The significance of the US-Russian hockey game from the '80 Olympics stems from the Cold War. From purely hockey standpoint, the Russians were this great team that had dominated competition; the U.S. team was a bunch of college kids. The articled described the Russian team as planned, subsidized, and continous. But the significance, as I said, stemmed from the Cold War. The game represented two major world powers going head-to-head. The game represented a clash in values; Russian's communism vs America's capitalistic society, just to name one. So when the American hockey team won, it was more of a win for Americans over the Soviets.
I'd never seen the movie before we watched it in class; it was very good film. One scene I liked a lot and sensed some Nationalism was the scene where some of the players wanted to talk to Brooks outside to the bus. Brooks wants to bring on another player after the roster had been set and one of the guys tell Brooks that the team is a family. I thought it was symbolic of how everyone had gotten behind the hockey team, just as the team had kind of rallied around one another.