Hockey Olympians Still Forgotten at the White House

A little context, perhaps, for the violence and threats reported in the news this week directed at Washington lawmakers: recently the White House denied a request by Minnesota State Senator David Tomassoni to honor the 1960 United States gold medal-winning Olympic hockey team at the people’s house, in this the 50th anniversary year of its triumph.

“Perhaps Congressman Terry and his Congressional Hockey Caucus can go to work on it,” the senator suggested to me in email this week.

Here’s a modest list of athletes who in recent years have been honored for their athletic feats at the White House: volleyballers from Penn State; the women’s bowling team from Vanderbilt; the University of Colorado ski team; and even a WNBA team — the Detroit Shock — went to meet President Obama last summer.

Don’t you forget about 1960; if you haven’t seen the terrific DVD made of the feat grab a copy of it today for your hockey media library. Meanwhile, the list of agenda items for the first-ever Congressional Hockey Caucus grows.