An Incredible Turnaround Led The US Sled Hockey Team To 2002 Gold, And Now The Hall Of Fame

Manny Guerra (C) and the US sled hockey team in between periods against Canada at the USA Cup Championships game on Feb. 12, 2006 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Middleton and Moulton had watched a film of the team’s previous games and identified some issues.

“What we noticed was defensively they were staying in the zone too long, and offensively they were just chasing the puck,” Middleton said. “The other team had it now of the time.”

As Middleton pointed out, this was a mature team.

“Our average age was something like 36,” said Middleton, mentioning the likes of goaltender Manny Guerra, defenseman Dan Henderson and forward David Conklin. “We had the grandfathers of sled hockey. These guys were the first sled hockey players in the US ”

They played Younger than that in Salt Lake City, going undefeated, including a 4-3 Shootout Victory over Defending Champion Norway in the gold-medal game.

“I had no (idea) we would ever be in that position,” Middleton said. “I never even thought about gold or silver. I thought if we’re going to win a medal, it may be Bronze. ”

Guerra Remembered how tense it was in the Locker room before the final game. Middleton and Moulton arranged to have 1980 Olympic hockey gold medalist Mike Eruzione speak with the team by phone. Eruzione gave them a Motivational talk before hanging up.

The room went quiet before Josh Wirt, at age 17 the youngest American player, spoke up.

“Who was that?” Guerra Remembered Wirt saying. “We just started Laughing.”

A record-setting crowd of 8,315 was on hand for that gold-medal game. Guerra will never forget them or the other people he met at the Games.

“The fans of Salt Lake City were incredible,” said Guerra, of Plymouth, Minnesota. “I got to meet a lot of cool people. Everybody was just superb. Salt Lake just rocked. I love the fans of Salt Lake. They were so supportive. ”

Guerra pointed to the Americans’ third game – a 2-1 round-Robin win over Norway – as the key to the 2002 Paralympic tournament.

“That was the game that we needed to get over the hump,” Guerra said. “The Puck looked as big as a watermelon that game. To me, everything was in slow-motion. I was really in the zone in that game. ”

At that point, Guerra thought something special was happening for the US team.

“Obviously, there’s a changing of the guard right there,” Guerra said.

When Guerra got the news that he and the rest of the 2002 US team were headed to the US Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame, he was hit with “a lot of emotion. You think about all the people that elevated your game, elevated the sport itself, the natural Evolution of the sport. They all contributed a piece of that to make the game better.

“It’s still a little surreal. I don’t think it’s really hard in yet for me personally. You’re humbled by it. You know what it takes to get there. You know the sacrifices that you experienced. There’s a lot of things you give up. ”