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Olympics Blog

Ron Wilson said to be next U.S. Olympic coach

By Helene Elliott
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According to the Canadian website TSN.ca, USA Hockey on Monday will appoint Ron Wilson as coach of the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team for the Vancouver Games.

There’s no reason to doubt TSN’s report. Wilson, former coach of the Ducks and currently coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, is a longtime pal of Brian Burke, who is general manager of both the Leafs and Team USA. It makes sense.

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I’m not sure it makes for a winning formula.

Under constant media scrutiny this season in Toronto, the self-proclaimed Capital of the Hockey Universe, Wilson has been surly, smug and outright rude. He will face international scrutiny at the Olympics, and similarly rude behavior would reflect badly on him, the U.S. and USA Hockey.

Wilson last coached the Olympic men’s team in 1998, the first tournament that involved NHL players. We all remember how that turned out, with the trashed dorm rooms and a sixth-place finish. Yes, he also coached the U.S. to victory in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, but that was a long time ago.

Were there really no other American coaches with better qualifications? Or was this just cronyism?

-- Helene Elliott

Olympics Blog
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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