slightly awkward sled hockey introduction post
Damnation! I never finished updating/refining this entry, originally posted in my beloved winter sports comm (I just learned way too much more about all the athletes and I didn't even know where to start) and tonight is the sled hockey episode of Ace of Cakes! I will just take a quick skim through and then post what I've got. Sorry it's so bulky and yet incomplete!
At the Paralympic level, sled hockey is a sport for athletes with lower limb disabilities (at a more casual level, anyone willing to be strapped into a sled can give it a try). All the same rules as stand-up hockey, same rink, same puck, same nets. But the players are in sleds (sledges if you're not in the US, we're the only people who don't call it sledge hockey) which have two blades on the bottom, and they have two shorter sticks that they use to propel themselves around the ice.
Team USA's adorable captain, Andy Yohe, and a player on the Japanese team model their sled hockey gear for you. ;) (Andy is sadly not featured in this entry, despite his endearing awkwardness in interviews.)
There are two blades but at the highest level I think they're about an inch or so apart so the balance involved is pretty prodigious. And the sticks are about 2 feet long and have a regular blade on one end, then pointy picks on the other end that are used to propel yourself. So players slide their hands up and down the stick to switch from moving to shooting. You can shoot with both hands or sort of dribble, and pass the puck underneath your sled, it's all really awesome. The puck handling just looks really, really cool. For me it definitely makes it even more fun to watch than stand-up hockey.
Although the two sports are pretty much the same - I think sled hockey might have a slightly different pace but it could also just be the teams I've watched. But yeah, apart from the sleds and sticks, I think one of the only rule differences is a new penalty: t-boning. The players check the living hell out of each other, but you are not allowed to drive the point of your sled into another player - no perpendicular hits in the sleds. It's a really physical game, though - and when you get checked in sled hockey, you're not going into the glass. You're being slammed right into the unforgiving lower wall of the rink. Also, very sharp picks.
Here, you can discover sled hockey alongside Rick Mercer (and Canada's 2006 gold medal winning team! yeeeah!):
Rick Mercer is my hero, by the way. He's the only way I get to see Paralympians get interviewed - he hung out with Brian and Rob McKeever and it made me so happy. I wish there was someone doing that in the US. . . (and just more people covering the Paralympics in general, obvs.)
Here's a sample of the game itself:
Normally I hate videos filmed from the crowd, and I don't like sports videos without commentary, but I think this one is really good. Of course it's Canada and Norway whereas I plan to focus on Team USA, but oh well! Try not to get mental whiplash or anything. (I initially focused on Team USA because I was heartbroken about team Canada, who didn't win a medal - and I still am heartbroken, but now I'm just absolutely, utterly in love with USA's sled hockey team. Actually thanks to the research I did to initially put this post together for _extreme!)
Team USA plays a hard, fast game of hockey. They like to send the puck out to open ice and have one of their team members race for it, because they know they'll be able to get to it first. They the youngest team in the competition. All but three of them were under 25 when they won gold, and 7 of them were under 21. XD
Bah, I could only find another vid from the stands to show USA hockey - it's not as good because some of the action happens at the other end of the ice, but there's still some cool stuff.
USA Hockey actually has pretty good amount of info available on its athletes. Some videos, articles, pictures, even a blog. Also, this fabulous media guide about all their teams. Sled hockey starts at page 202, although I will be quoting from it in this entry! (The women start on page 116. Dude, there are more hockey stats and Olympic hockey history in this pdf than my puny mind can comprehend.) (Btw I've been able to download it fine, but not open it in my browser, idk what's up.)
Anyway, I want to introduce you to a couple of Team USA's incredible athletes, because they're what really makes me enthused about this team. It's such a young, adorable team! I picked these three guys because they were kind of the names and faces that stood out to me while watching the Paralympics on Universal Sports, before I really had a handle on what was going on. But really, you do hear some guys' names more than others but the whole team is so strong, and so young and so cute, I could have featured any of them and I want to do more!
But yeah, all three of these guys are incredible hockey players. And I'm not saying that in a "seriously guys I want to stress how athletic they are because they're paralympians" way or whatever. I keep talking about it just because it blows me away. It makes it so much fun and so exciting to watch them, they're incredibly good on the ice. I tend to only really like sports when I see a really high level of skill, and I like sports that really display that - like I love watching Kevin Martin curl, because you know he's going to pull off these amazing shots and the whole team is just like a well-oiled machine and it's beautiful. Anyway, um, it just really excites me and is, honestly, really hot when someone is incredibly skilled at something.
Alexi Salamone
Position: Forward
Height: 5-5 (165) [tbh, I'm not sure about the heights & weights they give for the bilateral amputees. . . seems a little confusing. But I don't know who to ask about this or if it's really inappropriate to do so.]
Weight: 135 (61)
Birthdate: 6/17/87
Hometown: Grand Island, N.Y.
Current Team: Buffalo Sabres Sled Hockey
Disability: Bilateral Amputee
I initially chose Alexi when I started this project because he'd been in that Inspirational Visa Commercial and I figured it'd be easier to find stuff about him. But indeed, he is one of the stars of the team. He scored in every game but one at the paralympics, and in that one game he had two assists. He was first named to the US national team in 2003, at the age of 16!
Al also appears to be a massive badass. One of the announcers was talking about how he gets all fired up and is quite a feisty player after he got a penalty for, I think, charging another player. The announcer was kind of like "Yeah, he's a really angry player. . . uh, I mean, he has to get a lot of speed because he's not the biggest guy on the ice." XD On the other hand, I have both seen Alexi as a little kid because his parents rock the home videos (see below, it was on ESPN - I'm not that much of a creeper!) and I have seen him with little kids talking to a school after winning gold, so I have a more cuddly impression. Would not want to play hockey against the guy, though!
