USA holding Sochi 2014 sledge hockey tryouts

Sixty-one players will compete for 17 roster spots available on USA’s ice sledge hockey team for Sochi 2014. 19 Jul 2013
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USA's ice sledge hockey team

USA's team lines up ready to take the ice at the 2012 World Sledge Hockey Challenge.

ⒸAndy Devlin / Hockey Canada
By USA Hockey

The Americans are the defending Paralympic champions in ice sledge hockey, having beaten Japan for gold at the Vancouver 2010 Games.

Tryouts for USA’s 2013-14 Paralympic ice sledge hockey team will be conducted on Friday and Saturday (19-20 July) at the Northtown Centre at Amherst in suburban Buffalo, New York.

Sixty-one athletes are competing for 17 roster spots, and the final Sochi 2014 roster will be announced on 24 July at 11:00 (EST) on www.USAHockey.com.

The Americans are the defending Paralympic champions in ice sledge hockey, having beaten Japan for gold at the Vancouver 2010 Games. The team secured their Sochi 2014 with a second-place finish at April’s IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships A-Pool in Goyang, South Korea.

Jeff Sauer will coach the team in Sochi, and this season will mark his third year at the helm after former stints as the men's ice hockey head coach at Colorado College and the University of Wisconsin.

Eight of the athletes trying out helped the USA win gold at Vancouver 2010, including: Steve Cash, Taylor Chace, Nikko Landeros, Taylor Lipsett, Adam Page, Josh Pauls, Alexi Salamone and Greg Shaw.

Five of the athletes have military ties. Jen Lee is a sergeant in the US Army, where he is part of the World Class Athlete Program; Rico Roman served in the US Army; and Craig Brady, Josh Sweeney and Paul Schaus each served in the US Marine Corps. Roman, Brady, Sweeney and Schaus are all Purple Heart recipients.