Jan. 7, 2004

NEW YORK - College Sports Television (www.cstv.com), the fastest-growing independent cable network, will present Team USA's historic gold medal-winning performance at the 2004 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championships in Finland. CSTV will televise Team USA's semifinal game against Finland Monday, January 12 (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) as part of the network's U.S. Olympic Pursuit series. CSTV will air the gold-medal game, in which the United States came back from a 3-1 third-period deficit to defeat Canada 4-3, within U.S. Olympic Pursuit on Tuesday, January 13 (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT). Jim Rich will handle play-by-play, while Andy Brickley will provide analysis. The championship is the United States' first in the 28-year history of the tournament.

Boston College sophomore forward Patrick Eaves represented the Eagles in the tournament and finished with six points -- one goal and five assists -- in six games. Team USA was coached by Eaves' father and Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves.

College Sports Television's U.S. Olympic Pursuit series is the first regularly scheduled, year-round television programming dedicated to showcasing America's future Olympic champions and amateur athletes.

CSTV, the first 24-hour college sports network, is available to more than 15 million homes nationally on cable and satellite. The network is available on Adelphia and Insight cable systems, among others, and is also available on DirecTV (channel 610). For information on CSTV availability in particular markets, consumers can log on to www.cstv.com or call their cable or satellite operator.

"The World Junior Championships is one of the most prestigious and most competitive amateur hockey tournaments in the world, and we are pleased to bring Team USA's monumental performance to fans nationwide," said Joel Feld, executive producer and executive vice president, CSTV. "Team USA, led by a strong contingent of college student-athletes excelling against world-class competition, is surely the 'best of the best' in junior hockey."

USA's Patick Eaves, left, Drew Stafford and Patrick O'Sullivan celebrate making the 4-3 winning goal against Canada during the U20 Ice hockey World Championship match.

"Monday marked a thrilling and momentous occasion in the history of USA Hockey with the first-ever gold medal by the U.S. National Junior Team," said USA Hockey Executive Director Doug Palazzari. "We are excited to offer fans the opportunity to watch Team USA's semifinal and gold-medal game victories from the 2004 IIHF World Junior Championship through this television programming announcement."

Heading into the championship game, Canada owned a 21-4-3 record against the United States. The annual IIHF World Junior Championships traditionally feature the best hockey players in the world under the age of 20. Over the years, the tournament has featured the brightest rising stars in hockey, including future NHL stars such as Eric Lindros, Jaromir Jagr, Pavel Bure, Peter Forsberg and Jeremy Roenick.

Team USA reeled off victories against Austria, Slovakia, Sweden and Russia in the Preliminary Round of the 2004 IIHF World Junior Championships before defeating Finland. With the victory over Canada, the United States finished the tournament with a perfect 6-0-0 record. The United States was led by current collegiate stars such as Eaves, tournament MVP Zach Parise (forward, University of North Dakota) and Al Montoya (goalie, University of Michigan).

The U.S. Olympic Pursuit schedule includes a weekly line-up of original programming featuring sports such as bobsled, boxing, beach volleyball, hockey, softball, speedskating, swimming, water polo, volleyball, wrestling and weightlifting. Future U.S. Olympic Pursuit episodes will include events such as the FINA Grand Prix Diving, the FIG World Cup of Gymnastics, USA Hockey and USA Softball events, the World Weightlifting Championships and the 2003 Titan Games, a multi-sport event featuring over 184 international athletes competing in the Olympic and Pan American combat sports of weightlifting, wrestling, judo, shot put, fencing, taekwondo, karate and wrestling.

The United States Olympic Committee is America's premiere sports organization and is the custodian of the U.S. Olympic Movement. The USOC is the moving force for support of sports in the United States that are on the program of the Olympic, Paralympic and Pan American Games. The USOC is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the sole agency in the United States whose mission involves training, entering and underwriting the full expenses for the United States teams.