Paralympic champions USA beat Canada 2-0

The Sochi 2014 gold medallists warmed up for April’s World Championships by completing a series whitewash of rivals Canada 29 Mar 2015
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Josh Pauls, Brody Roybal and Declan Farmer

The first line of Josh Pauls, Brody Roybal and Declan Farmer were all on target

ⒸHockey Canada
By USA Hockey

Declan Farmer and Brody Roybal each recorded a goal and an assist and Steve Cash made eight saves to lead the US National Sledge Hockey Team to a 2-0 victory over Canada on Saturday (28 March) at Extreme Ice Centre in Indian Trail, North Carolina, USA, and a sweep of three-game series.

The US won the series opener, 2-0, on Thursday (26 March) and earned a 3-1 victory on Friday (27 March).

“Three games three days in a row is a lot of hockey but I think we improved with every game,” said Guy Gosselin, acting head coach of the US National Sledge Hockey Team. “We knew this last game was going to be tough. I thought our team discipline was very good and our guys really stepped up and battled to finish the series.”

Cash was busy early, stopping a breakaway just 0:20 into the contest. The teams traded chances throughout the opening frame before Farmer’s power-play goal beat Canada goaltender Corbin Watson with 5:54 left in the first period. Canada nearly levelled the scoring with 13.6 seconds left when a shot from the point rang off the crossbar and out of play.

The US made it 2-0 just two minutes into the second stanza. Farmer picked up a loose puck and passed it back to Nikko Landeros who fed Roybal in the left circle for a shot that beat Watson high to the blocker side. Dominic Larocque replaced Watson in net a minute and finished the game for Canada.

Cash, who had two shutouts in the series, finished the three games with a 0.33 goals-against-average and .964 save percentage.

The US National Sledge Hockey Team will return to action 26 April when it opens play in the 2015 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships A-Pool at HARBORCENTER in Buffalo, New York. For tournament information, click here.