Winding Road Leads Tueting Back to Hockey

Sarah Tueting had her life neatly mapped out.

She planned to end her hockey career at the 1998 Nagano Games, in which the U.S. women’s team won the first Olympic women’s tournament, then finish her premed studies at Dartmouth and follow her brother to medical school.

“I thought I was going to walk away,” said Tueting, who stopped 21 shots in Team USA’s 3-1 victory over Canada in the Nagano final. “I was the gold medal-winning goalie on the team that won the first gold medal. That happened to only one person in the entire world. What was the chance of that happening again?

“I took a year off from hockey and went to school, just to experience college life. But I missed hockey, and I went back to it.”

The game had a stronger hold on her than she realized. Now 25, Tueting (TEE-ting) is one of 45 women participating in the National Team Festival at Lake Placid, N.Y.

After evaluating their performances in games and practices, Coach Ben Smith will announce a 25-player roster Wednesday for a pre-Olympic tour. The roster will be cut in December to the 20 players who will play in February’s Salt Lake City Games.

Although preparing for her second Olympics lacks the novelty of the first, Tueting said it’s exciting--and more challenging. Since Nagano, more high schools and colleges have started or beefed up women’s hockey programs, raising the caliber of the women’s game.

Tueting, a native of Winnetka, Ill., has seen the improvement at the festival, in which 16 Nagano Olympians are competing.

“We played a game [Wednesday] night among ourselves and it was 1-1,” she said, “and after 10 minutes of overtime, it was still 1-1. It was that close. These are the two best teams in the world playing each other.

“It’s been a great pace and a really good tryout camp. It’s great to have younger players pushing the veterans.”

Finding high-level competition elsewhere, though, is difficult. Only Canada, which has won all seven women’s world championships, is at the same level as the U.S.

European and Scandinavian countries have devoted few resources to women’s hockey, resulting in many lopsided games at Nagano and in world tournaments. U.S. college teams, although improving, are no match for the national team in exhibitions.

“That was one of the big problems I had as a goalie,” Tueting said of the pre-Nagano tour. “We’d blow out the other team, 13-0, and I faced hardly any shots. I had more shots in intrasquad games. As a goalie, you really struggle if you only get one or two shots a game.

“We play Canada at least eight times, and those will be good for us. But in those other games, it’s hard for a goalie to feel like you matter. For everyone else, it’s good game experience and you can try different things.”

Tueting will face another choice after the Olympics. There is no women’s pro hockey league where she can make a living, and she’s unsure if she wants to go to medical school or become a writer. No matter what path she chooses, hockey is likely to be a part of it.

“Right now I’m saying, ‘I’m done after Salt Lake City,’ but I said that last time,” she said. “Maybe I’ll play forward in a women’s league or coach little kids.”

An Olympic Hat Trick?

Los Angeles’ bid to host its third Olympics takes another step forward Thursday, when the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Site Evaluation Team begins a four-day visit. The eight-member delegation will tour proposed venues for the 2012 Summer Games and hear presentations from LA2012 officials on infrastructure, sports event experience, transportation and financial planning.

LA2012’s theme is “Ready, Set, Gold,” chosen to emphasize the know-how of its staff and its preparedness to host the Games again, after successful ventures in 1932 and 1984. Only a permanent shooting venue would have to be built, although most venues would require renovations.

Los Angeles is the last of eight U.S. cities to present its bid. Baltimore-Washington, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, New York and Tampa have made their presentations, and the San Francisco Bay Area will have its turn this week. The USOC will choose a U.S. candidate late next year, and the International Olympic Committee will choose the host city in 2005.

LA2012 did walk-throughs of its presentation last week and will have a full rehearsal Tuesday. Committee members feel prepared for any questions--including why L.A. should be the first three-time U.S. host.

“Success breeds success, and the Olympic movement is about breeding success for athletes,” said Jay Flood, an architect who is planning for 2012 aquatic events.

