During the third year of his tenure as president, he was embattled by the Cold War on ice. The 1962 Ice Hockey World Championships were scheduled for Colorado Springs, Colorado, for the first world championship hosted in the United States, and also the first to be played after the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961. Lebel warned that there would be sanctions if the West Germany team refused to play the East Germany team as had happened in the previous year's championships. Prior to the 1962 event, the East German team were denied travel permits by the Allied Travel Bureau, so they were prevented from getting travel visas to the United States. In response, Lebel reiterated that East Germany was a member in good standing with the IIHF, entitled to play at the event, and that the IIHF would do everything in its power to enable East Germany to travel. The Soviet Union subsequently withdrew in protest, which began speculation of an Eastern Bloc boycott of the event. Lebel declined requests to relocate the event, said that it would go on as planned, and appealed to the travel bureau on behalf of the East Germans. He also denied a motion by the Soviets to remove the European Championship and World Championship statuses from the event, since the motion violated the IIHF constitution. Canada wanted to use former professionals at the event, but Lebel defended the IIHF decision to exclude players reinstated as amateurs after September 1, 1961, even though it worked against many Canadian players. Lebel was satisfied with the overall event including 14 teams despite the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia not attending. After the event, Soviet news agency TASS called for Lebel to be replaced at the IIHF, and for measures put in place to prevent politics in sports.