Character mistake: While watching a documentary about the Soviet team Herb Brooks says that the Soviets had had 42 games in the last three months with 42 wins. This was supposed to be said in 1979. In the whole of 1979 Team USSR played 24 games only, winning 23 of them and losing Game 1 of the 1979 Challenge Cup, to the NHL All-Star team.
Character mistake: Al Michaels, commenting on the Soviet team, remarks that some of the players had been playing together for the last 15 years. In fact, the eldest Soviet players, the Mikhailov-Petrov-Kharlamov line, started playing together in 1968, only 12 years before Lake Placid.
Character mistake: While waiting for the plane with Team USA Herb Brooks watches TV news reporting that the NHL All-Star team has been defeated by the Soviets 6-0 in Game 3 of the 1979 Challenge Cup. The 1979 Challenge Cup took place in February, and Herb Brooks became the Team USA Coach only in June.
Character mistake: When Vladislav Tretiak was substituted by Vladimir Myshkin, Ken Dryden commented on this saying that Tretiak had been Tikhonov's bread and butter for a decade. Viktor Tikhonov became the Team USSR and Red Army Head Coach only in 1977, and he had never coached Tretiak on any level before.
Chosen answer: It appears that the medal round was just a continuation of the round robin tournament. When the US deafeated Finland, it cliched the best record in the tournament. The Soviet Union had the second best record, and Sweden the third best.
Timothy Cheseborough