“You need a good backstage operation that knows what the hell they’re doing. . . . One of the huge benefits of LA2012 is the people we have here really know how to run things.”

Said LA2012 member Debra Duncan, who was in charge of ticketing at the 1984 Games and is dealing with ticketing and finances: “I think we bring a passion to the movement that would be tough for any city to match because we’ve been through it. We can’t re-create what we had in ‘84, but we can learn from it and build on it.”

A Wheely Good Show

Lance Armstrong, who won his third consecutive Tour de France last month, will end his competitive season by riding in his first U.S. race in 17 months.

Armstrong, in Europe for Spain’s Tour of Burgos and races in Switzerland and the Netherlands, will ride in the San Francisco Grand Prix on Sept. 9. The 125-mile race will begin and end at the Embarcadero, and in between will pass landmarks such as North Beach, Fisherman’s Wharf and Russian Hill.

“I’m really excited to compete on home soil,” he said. “San Francisco is one of my favorite cities in the world and a perfect city to host an international cycling race. I know the course is going to be really tough. I’m looking forward to the climb on Fillmore Street.”

Taking a Tumble

Tasha Schweikert, winner of the all-around title at the recent U.S. gymnastics championships, will lead the U.S. team at the World Gymnastics Championships, Oct. 28-Nov. 4 in Ghent, Belgium. Also named to the team were runner-up Tabitha Yim of Irvine--also a competitive figure skater at the novice level--former UCLA standout Mohini Bhardwaj, Rachel Tidd, Ashley Miles and Katie Heenan. The alternates are Natalie Foley and Brittney Koncak.

U.S. junior women’s champion Kristal Uzelac was selected for the Goodwill Games team, with Carly Peterson, Hollie Vise and Kaitlin White. The men’s team will be Jason Furr, Stephen McCain, Brett McClure and Sean Townsend.

Traycie Dohzen of Torrance and Masha Krakovskaya of Los Angeles were named to the senior national rhythmic gymnastics team--gymnasts who compete with a ball, clubs, ribbon and hoop. Dohzen and Krakovskaya compete for the Los Angeles School of Gymnastics in Culver City.

Julia Itkina of Brentwood, who competes for California Rhythms in Los Angeles, was named to the junior national rhythmic team. So was Aline Bakchajian of Granada Hills, who competes for the California Academy of Rhythmic Gymnastics, also in Los Angeles.

Here and There

J.J. Clark, coach of the U.S. women’s team at the World Outdoor Track and Field Championships, said he wouldn’t hesitate to have Suziann Reid run the anchor leg on the 1,600-meter relay again, even though the quartet lost a medal when Reid dropped the baton in the final at Edmonton. Clark said he’d like to keep the lineup of Jearl Miles-Clark, Monique Hennagan, Michelle Collins and Reid. “Just to conquer this,” he said, referring to the disappointment of the missed medal. “I wouldn’t do anything differently.” Said Collins: “If she is on the relay, we will welcome her.”

Craig Masback, chief executive officer of USA Track and Field, hopes to bring some elite international competitions to the U.S. He also said there has been “substantial progress” toward staging a meet in Los Angeles, but it won’t happen soon. “It’s looking more like 2003,” he said. He wants to avoid a repeat of the sponsorship and logistical problems that led to the cancellation of the Powerade Indoor Championships at Staples Center in February.

Alexander Averbukh of Israel, who won a silver medal in the pole vault at the world championships, was told by an official of the country’s Olympic Committee he must learn Hebrew if he wants to represent Israel in the 2004 Olympics. Averbukh, who immigrated to Israel from Russia, told Israeli reporters he hasn’t had time to learn the language because he’s busy practicing.

More than 900 rowers from 49 countries are scheduled to compete in the World Rowing Championships this week in Lucerne, Switzerland. The U.S. delegation will include nine Sydney Olympians.

Only 173 days until the Salt Lake City Olympic Games.