BOSTON – Jack O’Callahan, and several of his 1980 “Miracle on Ice” teammates were sitting in a Washington, D.C., bar 29 years ago when the United States beat Canada in the final game of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

The ’80 players had just finished a charity game against the Washington Capitals alumni, and all the players couldn’t wait to watch Game 3 between the U.S. and Canada.

What the Americans accomplished in Lake Placid obviously is in a category of its own. Some believe, however, the three-game series between the United States in Canada in ’96 was one of the greatest international events in hockey.

O’Callahan remembers watching the likes of Brett Hull, Keith Tkachuk, Tony Amonte, Bill Guerin, Brian Leetch, Chris Chelios and Mike Ritcher bring home the victory that night and suddenly the “Miracle on Ice” teammates felt a sense of pride.

“It was almost like parents watching their kids play,” said O’Callahan. “Watching them really step up, and they stuck it to Canada. It was great. It was physical and it was intense. Now, you’ve got the Chelios’ of the world watching Charlie McAvoy, Jack Eichel, and go down the list of the current players on Team USA, and the ’96 team is looking at it like, ‘This is what we spawned.’ ”

The trickle-down effect of USA Hockey is tangible and it’s on display as the United States will attempt to beat Canada in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off Thursday at TD Garden.

O’Callahan explained how the 1960 U.S. team winning Olympic gold inspired the 1980 team, and how the 1980 team inspired the 1996 team, and now all those American victories are inspiring the 2025 roster.

“There’s a real connection among American hockey players,” O’Callahan said. “We’ve seen the fights. We’ve seen the battles we’ve had to go through to gain some sense of credibility on the world stage. That’s USA Hockey. We’re all Americans. We fought our way from being second-class citizens. Even in ’80, we took a lot of inspiration from the ’60 team. We knew those guys and grew up looking up to them. They won a gold medal and we grew up admiring those guys. Then, we go and do what we did.”

Current USA coach Mike Sullivan mentioned the 1980 team this week and how that incredible victory over the Russians en route to a gold medal win against Finland, still has an impact today.

“Without a doubt it does,” Sullivan said. “That event in USA Hockey inspired a generation of players – my generation. I guess it just shows our age that the players we have in our dressing room are watching the movie, and that’s their remembrance of it, but that event had a huge impact on my generation and inspired a generation of players. This group we have in our dressing room have an opportunity to do that, to inspire the next generation of players, and I think they recognize that, so it’s a bit of a trickle-down effect. Without a doubt that 1980 team still to this day has had such an influence on American hockey.”

O’Callahan, who admitted hearing and talking about the 1980 team never gets old, said he appreciates Sullivan’s comments.

“It means everything,” O’Callahan said. “I know Sully hardly at all, but if I saw him on the street, we would hug it out. It’s just the way it is. We’ve had these shared experiences in our lives, and I hope it never ends.”

Inside the USA dressing room, these players are already inspired to win for their country, its fans and themselves. While Sullivan was a teenager in Boston when the “Miracle on Ice” team won, all of the current U.S. players only know it through the movie Miracle or playing in the 1980 rink in Lake Placid, N.Y.

“Every single guy in this room has played in Lake Placid at some point during their career,” said left winger Chris Kreider. “Every player can probably quote Miracle word-for-word. I don’t think you can say enough about what that did for hockey in the U.S. Before that, there weren’t a lot of American players in the NHL compared to Canada, certainly not as many college players, so I think that opened the door and opened peoples’ eyes and it built from there.”

Kreider showcased a smile when asked how many times he’s watched the movie.

“Too many to count,” he said. “I don’t think my parents have actually every seen it, but I think they can quote it word-for-word because every hockey tournament (as a kid,) you watched it in the back of the car, and they’ve listened to it too many times to count.”

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It’s been 21 years since the movie was released, and the 1980 rink in Lake Placid is like a museum. It still feels like it did 45 years ago.

“These kids have all seen the movie, and they’ve all gone to Lake Placid as young kids playing in tournaments,” O’Callahan said. “They’ve always been connected to it as a USA Hockey player and it kind of froze us in time. It’s interesting how much of an impact the movie had and we’ve been carrying this around for a long time. We know it has a lot of staying power. What we did in 1980 was the genesis of American hockey players blasting through the glass ceiling the Canadian NHL.”

Even though O’Callahan won’t be in the building for the championship game Thursday, he understands it should be an epic game.

“We went up there to Montreal and put a black eye on Hockey Canada with the way the whole thing played out, and now, here they are coming to Boston, where there’s no better place to play hockey,” he said. “They’re snarly so it’s going to be interesting to see how this game plays out.”

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