LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (WCAX) – A fan-favorite camp has returned to Lake Placid, where fans ages 21 to 76 can hit the ice with Olympic hockey legends.
Upwards of 80 hockey enthusiasts from across North America are getting a chance this week to experience the people and place where the Miracle on Ice took place. The Miracle on Ice Fantasy Camp in Lake Placid has been held since 2015, bringing together Olympians from the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team.
For many, like Zach Lamppa from Duluth, it’s a dream come true. “I finally got in for the 2024 camp and it’s totally blown my expectations,” he said. He says it’s a surreal feeling to be on the ice with the likes of Mark Johnson and John Harrington and hopes this year’s camp is only the start for him. “There’s campers that have been here eight years and they still get, the hair stands up on their neck when they get here for the opening ceremony. So, same thing for me, I enjoy it, it’s overblown my expectations and yeah, I want to come every year.”
And for Johnson, who went on to play in the NHL and coach, the camp is a time to reminisce on old memories with former teammates, while making new ones on the ice. “It’s a way to give back, because generally when come back and people get to know you and you spend time with them — you eat dinner, you have breakfast together, you go on the ice and play games against one another — they get to know you. We get to know them and at the end of the day everybody is smiling because of this,” Johnson said.
Harrington says the event is also a time to relive the magic from a time when amateur athletes defied the odds. “It’s unbelievable to come back and it’s so exciting to come back here and to be in this building and to just remember the excitement and the madness and how exciting it was to play in that situation,” he said.
More games are scheduled on Wednesday and campers head home on Thursday.