The NHL : Ex-Prep Coach Is Expected to Get Olympic Job

For nearly 30 years, Dave Peterson paid his dues as a high school hockey coach in Minneapolis, and now, the word is, he’s about to be rewarded by being named coach of the 1988 United States Olympic hockey team.

The announcement won’t be made until June, but a Minnesota newspaper has reported that Peterson is the leading candidate.

Peterson recently coached the U.S. junior hockey team to a third-place finish in the World Junior Championships at Hamilton, Canada.

Peterson, 55, retired from the Minneapolis school district last year and signed a three-year contract as coach of the U.S. junior and senior national teams.

He was an assistant coach on the 1984 U.S. Olympic hockey team and coached the senior national team to a fourth-place finish in last year’s World Championships. He will also coach the Americans in the 1986 World Championships next April at Moscow.

The Amateur Hockey Assn. of the United States will name the Olympic coach when its international committee meets in June, said Art Berglund, general manager of the 1988 Olympic team.

In a phone interview from his home in Minneapolis, Peterson said: “I’m one of many candidates. Some people have projected me into that job because I’m currently under contract as the national coach.

“But it’s premature to say that I’ll be the next Olympic coach. That’s not factual.”

Peterson is a former goalie who played at Hamline, a small college in St. Paul, Minn.

He was the coach at Minneapolis Southwest High School for 27 years and says he has worked with the national program for 10 years.

Did he ever think that one day he might be named the Olympic coach?

“It’s something you strive for, but things come a day at a time,” he said.

Peterson, having been so close to the national team, has a good idea of the talent available now, but that’s really not much of an indication of the talent that will be available a year or 18 months from now. Berglund said that six or seven young American players are likely to be selected in the first round of the 1986 National Hockey League entry draft in June.

Center Craig Janney of Boston College could be the No. 1 player picked in the draft, although he suffered a broken collarbone in the world junior tournament.

Center Jim Carson of Grosse Point Woods, Mich., is also expected to go high in the draft. Carson is playing for Verdun in the highly rated Quebec Junior League in Canada. He shoots right-handed, and NHL teams value right-handers because most players shoot left-handed--even those who are naturally right-handed.

At the moment, however, things are looking up for the United States, which won its first medal ever at the world junior tournament.

“We were very happy with the junior team making some progress,” Berglund said. “It could have been better. But it gives us a better schedule for next year, since the schedule is determined on how you finish the year before.”

Igor Lariniov, perhaps the best hockey player in the Soviet Union, was left at home when the Soviet Red Army team visited North America for a recent series of exhibition games against NHL teams.

The Soviets announced that Lariniov had stayed home because of family problems, and Coach Viktor Tikiniov said that Lariniov’s wife was ill.

However, there are reports that Lariniov remained behind because the Soviets were afraid he would defect and sign with an NHL team.

Lariniov is apparently quite Westernized. He reportedly speaks English well and is fond of rock music.

The Calgary Flames traded center Kent Nilsson to the Minnesota North Stars last season because he had played poorly in the playoffs. Nilsson was the Flames’ leading scorer, but his critics said he hadn’t worked hard enough.

Coach Bob Johnson predicted that other players would take up the slack and the Flames wouldn’t miss Nilsson, who had 99 points last season.

Now, the Flames are trying to trade for right wing John Ogrodnick of the Detroit Red Wings, according to reports from Calgary.

Ogrodnick was an NHL first-team all-star last season. He had 55 goals to lead the Red Wings and ranked seventh in the league.

The Flames are one of the deepest teams in the NHL, but they don’t have any big-name players. Calgary is reportedly offering two or three players for Ogrodnick. Names mentioned include center Dan Quinn and right wing Colin Patterson.