LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — The woman had been waiting for her opportunity for more than an hour, which was no big deal because, technically, she had been waiting 40 years. She went to the Lake Placid Center for the Arts on a frigid night earlier this week with a folder containing a stack of perfectly preserved photographs and news clippings.

And finally, she was going to get Buzz Schneider — who scored the first U.S. goal of the hockey game that would become forever known as the Miracle on Ice — to sign them. He obliged, happily signing everything the overjoyed woman needed.

“Personally, I can’t believe it’s resonated this long,” Schneider said.

Oh, but it has.

Feb. 22, 1980. USA 4, USSR 3. Saturday marks exactly four decades since perhaps the greatest sports result in the history of this country, perhaps the greatest upset in the history of sports anywhere. A bunch of kids beat the best hockey team in the world — at the height of the Cold War, David vs. Goliath, Us vs. Them, a moment when the nation’s collective mood seemed as cold as that sheet of ice that became a canvas for a miracle in Lake Placid, New York.

Lake Placid has never forgotten, and in turn, the world hasn’t forgotten Lake Placid, either. The village in the heart of the Adirondacks still bustles, even in the summer months. The arena is still there, the rink where the Americans played that game now named for the late Herb Brooks, the U.S. coach, and a sporting goods shop across the street from the Olympic Center is called “Locker Room 5” — a tribute to the room the team used on that fateful night.

“The stories I hear, 40 years later, depending on their age: ‘I remember where I was when Kennedy was assassinated, I remember where I was on 9/11, I remember where I was when the Challenger blew up, and I remember where I was when we won,'” said Mike Eruzione, the team captain who scored what became the game-winning goal with exactly 10 minutes left in the third period. “And I always say, ‘We? I didn’t know you were on the team.’ But people felt a part of it, and it’s nice to know 40 years later … that people remember and share some great stories about what we did so long ago.”