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Sometimes, sporting events can be a pretty mundane affair, but every now and then, they can produce more drama than any binge-worthy TV show ever could. The action can get incredibly tense, and the context surrounding a particular event can elevate it to a story so good that not even Hollywood’s best script writers could equal it. However, some sports stories are just so good that writers will attempt to replicate it on the silver screen, minor changes and discrepancies aside.

As a sports fan, there are several films that I enjoy watching every now and again, including the likes of “Hoosiers”, “Major League”, “The Longest Yard” (hot take: I think the 2005 remake is better), “42” and “Rush”. However, my favorite sports film of all time is the 2004 film “Miracle”; based on the true story of the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team.

The film stars Kurt Russell and follows the story of Herb Brooks; a successful college hockey coach tasked with coaching the U.S. Olympic team, which had not been very competitive in the last few years prior. Brooks wants to be more than just competitive. He wants to beat the best team in the world, the Soviet Union.

At the time, professional players in sports like hockey or basketball were not allowed to compete in the Olympics, meaning that the U.S. hockey team was made up of the best college players in the country with an average age of just 21 years. However, the Soviet hockey team had been together for the last two decades, winning Olympic gold in 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976. Most of the Soviet hockey players weren’t playing in professional leagues, but rather employed by industrial firms or military organizations just for the purpose of playing hockey. The Soviets didn’t play like amateurs, but they were still considered so under the Olympic regulations.

Meanwhile, Coach Brooks had to pull together a team mostly made up of players from Boston University and the University of Minnesota, a pretty heated rivalry at the time. Over the course of six months, Brooks uses some very unorthodox methods to meld his team together before heading to Lake Placid for the 1980 Winter Olympics.

With just a few days before the Olympics, the U.S. team played the Soviets in an exhibition at Madison Square Garden, and were demolished by a score of 10-3, and it looked as if the Soviets were going to dominate the Olympics yet again.

However, the U.S. went undefeated in group play, including a 2-2 tie with Sweden and a 7-3 win over Czechoslovakia, who were considered the second-best team behind the Soviets.

On February 22, 1980, the U.S. again met the Soviets, this time in the Olympic semifinals. Before the game, Coach Brooks gave a rousing speech to his players, telling them, “Their time (the Soviets) is done…this is YOUR time. Now go out there and take it.”

Outside of the hockey rink, the United States and Soviet Union were still in the thick of the Cold War, and as the hockey arena began to fill up, that animosity made its way inside with over 8,000 fans chanting, “USA! USA! USA!” This was more than just a hockey game. It was a moment in history.

Down 3-2 heading into the third period, the U.S. scored twice in the first half of the final frame to take a 4-3 lead. For the final 10 minutes of game time, the U.S. had to hold off a furious charge by the Soviets and as the final seconds ticked away, play-by-play broadcaster Al Michaels made his most famous call, “Do you believe in miracles? YES!”

As the crowd went ballistic, the U.S. players piled over each other in pure jubilation. Coach Brooks and his team of young college kids had upset a hockey giant.

Even though the game had incredible implications, some people forget that the U.S. still had to win one more game if they wanted to win the gold medal. Two days later on February 24, the U.S. defeated Finland 4-2 to win their first gold medal in hockey since the 1960 team, a team that Herb Brooks himself was cut from a week before that year’s Olympics.

Before “Miracle” released in February of 2004, Brooks died in a car crash in August of 2003. Brooks had served as a consultant for the film, and at the end of the movie, a dedication to him reads, “He never saw it. He lived it.”

If you’ve never seen “Miracle” before, you owe yourself a favor. It’s not only a classic underdog story, but it’s also a story of how a group of Americans came together for their country despite their differences; a lesson that many Americans could stand to learn today.