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selected as scratches. "We were definitely disappointed to be sitting in the stands for that first game," said Roman, who watched Team USA sneak by Estonia, 2-1 in a shootout. "But we knew we weren't going to hold anything back in the next game." An infusion of new talent, such as Rico Roman, above, and Josh Sweeney, along with the veteran leadership of Jimmy Connelly, Taylor Lipsett and Alex Salamone (below right) makes the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team a force to be reckoned with heading into the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Hockey Team, adding character people with the drive and discipline that comes with being a member of the Armed Forces can only make the defending Paralympic cham- pions even stronger in the future. Roman was called up to the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team last year, and Sweeney wasn't far behind. He made his Team USA debut this season. But the trip to Norway for the World Championship didn't start the way the duo had hoped. All 17 players dressed for warm-ups prior to the first game of the tournament against Estonia. However, per IPC rules, each team was only permitted to dress 15 players, and as two of the newest players on the team, Roman and Sweeney were USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM JUNE/JULY.2012 43 Roman, a football player and wrestler at Alpha High School in Gresham, Ore., made his presence felt immediately when he was reinserted in the lineup against the Czech Republic. On his first shift, he dealt a big open-ice check that set the tempo and fired up the U.S. bench. Team USA pressed hard offensively all game, outshooting the Czechs, 16-9, but was unable to solve netminder Michal Vapenka and suffered a disappointing, 2-1, shootout loss. Jeff Sauer to refocus his group following the loss, the U.S. came out of the gates and steamrolled Japan, 5-0, to set up a meeting with Canada in the semifinals. Often matched up against Canada's top After a team meeting called by head coach offensive line, Roman and Sweeney played shut-down defense and were an instrumen- tal part of the penalty kill that held Canada 0-for-4 on the night en route to a 2-1 victory. "Our game against Canada was one of the best games we've played all year," said Sauer. "A lot of that came from Rico and Josh. They made something happen on every shift." The team's veterans came through in the gold-medal game against Korea. Taylor Lipsett, a nine-year veteran of the team, tallied three goals and an assist, while Cash, who has been on the team for seven seasons, made eight saves in a 5-1 win. But again it was the team's military vet- erans who had a big impact and helped the team to the gold. "Josh and I worked really hard off the ice and it paid off this year," Roman said. "We were able to bring that extra energy to the team in Norway. It was contagious." N Alex DiFilippo is the 2011-12 Brian Fishman Intern.