Walsh maybe finalist Field of four for Olympic hockey job

University of Maine hockey coach Shawn Walsh is believed to be one of four finalists for the U.S. Olympic hockey job. The next Winter Olympic Games will be held in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994.

The other candidates are believed to be Yale University Coach Tim Taylor; University of North Dakota Coach Gino Gasparini and University of Wisconsin Coach Jeff Sauer.

Taylor is the favorite as he has coached the last four United States teams in the World Championships and, last fall, he directed the U.S. to a second-place finish in the prestigious Canada Cup Tournament. Taylor took over the Canada Cup team from head coach Bob Johnson, who was hospitalized with the brain tumor that eventually took his life. The second-place finish in the Canada Cup was the best ever for the U.S.

The interview process is expected to begin this weekend and a 20-member selection committee will name a successor to Dave Peterson by the end of the month.

The 1992 U.S. Team finished fourth.

The 36-year-old Walsh would not confirm or deny that he was a finalist.

“I would be excited if I was,” said Walsh. “Certainly, coaching the U.S. Olympic Team is one of the ultimate positions in this profession.”

Walsh said if he was a finalist and if he was chosen as the next Olympic coach, “I would ask for a one-year leave of absence from Maine so I could return to Maine afterwards.”

The new Olympic coach would probably direct his college team this coming season before devoting his full-time attention to the Olympic team after the 1992-93 season.

The Bear boss has coached in two U.S. Olympic Festivals and is undefeated.

His 1981 Great Lakes Team won the Gold Medal as did his 1990 North Team. Both teams went 4-0.

In 1989, he directed a U.S. Selects team to a stunning victory over a touring Sokol-Kiev team from the Soviet Union that had been previously unbeaten on its tour. The teams played a two-games, total-goals series in Orlando, Fla., and Dallas and the U.S. Selects outscored the Soviets 9-6 in the two games.

The U.S. team won the first game 5-2 and tied the second one 4-4.

Walsh, who was considered for the 1992 Olympic job, has guided his Maine teams to five consecutive 30-win seasons and six consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. He is 208-119-12 in his eight seasons at Maine, including a 161-46-8 mark over the past five years.

He is a two-time Hockey East Coach of the Year and a two-time runnerup for National Coach of the Year honors. This past season’s team went 31-4-2 and was ranked No. 1 in the country for most of the year before being eliminated by Michigan State 3-2 in their NCAA Tournament quarterfinal.

Among those on the selection committee are Chicago Black Hawks President Bill Wirtz, Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager Craig Patrick, New York Rangers Assistant General Manager Larry Pleau, University of Vermont Coach Mike Gilligan, University of Minnesota-Duluth Coach Mike Gilligan, USA Hockey President Walter Bush, former Harvard University Hobey Baker Award winner Mark Fusco, Detroit Red Wings right winger Kevin Miller and two-time U.S. Olympian Jim Johannson.

Fusco and Miller are also former Olympians.