Two more sizable sports tournaments will be coming to Salt Lake City in 2012.

In mid-March, USA Hockey will bring its High School National Championship Tournament to rinks in the Salt Lake Valley. About 1,100 players, coaches, referees, tournament officials and fans are expected to attend.

Then from May 26 to June 2, the USA Volleyball Open National Championships will be staged at the Salt Palace Convention Center. The tournament is projected to attract more than 6,000 players from 550-plus teams, an overall entourage that will fill more than 12,000 room nights at area hotels, generating an economic impact of at least $16 million for the state.

"We are excited to host USA Volleyball, a key partner of ours as we continue to diversify into both winter and summer 'Olympic Legacy' relationships," said Jeff Robbins, the Utah Sports Commission's president and CEO, which is co-hosting the tournament with Visit Salt Lake and the Intermountain Region of USA Volleyball.

The 2000 Legislature created the Sports Commission to take advantage of the momentum generated by the 2002 Winter Games by attracting more national and international sporting events to Utah.

This is the third time Salt Lake City has played host to volleyball's national title event, the others being in 1972 and 1988. Salt Lake City also has been USA Volleyball's site for its Girls' Junior National Championships in 2001, 2002 and 2005, and the U.S. Men's National Team's first two matches of the 2006 FIVB World League. In addition, the Boys' Junior National Championships took place in Sandy.

"USA Volleyball has a very strong history of conducting successful events in the past in Salt Lake City," said USA Volleyball Senior Director Tom Pingel, noting that this year's 82nd annual tournament begins Saturday in Dallas and runs through June 4.

The national hockey competition is coming to Utah for the first time. Its presence, Robbins said, reflects the success of Sports Commission efforts to attract top-flight national and international sports' events to the state.

Utah High School Hockey President Pete Bratsos called the tournament "the highest-profile hockey tournament in Utah since the [2002 Winter] Olympics."

He is working with the Sports Commission, Utah Grizzlies hockey team and several local business and tourism bureaus to ensure that "players, coaches and their fans from as far away as Florida and New York enjoy the same great experience as our guests had during the 2002 Olympics."

mikeg@sltrib.com

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USA Volleyball

• The organization has 260,000 registered members, 12,000 teams and 5,300 clubs nationwide. Its annual budget exceeds $17 million.