March’s Milano Cortina Paralympics in Italy. (Photo by Michael Clubine/WSF).
The U.S. Paralympic para ice hockey team has a tradition that its members do in the locker room before every game.
All the players make it a point to put on their Team USA jerseys at the same time. As the team captain, Josh Pauls typically sends out a message letting his teammates know the exact time when they’ll put on their jerseys prior to taking the ice together.
When a new player joins the team, his teammates will tell him about this longstanding tradition and instruct him not to “jump the gun” and get dressed before them.
“That’s just how I roll. It’s just how we do things, but for a lot of people, it’s not normal for a hockey team to do it,” says Pauls, a 33-year-old Green Brook, N.J., native. “But what we say about unity or about being together and about what an honor it is to put on the jersey, and then we’ll put it on. I think it makes it special because you never know how many times you’re ever going to be able to get to wear the ‘USA’ across your chest, and you never know when that time is going to come to an end. So, I think you want to make sure you cherish every chance, every opportunity you get.”
On March 15, the members of the U.S. para ice hockey team put on their iconic red-white-and-blue sweaters prior to their Paralympic gold-medal game against Canada in Milan, Italy. Then, they continued another one of their traditions — winning the
gold-medal game.
Jack Wallace recorded a hat trick and assisted on another goal as the Americans cruised to a 6-2 win over Canada at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, Italy, to capture their fifth consecutive gold at the Winter Paralympics and sixth overall. They went 5-0 in Italy, using their stamina and team chemistry to overwhelm their opponents and outscore them 46-5.
Declan Farmer established himself as arguably the world’s best player after being named the tournament MVP. Farmer led all players in scoring, totaling 26 points (15 goals and 11 assists) in just five games and set a record for the most points scored in a single Paralympic Winter Games. He recorded three hat tricks in five games and also set the record for most goals scored and single points in a Paralympic Games by the semifinals.
And the team also continued its unprecedented Paralympic title streak. The U.S. remains the only Paralympic sled hockey team to win three, four and now five straight Paralympic titles. In doing so, the U.S. para ice hockey team — a fun-loving bunch that has played together for years — solidified itself as a dynasty in the sport.
And their win at the Paralympics, combined with the last-minute victories by the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey squads at the Olympics in the same building just a few weeks earlier, helped give Team USA an unprecedented gold-medal sweep.
“We’re 17 brothers,” Wallace says. “It’s a really tight bond. Anytime you’re in our locker room, you’re going to hear laughing. We’re having a good time. I love these guys.”
At this year’s Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics, the U.S. earned 24 medals, finishing second behind China’s 44 medals. But the Americans had only two fewer golds than China — 15 to 13, respectively — thanks in part to the dominant performances by the U.S. sled hockey team and sit-skier Oksana Masters, the most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian of all time.
Masters won four golds and a bronze in para cross-country skiing and para biathlon, giving her 24 medals over the eight Summer and Winter Paralympics in which she has competed as a multisport star.
Taking Care of Business
Pauls admitted he was feeling “a little bit of everything” heading into Milano Cortina, his fifth Winter Paralympics since joining the U.S. para ice hockey team at age 17. He’s now a five-time gold medalist.
Nicknamed “Spuds,” Pauls was the only player on this year’s roster who was on the U.S. squad that won gold at the
2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympics, starting the streak of five straight golds for the Americans.
None of the players who headed to Italy with the U.S. para ice hockey team wanted to be the reason that Team USA fell short of its expectations in Milan. And as if they didn’t have enough pressure to keep the winning streak going, they started play at the Winter Paralympics just over two weeks after the U.S. Olympic men’s and women’s hockey teams captivated the nation, as they both won their gold medal games 2-1 in overtime in dramatic fashion.
Pauls says that made him feel even more like the sled hockey team members needed to “take care of business” when it was their turn to take the ice at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
“Pressure is a privilege, and I think we’ve really been able to understand that and to live it,” Pauls says. “And we realized just because we’ve had success the past year, the past four years doesn’t mean that’s going to carry on over into the Paralympic Games, into Italy, without putting in the work. I think we showed we put in the right amount of work for the right amount of time, and I think we had a really successful Games because of it.”
Team USA faced little resistance during the preliminary round of the Winter Paralympics, winning its three games by a 34-2 margin, including a 14-1 win over Italy that set the record for most goals scored in a single Paralympic game. The only scare the Americans experienced came when they gave up that goal to Italy 25 seconds into their opening game, but they quickly exerted themselves behind four goals from Farmer.
As lopsided as the scores were for the Americans, Pauls says there was nothing easy about the games they played in Italy.
“I think it was our conditioning that allowed us to be so dominant, because you could see teams were able to stick with us through the first period, even through parts of the second,” he says. “But I think by the time we got to the third with most teams, they didn’t have a whole lot of energy left just because we’re such a deep team, but we’re also able to hit you with so many different angles. Like, there’s really no break.”
Rivals on the Ice
Coincidence or not, the U.S. Olympic men’s and women’s hockey teams, as well as the U.S. sled hockey team, needed to beat Canada in the gold-medal game. They’ve become North American hockey rivals, and both countries have developed grassroot efforts to build the sport in their respective countries and field teams with top talent.
The Canadian sled hockey team managed to score two goals against the U.S. in the gold-medal game, more than any other team at Milano Cortina. But the Americans, led by Wallace’s three goals, made it so they were never really threatened.
“This team was so determined. That was the difference,” says U.S. sled hockey team coach David Hoff. “We set a very good pace [in the gold-medal game] and played that way for three periods to accomplish our ultimate goal.”
Pauls says he has his five Winter Paralympics gold medals stored in a cabinet in his house, but he plans to display them in some way once he retires — though he’s not ready to call it quits anytime soon.
“I mean, it never gets old, I can tell you that much,” Pauls says of winning a gold. “But I think they all tell a little bit of a different story because it all happened in a different point in my life. It all happened with different teammates in a different country with a different way of how the tournament went down. I think they’re all super unique, and like I said, they all kind of tell a little bit of a story, and I think that’s kind of the cool part about them.”
Alex Abrams has written about Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than 15 years, including as a reporter for major newspapers in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He is a freelance contributor to Sports N Spokes on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
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