a blue line and a clothesline.

Now, it’s hard to image a winter without it.

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Note: This column has been updated to correct the score of the USA-USSR game.