Built for the Miracle. Back for the Olympics.

In 1980, USA Hockey faced the world’s most dominant team—clear underdogs on Olympic ice. To compete with the speed and discipline of the Soviet Union, every second mattered, including how players hydrated during the game. On the bench sat a simple but critical question: how do you keep athletes fueled without slowing them down?

Hockey helmets don’t come off easily—and removing them costs precious time. In a game defined by relentless pace, traditional water bottles weren’t good enough. Team USA needed a way to hydrate fast, cleanly, and without breaking rhythm.

Three hundred miles southwest of the Olympics in Lake Placid, another New York original was built for exactly this kind of challenge. Founded in 1949 by chemist Emanuel Goldberg in Rochester, NY, the Nalge Company specialized in unbreakable, leakproof plastic labware trusted for precision and performance.

Just prior to the Lake Placid Games, that scientific approach carried into the consumer world as Nalgene Outdoor. Leaning on its lab-proven design, scientists adapted an already-trusted bottle—replete with a leakproof top and squirt-style straw that allowed players to hydrate without removing their helmets.

Quickly retrofitted and branded for Team USA, the bottle did exactly what it was designed to do: show up when it mattered. Quietly, reliably, it supported one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history—the Miracle on Ice.

More than four decades later, that same New York–built thinking returns. Just in time for the Winter Olympics, Nalgene is reintroducing a piece of history with the Limited-Edition USA Hockey Nalgene Bottle—inspired by the original Miracle on Ice design and produced in limited quantities. Today, the nod to history is on a 32-ounce bottle, a silhouette that has become iconic to the Nalgene brand over the last 50 years and a proven favorite for life’s everyday adventures due to its simple and lightweight design. 

Proudly made in the USA, this bottle is BPA/BPS-free and crafted from material derived from 50% plastic waste using ISCC-certified mass balance. It’s leakproof, dishwasher-safe, and built to be reused, just like the original was built to perform.

At $18.99 and exclusive to Nalgene.com, it’s more than a water bottle. It’s a functional collectible that connects Nalgene Outdoor’s New York roots, scientific heritage, and Olympic legacy—made to be used in today’s on-the-go pace. 

“For more than 75 years, Nalgene bottles have offered generations a simple and sustainable solution for hydration. At every turn, our brand has evolved with the reusable water bottle industry: the first lightweight plastic bottle and the first to expand colorways to rich and vibrant options,” said Eric Hansen, Marketing Director at Nalgene Outdoor. “Working with USA Hockey to highlight an incredible moment in Olympic history is another way we can keep our classic bottle current and fresh.”