I was ten years old and didn't see it live, as I was living here in Rochester. My best friend heard about it before I did and called me after dinner (or whenever it was that the game ended) screaming "We beat the Russians! We beat the Russians!" I had another friend who was at the Amerks game that night when they announced the score. Apparently half the crowd left immediately to go watch the ABC broadcast.
A day or so later I went to an "Amerks Pizza Party" that was held in the old McCurdy's at Midtown. I sat between the veteran Ron Garwasiuk and a 19-year-old kid named Geordie Robertson. I had the best damn seat in the place, between two Amerks Hall of Famers. Dave "The Hammer" Schultz was there too, Bobby Mongrain, Daryl Drader, Chris Halyk, Joe Kowal, on and on. The heroes of my youth.
I asked Garwasiuk -- and pay attention to the pronouns -- "Do you think we can beat Finland?" To which he replied, "Well, if they beat the Russians, they'd better beat Finland." It didn't occur to me until much later that Garby was Canadian and probably didn't give a rat's ass.