BOSTON -- American goalie Jessie Vetter will have to go to the Olympics without a quote from the U.S. Constitution on her mask.
Vetter's original design included a reference from the preamble to the Constitution, including the iconic script of the opening words, "We the People." But International Olympic Committee rules ban any "form of publicity or propaganda, commercial or otherwise," on uniforms.
Artist Ron Slater says he also had to remove the Olympic rings from the chin on his original design. And Vetter's name also had to go.
U.S. Olympic Committee communications chief Patrick Sandusky told ESPN.com's Bonnie D. Ford that the USOC decided the words on Vetter's mask could be in violation of IOC rules that not only prohibit anything that could be construed as advertising, but ban any "third-party reference or name'' and state that "no identification other than Authorized Identification may appear on any item."
Those rules came into play at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver with the U.S. men's hockey team when the IOC required goalie Ryan Miller to cover up the words "Miller time'' -- an allusion to his name, not the beer -- on his mask. However, he was allowed to keep the words "Matt Man'' in honor of a late cousin. Backup goalie Jonathan Quick was similarly asked to cover up the phrase "Support the Troops" on his mask.
The USOC has also asked another unidentified hockey goalie to remove or cover the words "Give the world the best you've got'' from a mask.
Slater says Vetter got the new mask back last week in time to break it in for next month's Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Information from ESPN.com's Bonnie Ford and The Associated Press was used in this report.