U.S. Sledders Suit Up for Torino

Team USA heads to Italy to defend the gold they won in Salt Lake City 2002.

By Tom Scott

James Connelly (left) at 16 is the youngest player ever to make the team. Here he plays defense against a member of the German team. (Photo by Sebastian Stumpf)

At the 2002 Salt Lake City Paralympic Winter Games, the U.S. Paralympic sled hockey team went undefeated, netting an incredible shootout victory against defending champion Norway to earn their first-ever gold medal. The team, which had been awarded a seed at Salt Lake City as an Olympic courtesy to the host country, wasn’t actually expected to make it deep into the tournament. Their excellent play, however, earned them not only the gold, but also respect.

The Goalie

Manuel Guerra Jr., United Spinal member and U.S. Paralympic goalie, was one of the team’s stars at Salt Lake City. He has played on the U.S. National Sled Hockey team since 1990. A 39 year-old Plymouth, Minnesota, resident and father of four, Guerra contracted polio as an infant, which affected the left side of his body.

Therapy, however, has helped him gradually regain most function.

Despite his disability, Guerra’s love of sports, especially hockey, has never wavered. When he discovered the adaptive sport of sled hockey, he was drawn to the goaltender position because it relied, as he says, “more on mobility and agility rather than skating a ton.”

Through years of hard work and training, Guerra has transformed into one of the premier sled hockey goaltenders in the world. He was influential in the team’s stunning gold medal victory at Salt Lake, allowing only two goals in four round-robin games. During an exciting shootout with the heavily favored Norway squad in the finals, Guerra stopped three of five shots and was awarded Top Goaltender with an impressive 91.80 save average for the tournament.

“Salt Lake is a special place for many of our players,” Guerra says. “It’s a place some of us will never forget. It is time, however, to turn the page and prepare for our next challenge.”

That challenge comes in the form of rivals Canada and Norway at the Torino Games.

The Rivals

Two pools of four teams will be competing at Torino. Pool 1 consists of the US, Sweden, Germany and Japan. Pool 2 includes Norway, Canada, Italy, and Great Britain. Norway is seeded first, followed by team USA and Sweden. The seeding was decided at the April 2004 Sledge Hockey World Championships in Bonn, Germany.

As defending champs, Guerra admits, there is some added pressure on the team. “We come into Torino with a bull’s eye on our back. It will be a battle and could possibly be one of the most competitive tournaments in a long time,” he says. “The Torino Games are unique because the teams are more evenly matched than ever before. Any of the top five teams can win.”

But Team USA is hungry for another medal. If the team wins the gold this year they will represent the first country in the history of the Paralympic and Olympic Games to win back-to-back gold medals in hockey.

Guerra hopes the team’s experience will work in its favor. “We have a passionate bunch of players. Most of us have been playing together for two and a half to three years.”

Team USA lines up on the blue line for the national anthem before a game in Boston last month at one of the major international tournaments leading to the climax in Torino next month. The Offense and Defense

Team USA’s experience comes from sources, including United Spinal member and former U.S. team captain Francis “Kip” St. Germaine, 41, from Wareham, Massachusetts, who will also be making the trip to Torino. A Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, St. Germaine scored the game-winning goal against Norway at Salt Lake. The Torino Games mark St. Germaine’s third appearance at the Paralympics.

“We are sending a very balanced team to Torino. All three of our lines are equally talented and we can put any group out on the ice and be confident that they will perform well,” St. Germaine said. “The most important aspect of this team is that we have a good nucleus for the future and many young and talented players that we can build upon.”

Dave Conklin, a 51 year-old United Spinal member from La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Paralympic defensemen, has played on every U.S. sled hockey team that has competed internationally. He also served as team captain in the 1998 Nagano Games.

One of a corps of talented rookies lending support is 16-year-old defenseman James Connelly of Egg Harbor City, New Jersey, the youngest player ever to make the team. “I’m very excited and can’t wait until the games,” Connelly says. “I am confident we can perform just as good as, if not better than, the team competed in Salt Lake City.”

The Coach

U.S. Coach Keith Blasé is thrilled at the opportunity to be a part of the Torino Games. Blasé served as USA Hockey’s assistant executive director from 1988 to 1993, and as director of coaching and player development from 1983 to 1988. USA Hockey is the national governing body of hockey within the US. “I do not think there is a greater honor than representing your country in a sports competition,” Blasé said in a U.S. Olympic Committee press release. “It is even greater of an honor because you have the ability to work with a group of athletes who are overcoming physical obstacles to compete at the highest level of their sport. The opportunity to bring those two together is very appealing to me.”

The past few months have been very busy for the team. They recently played at the Radisson SAS Cup in Bremen, Germany, in November 2005, where they finished in third place with a 2-1 mark. Their only loss was to Norway, 3-2. Last month, they traveled to Vancouver to compete against Canada, then faced the team again in Boston for a 3-game series. In Colorado this month, they test their powers against Canada and Germany once more before the big show in Torino in March.