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BY HARRY THOMPSON Right Place, Right Time New Initiatives Put USA Hockey In A Position To Turn Olympic Success Into Continued Prospects For Growth I n the quietness of an empty Hockey Canada Center, just hours before an Olympic contest that would capti- vate audiences around the world, Jim Johannson contemplated the impact that a gold-medal game between the United States and Canada could have on potential hockey players back home. In a matter of hours, the eyes of the world would be on Vancouver and the upstart U.S. team that was one step away from completing its unlikely rise to the top. All that stood in their way was a pow- erful Canadian team that the underdog Yanks had already beaten in the prelimi- nary round of what had been hailed as the greatest hockey tournament in history. Players once known only within the rel- atively close-knit hockey community had suddenly became household names, rivaling Eruzione, Craig and Broten for a sacred spot in the American sports psyche. More than that, they were suddenly the inspiration for a new generation of potential players. And that, more than anything, made Johannson smile. "I hope that families will watch the [gold- medal] game and boys and girls turn to their moms and dads and say 'I want to play hockey,' " said Johannson, himself a two-time Olympian and now the assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. "The game sells itself and hopefully kids, wherever they are, will say 'that looks pretty neat – I'd like to try that game.' " The players did their part, coming within an eyelash of staging the greatest hockey upset in more than 30 years before falling just short in an epic overtime game that captivated a record high American television audience. The U.S Men's Team, along with the silver-medal winning Women's Team and the gold-medal winning U.S. Sled Team, had set the table for future growth of the game. Now is the time for USA Hockey to parlay the excitement and exposure gener- ated over three weeks in February into a new generation of players. If history is any indication, the future looks bright for more kids to come to the rink in the months ahead. After the vic- tory in Lake Placid, N.Y., in 1980, USA Hockey (AHAUS at the time) saw a spike in the number of kids playing hockey. After the U.S. Women's Team won the inaugural Olympic competition in 1998, a generation of girls was excited to follow in the footsteps of Cammi Granato, Shelley Looney and Katie King. OneGoal equipment program and the newly created 2-and-2 Challenge have put USA Hockey in a position to turn couch potatoes into hockey players at local rinks around the United States. "If you think back generations with what our victory in Lake Placid did, there were kids who dreamt about being Mike Eruzione. Those types of things inspire kids to go out and play hockey," said Ken Martel, director of the American Development Model. Today, USA Hockey is positioned to provide the extra push to get new kids into the game. Exciting programs such as the American Development Model, the 54 USA Hockey 75TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE PROGRAM "I think that we are better positioned today from the standpoint of our distribu- tion system, our volunteer network, our staff capabilities and our external alliances that we have built to promote hockey on an on-going basis to capitalize on the wave of interest that was generated by the perfor- mance of our teams in Vancouver," said USA Hockey Executive Director Dave Ogrean, who has been directly involved in many of the historic events that have spurred growth at USA Hockey. That growth starts at the youngest levels, where registration numbers have shown consistent growth over the past few years. According to Pat Kelleher, who oversees the Membership Development Department at USA Hockey, more than 100,000 boys and girls under the age of 8 played in a USA Hockey program for the first time during PHOTOS BY USA HOCKEY MAGAZINE