How a New York Original Became Olympic History
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?
When Every Second Counts
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.
Rooted in Science; Built to Solve
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.
