U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : LOS ANGELES--1991 : MEMORABLE MOMENTS - Los Angeles Times
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U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : LOS ANGELES--1991 : MEMORABLE MOMENTS

By HELENE ELLIOTT
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KIRK MCCASKILL

Ice Hockey

Before he signed with the Angels, Kirk McCaskill was an All-American--as a hockey player.

McCaskill, who was born in Canada, was a high-scoring winger at the University of Vermont. He was a runner-up for the Hobey Baker Award--hockey’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy--in 1981, the year he played in the Sports Festival at Syracuse, N.Y.

“We won one of the medals, no thanks to me,†said McCaskill, who was drafted by the NHL Winnipeg Jets and played one minor league season before switching to baseball. “I enjoyed it. I had fun and I got to meet some great guys.â€

Among McCaskill’s teammates were NHL standouts Chris Chelios of the Chicago Blackhawks, Craig Ludwig of the New York Islanders and Brian Mullen, now with the expansion San Jose Sharks.

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McCaskill also remembers watching other events at the Carrier Dome, such as basketball games starring Georgetown’s Pat Ewing.

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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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