She will be honored along with the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2020 and the yet-to-be-named Class of 2021 as part of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction celebration in December 2021. The annual award was presented to the NHL by the New York Rangers in 1966 in honor of Lester Patrick, who was a player, coach, general manager and pioneer in hockey's development for 50 years.
"It is difficult to imagine that there is anyone whose body of work better fits the description of 'outstanding service to hockey in the United States,' than Lynn Olson," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "Her passion for our game, her determination that it be as available and welcoming to girls and women as to boys and men, and her relentless pursuit of that goal have been transformative. That Minnesota truly has become, for everyone, the State of Hockey, is a credit to Lynn Olson and we are delighted to present the prestigious Lester Patrick Trophy to such a deserving recipient."
Olson helped organize the Minnesota Women's Hockey League and was elected its president in 1984. She brought the organization together with the Minnesota Amateur Hockey Association in 1986 and was the league's women's hockey director until 2007. Since Olson's efforts to sanction girls' hockey was realized in 1994-95, the state of Minnesota has 116 high school programs, is home to a two-class state tournament at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, each February, and 126 women from Minnesota were on NCAA Division I rosters in 2019-20, the most of any state.
She was also part of the group that lobbied the International Olympic Committee to add women's ice hockey to the Olympics. The IOC voted to approve women's hockey as an Olympic event in July 1992 beginning with the 1998 Nagano Olympics, when the United States won the first women's Olympic hockey gold medal with a 3-1 victory against Canada.
Inducted into the Minnesota Women's Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005, Olson was presented with the Don Clark Award by Minnesota Hockey in 2013 in recognition of dedication to the grassroots growth and development of youth hockey in the state, and was the 2015 recipient of the Joe Burke Award in recognition of those who have shown great support and dedication to girls' and women's hockey.
