as a new member. Paul Loicq stepped down as after 25 years as LIHG president, and was succeeded by Fritz Kraatz in 1947. The LIHG also agreed to a merger with the International Ice Hockey Association, and recognized AHAUS as the governing body of hockey in the United States instead of the AAU. Choice of the Canadian team Canada did not participate in the 1947 Ice Hockey World Championships and the CAHA had decided not to participate in the 1948 Winter Olympics in disagreement with the definition of amateur by the IOC. CAHA president Al Pickard felt Canada was obliged to send a Canada men's national ice hockey team truly representative of the "greatest hockey country" in the world, and honestly take the Olympic Oath as amateurs. He stated that Canada would have been misunderstood, "if we had refused to participate because we did not get our own way". The Canadian Olympic Association indicated it would accept any team nominated by the CAHA which met amateur eligibility. Pickard announced the Ottawa RCAF Flyers were chosen to represent the country and appeal to patriotic support for the Royal Canadian Air Force, but still continued to press for international recognition of the CAHA's definition of amateur. He also confirmed that the CAHA would pay the national team's expenses for the Olympics, and provide support to use the best Canadian players available. Rival American organizations The LIHG met in September 1947 to decide on whether to have an ice hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics, or host a separate Ice Hockey World Championships elsewhere in Switzerland in 1948. Prior to the meeting, Avery Brundage of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) reportedly campaigned to delegates to vote against inclusion of the AHAUS in the upcoming Olympics. George Dudley and Bunny Ahearne felt that the Swiss Olympic organizing committee would agree to either definition of amateur as long as hockey would be included, since it would be the most profitable event at the Olympics. The LIHG passed a resolution that its teams would only play against teams approved by the CAHA and the AHAUS, which was accepted by the Swiss Olympic organizing committee. In November 1947, Ahearne reported that the AAU still planned on sending a team to the Olympics. Brundage threatened that the USOC would boycott the Olympics if the AHAUS team was recognized. The LIHG met again in December regarding United States