USA Hockey is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for amateur ice hockey in the United States and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. The organization is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and had nearly 600,000 registered members. The 'USA Hockey Rules and Casebook of Ice Hockey are updated every two years in odd-numbered years. In off years a "rules emphasis" is released as an addendum for the rulebook, and during rule-change years any USA Hockey member may submit a rule change proposal to the Board of Directors for consideration.USA. Hockey runs national championships for boys' Tier I and Tier II and girls' divisions at all age levels, knock-out cup competitions for Junior A, B and C boys' leagues, and a total of 10 championships (National, Elite, Elite non-checking, 30-and-over, 40-and-over, 50-and-over, 3 rec-league levels, 2 novice levels) for men's hockey. It also operates the Select 15, 16 and 17 festivals for elite players entering high school, the Labatt Blue Pond Hockey Championships for adults and annual coaching and officiating camps for coaches and on-ice officials at all levels. It also operates the National Team Development Program, based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and composing of a select group of players that have tried out and been selected as the most talented in the nation. It competes in the North American Hockey League in addition to playing NCAA Division I colleges and in International competition. It is not uncommon to see a number of NTDP alumni make it to the NHL. In the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, six first-round selections (including No. 1 pick Erik Johnson) were former members of the NTDP.

The "Miracle on Ice" is the popular nickname for the men's ice hockey game in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games, in which a team of amateur and collegiate players from the United States beat the long-dominant and heavily-favored Soviet Union on February 22, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York. The United States went on to win the gold medal by beating Finland 4-2 in their final game. The Soviet Union took the silver over Sweden by beating the Swedes in their final game. Sweden finished 4th.The home crowd, reinforced by the US team's improbable run during group play and the Cold War "showdown" mentality, were in a patriotic fervor throughout the match, waving U.S. flags and singing patriotic songs such as "God Bless America." The rest of the United States (except those who watched the game live on Canadian television) would have to wait to see the game, as ABC decided to broadcast the late-afternoon game on tape delay in prime time. As in several previous games, the U.S. team fell behind early. Vladimir Krutov deflected a slap shot by Aleksei Kasatonov past U.S. goaltender Jim Craig to give the Soviets a 1-0 lead, and, after Buzz Schneider scored for the United States to tie the game, the Soviets rallied again with a Sergei Makarov goal. Down 2-1, Craig improved his play, turning away many Soviet shots before the U.S. team had another shot on goal. (The Soviet team had 39 shots on goal in the game, the Americans only 16.) In the waning seconds of the first period, Dave Christian fired a desperate slap shot on Tretiak. The Soviet goalie saved the shot but misplayed the rebound, and Mark Johnson scooped it past the goaltender to tie the score with one second left in the period. The frustrated Soviet team played the final second of the period with just three players on the ice, as the rest of the team had retired to their dressing room for the first intermission. Tikhonov replaced Tretiak with backup goaltender Vladimir Myshkin to start the second period, a move which surprised many players on both teams. Fetisov later identified this as the "turning point of the game." The switch seemed to work at first, as Myshkin allowed no goals in the second period. Aleksandr Maltsev scored on a power play to make the score 3-2. 8:39 into the final period, Johnson scored again for the U.S., firing a loose puck past Myshkin to tie the score just as a power play was ending. Only a couple shifts later, Mark Pavelich passed to U.S. captain Mike Eruzione, who was left undefended in the high slot. Eruzione fired a shot past Myshkin, who was screened by his own defenseman. This goal gave the U.S. a 4-3 lead with exactly 10 minutes to play in the contest. Craig withstood another series of Soviet shots to finish the match, though the Soviets did not remove their goalkeeper for an extra attacker. As the U.S. team tried desperately to clear the zone (move the puck over the blue line, which they did with seven seconds remaining), the crowd began to count down the seconds left. Sportscaster Al Michaels, who was calling the game on ABC along with former Montreal Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden, picked up on the countdown in his broadcast, and delivered his famous call:  ...Eleven seconds, you've got ten seconds. Morrow, up to Silk...five seconds to go in the game...Do you believe in miracles? YES!!! This victory was voted the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated.