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Goyang, South Korea – Josh Pauls (Green Brook, N.J.) notched four goals to lead the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team to a 7-0 victory over Norway today at the 2013 International Paralympic Committee Ice Sledge Hockey World Championship at Goyang SPART Complex. Pauls’ quartet came consecutively over a span of 9:24 in the second period. The win secures a top-two finish in group play for Team USA (2-0-0-0, W-OTW-OTL-L) and a subsequent spot in the semifinal round on Thursday (April 18).
“I thought the first five minutes of the game we were kind of nervous and then after that we took charge of the game,” said Jeff Sauer, head coach of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team. “We did a lot of good things. Our speed, our quickness and our pressure was the difference in the game.” Ten minutes into the first period Taylor Chace (Hampton Falls, N.H.) opened the scoring for the second day in a row. Kevin McKee (Davenport, Iowa) tracked down a loose puck behind the net and fed it into the high slot, where Chace snapped a shot high over the goaltender’s glove. Four minutes later, Declan Farmer(Tampa, Fla.) made it 2-0 on a breakaway by deking right and going left to beat the sprawling netminder.Rico Roman (Portland, Ore.) assisted on the tally.
Pauls erupted in the second period with goals at 0:42, 5:23, 6:29 and 10:06 to boost the U.S. lead to 6-0. Farmer set up the first and fourth goals with precise passes in front. Tyler Carron (Fort Collins, Colo.) andGreg Shaw (Merritt Island, Fla.) assisted the second goal, while Nikko Landeros (Johnstown, Colo.) sprung Pauls on a breakaway for the third tally.
Chace potted his second goal of the day with 6:19 left in the game. Pauls and Farmer picked up the assists.
Steve Cash (Overland, Mo.) started in goal and had four stops in 30 minutes. Two of his stops came early in the game when Norway had a power play and a partial breakaway. Jen Lee (San Francisco, Calif.) played the third period and made one save.
Team USA has a day off before it faces the Czech Republic (2-0-0-0) to decide the winner of Group A. Faceoff on Tuesday (April 16) is at 7 a.m. EDT (8 p.m. Korea Time).
All games are being streamed live on sledworlds.usahockey.com.
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