SportsTravel Catches Up With USA Hockey Executive Director Pat Kelleher

Jason Gewirtz has been on the ground in Italy throughout the Winter Olympics, talking with CEOs of various U.S. national governing bodies. Check out each interview here:

Matt Farrell, U.S. Figure Skating

Dean Gemmell, USA Curling

Ted Morris, US Speedskating
Sophie Goldschmidt, U.S. Ski & Snowboard

Aron McGuire, USA Bobsled/Skeleton

MILAN — Since he was named executive director of USA Hockey in 2017, Pat Kelleher has overseen tremendous growth at the national governing body. Last year, the organization had a record number of participants, including more than 1 million players, coaches officials and volunteers.

But while the NGB plays a pivotal role in fostering the youth and amateur level, it is also tasked with fielding the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey and Paralympic sled hockey teams. And in Milan, the Olympic teams are poised to do well.

We caught up with Kelleher in Milan at the Starbucks Winter House, which USA Hockey is partnering on with U.S. Figure Skating and US Speedskating, to discuss this year’s Games, the return of the NHL to the Olympics and the growth of women’s hockey.

SportsTravel: Talk to me about how your week has gone so far. How long have you been here?

Kelleher: We got in on Thursday (February 5) and are off to a great start with a big win for the women, so that always helps. Winning makes you feel good. So far, so good. We’re excited about what we’re doing here at the Winter House. It’s fun to have U.S. Speedskating, U.S. Figure Skating and USA hockey altogether. So I think this will be a great setup for families and people to come have a little inter-sport experience at the Olympics. [Former USA Hockey and NHL player] Bill Guerin is here, [speedskating legnd] Bonnie Blair is here. You don’t get that anyplace else. It’s pretty cool.

SportsTravel: There was quite a bit written about the new hockey arena here, and whether it was going to get finished. From your perspective, at the NGB level, how concerned were you leading up to this and what have you seen so far?

Kelleher: We were certainly tracking it, and it was certainly concerning before, but at the end of the day, they’re going to get it done. Every Olympics has something leading into it. Summer, Winter, there’s always a story, and then, hopefully, when the puck drops, and the game starts, the story’s over and we’re concerned about what’s going on on the ice, which is most important.

SportsTravel: Hockey’s in an interesting position at the Olympic Games as you sometimes have professionals competing as you do this year with the NHL back at the Games. What is that like as an NGB to have that option to work with the NHL?

Kelleher: We want to have our best players in the Olympics and Paralympics: men and women and sled. So we want our best players here, and our best players are in the NHL. We’re super excited to have them back. I think it’s great for hockey in the U.S. to help us grow the game, excitement, all that, so we couldn’t be more pleased. The NHL and the NHLPA have been great to work with.

SportsTravel: The women’s team in particular has been dominant over the years. Now there’s a professional league, the PWHL, that is doing very well. What does that mean for the growth of women’s hockey all the way down to the grassroots level?

Kelleher: It’s incredible. We needed that for the women’s game. We need a professional league that is viable, strong and growing to open up opportunities. Little girls have always looked up to the Olympians. Now they look up to the Europeans and the professional players in that league, and it’ll just help us grow the game. We’re going to go over 100,000 females in USA Hockey this year for the first time ever. The PWHL will help us continue that growth, get more girls in the game at the grassroots to hopefully feed the highest level, whether that’s the Olympics or the professional level.

SportsTravel: Lastly, the sport is so strong, you have a very large membership base and fan base, but the Olympics come once every four years. Can you put some perspective on how significant this particular tournament is for the sport?

Kelleher: The rest of our hockey world doesn’t slow down for the Olympics, which is great, right? There’s all sorts of stuff going on at home, which is most important long term. But this is just special. I mean, the Olympics are the pinnacle. It’s where our players want to be, it’s where the fans want to be, and we’re all Americans uniting behind the team, whether it’s skiers, hockey players, lugers, So it’s huge.