Women’s Hockey Might Not Meet Same Fate as Softball

The International Olympic Committee does not look favorably on team sports that are dominated by the same one or two countries every time, particularly when those countries are not European.

The U.S. and Canada remain the dominant countries in women’s hockey. In 2002, before the Canadians beat the Americans for the gold medal, the teams combined to win six games in pool play by a cumulative score of 52-1. This year, that cumulative score was 54-4.

The IOC has voted to eliminate softball, effective with the 2012 Olympics. The U.S. has won all three softball gold medals, winning its nine games at the Athens Games by a combined score of 51-1.

But, even with a similar lack of competitive balance in women’s hockey, U.S. Coach Ben Smith does not consider his sport in jeopardy.

“I don’t buy the comparison to softball,” Smith said. “This is the Winter Olympics. They’ve got to have women’s team sports.” The only other women’s team sport in the Winter Olympics is curling.

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Chanda Gunn of Huntington Beach, a goaltender on the U.S. women’s hockey team, has donated a signed Team USA jersey to the Epilepsy Therapy Development Project to be auctioned on EBay for the benefit of epilepsy treatment and research. Gunn learned in grade school that she had epilepsy.

The auction will end Feb. 20.

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After U.S. speedskater Joey Cheek won his gold medal on Monday, he announced that he would donate his $25,000 prize to Right to Play, an organization that provides recreational opportunities for underprivileged children. The U.S. Olympic Committee awards $25,000 to the winner of every American gold medal.

Cheek challenged his sponsors, Nike and Oakley, to match the donation. Nike announced Wednesday that it would contribute $30,000 worth of equipment and clothing to Right to Play.

An Oakley representative did not return a telephone message.

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The Winter Olympics proved no match for “American Idol.”

Fox’s hit show crushed the Olympics in head-to-head competition on Tuesday night, 27 million viewers to 16.1 million, Nielsen Media Research said.

The Olympics recovered a bit after “Idol” went off the air, but its overall audience of 18.6 million was the lowest for the Winter Olympics since Nagano’s closing ceremony in 1998.

Times staff writer Helene Elliott and the Associated Press contributed to this report.