LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — It’s been more than three decades since his landmark goal became the centerpiece of the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s Miracle on Ice. For 60-year-old Mike Eruzione, it still seems like only yesterday.

“It was a long time ago, but for me it’s different,” said Eruzione, whose game-winning goal against the Soviet Union in the medal round at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics still sends chills down an awful lot of spines. “I deal with it so often it’s hard to believe it’s been 35 years. Every week I’m doing something or going somewhere that’s associated with 1980.”

With his inimitable deft touch, Hall of Fame coach Herb Brooks guided Eruzione and his fuzzy-faced teammates, college kids matched up against one of the best teams in hockey history. They triumphed with an improbable comeback.

The U.S. defeated the Soviets 4-3 on Eruzione’s 30-foot shot midway through the third period to deprive them of what likely would have been their sixth gold medal in seven Winter Olympics, then clinched the gold by rallying past Finland 4-2.

“It doesn’t feel like yesterday,” said Buzz Schneider, a winger on the U.S. team and today involved in real estate in Minnesota. “But people remind me all the time. It’s just part of who we are, I guess.”

And it’s become a significant part of the legacy of Lake Placid. One of only three places to host a Winter Olympics twice, Lake Placid has capitalized on its Olympic heritage. Nearly 2 million visitors, including thousands of youth hockey teams, go each year to this Adirondack Mountain village of 2,600.

It’s difficult to imagine life around here without that Olympic heritage.