Hockey Is Removed From Olympic Festival

USA Hockey, governing body of the U.S. Olympic hockey program, announced Friday that the sport will not be included in the program of the U.S. Olympic Festival in Los Angeles July 12-21. Instead, a four-team Olympic tryout camp will be held in June at St. Cloud, Minn.

This will be the first time hockey competition has been shifted from the site of the Olympic Festival.

“Essentially, we have made a decision beneficial to all parties involved,” said Baaron Pittenger, executive director of USA Hockey. “I want to stress that USA Hockey views this as only a one-year situation.

“We had the opportunity to relieve the local organizers in Los Angeles of a very expensive rental obligation to the Forum.”

According to Dave Peterson, coach of the 1992 U.S. Olympic hockey team, “By not going this year and moving to a June time frame, we are giving the players who qualify for the next step in the selection process a chance to return home to train on their own for the month of July.”