Yale Hockey Coach Chosen for U.S. Team

Tim Taylor, who has coached Yale for 15 years and led the United States to a silver medal in the 1991 Canada Cup, was hired Saturday by USA Hockey to coach the U.S. team at the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Taylor, who will continue to coach Yale next season, is expected to take a leave of absence in 1993-94 to prepare the U.S. team for the Games at Lillehammer, Norway. His appointment must be confirmed by officials of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“Tim is the most experienced and qualified international coach that applied for the position,” said Robert Allen, vice president of USA Hockey’s international council and chairman of the selection committee. “He’s taken our national team to progressively higher finishes at the world tournament in three of the four years he’s coached there, and he’s been an assistant coach at the Olympics (1984).”

Taylor, the U.S. national team coach at the last four world championships, took over the U.S. team for the 1991 Canada Cup after the late Bob Johnson was found to have brain cancer.