I. Oh my god. I saw him make the most awesome play, where it was just him from Team USA by the other team's net, and it's him and three of their defensemen and their goalie, and he just does this amazing puck-handling, passing it to himself under the sled while simultaneously manouvering himself away from them to score. IT WAS CRAZY SHIT. But I don't think I can find a clip of it, but I'm going to try to figure out where I saw it.
Anyway, Alexi is hot in a hockey player way, I think. Or, well, sometimes he's hot. XD
Less flattering official profile pic:
And in 2003 he used to wear glasses omg so precious!
Based on his USA Hockey profile, it appears Alexi likes manly action stuff. Favorite movies are the Bourne series and his favorite actors are Bruce Willis and Nicholas Cage. OK, I have no explanation for the Nicholas Cage thing. Um, also he gives "crafts" as one of his hobbies which is so cute I don't even understand.
Alexi also grew a goatee during the tournament. I don't approve of this. But maybe it's a playoff beard thing? I don't know how that works in these international competitions, but I did notice a fair amount of face fuzz.
I cut out everyone's adorable info pages from the media guide, if you want the info I used to write my profile presented in a visually attractive manner. XD
He did a bunch of little videos for Visa, and they're pretty awesome:
Working out (in his baseball cap, I don't know if that's kind of like a "cool guys walk away from explosions" thing or what)
Introducing us to his sled
Montagey thing in which Steve Cash says "Watch this guy and you'll love the sport" and it's so true and I wish I had better clips of them actually competing to show you guys.
On how he started sled hockey
Going to night practice - I love the vids he filmed himself, it feels like a homework assignment. XD
Also, a seven minute long ESPN profile. He has terrible hair, but apparently this was something the entire 2006 team did together, which makes me really glad I started watching in 2010 when the coaches didn't let them do that. XD His parents call him Al and it's pretty cute (actually I'm pretty sure that's what everyone calls him) and there is footage of incredibly adorable little tiny Alexi, and also his heart-wrenching story - kid's been through a lot.
There was a super cute article about him visiting his niece's school with the medal but I can't find it right now. Oh well!
Steve Cash
Position: Goaltender
Height: 5-5 (165)
Weight: 125 (57)
Birthdate: 5/9/89
Hometown: Overland, Mo.
Current Team: DASA Jr. Blues Sled Hockey
Disability: Right Leg Amputee
MONEY!! As the rest of the players call him. #1 ranked goalie in the world!
Team USA were not scored upon through the entire tournament (and seriously, there were some strong teams out there) and it is thanks to this guy - goalie Steve Cash! Only 20 years old! A shutout at the Paralympics and he's not even old enough to drink.
Steve is amaaaaazing! Team USA did a great job controlling the puck and preventing the other teams from making too many shots, but that just meant that it would have been easy for him to get off his game or not be in the zone or whatever (I don't know the terminology but I have heard commentators speak of this phenomenon). And he still didn't let any shots through! And being a sled hockey goalie seems like one of the toughest jobs in sports, for realsies.
Hugs from Japan's goalie after the gold medal game.
Steve's US Paralympics profile - he started all 16 games in the 07-08 season and was named 2009 Paralympic SportsMan of the Year. God damn! He's going to school at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and has coached USA Hockey Sled Hockey Player Development Camps! I'm basically quoting his whole profile because it's all so impressive.
More recently, he was named Male Athlete of the Month for March by the US Olympic Committee. The US Sled Hockey team was the Team of the Month! (And my girl Alana Nichols was the female athlete! Awww yeah!)
He's so cute in his USA Hockey profile, or maybe I just love him because he says the Mighty Ducks series are some of his favorite movies. He also likes Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler.
Media Guide Info Page.
Steve also was a goalie for stand-up roller hockey. And he just won an ESPY for Best Male Disabled Athlete. (Yay!) (Amy Palmiero-Winters won for Female Disabled Athlete, and she is totally awesome, even though ultramarathons freak me out. But I'm sad that Alana Nichols didn't win. :/ OH WELL SHE WILL COMFORT HERSELF WITH HER THREE GOLD MEDALS.)
Some sled hockey goalie trivia: because they only use one stick so they still have a glove hand, goalies have metal picks sewn into the back of their glove so they can use it to propel themselves. It looks pretty badass and also quite dangerous (in general, sled hockey involves a lot of sharp objects).
Taylor Chace
Position: Defenseman
Height: 6-1 (185)
Weight: 195 (88)
Birthdate: 5/9/86
Hometown: Hampton Falls, N.H.
Current Team: Northeast Passage/UNH Wildcats
Disability: Incomplete Spinal Cord
Taylor fuckin' Chace. I'm harboring a pretty big crush on him. That I think god disapproves of because he was actually on the Today Show and it was not put on their website, I do not know why and it's killing me! And then I was watching their match against South Korea on paralympicsport.tv and after the first period the announcer says they're going to play an interview with him during the break and then the footage skips to the end of the second period. D:
In addition to being good-looking and just my age, Taylor is one of team USA's top scoring defensemen and a sports studies major at the University of New Hampshire. He's also one of the assistant captains (it's him in my icon). He played forward until recently and then was switched to defense (as was captain Andy Yohe) which gives the US a pretty fierce defense. Plus, Taylor is 6'1" and has a lot of mass on him. And he's super fast with the puck and just. . . I crush. I have a video somewhere that I cut out of him scoring this beautiful goal where he passed the puck to his left-hand stick under his sled and scored lefty and it's amazing. But I don't have it now. XD Man I fail.
Taylor actually has done a photoshoot!! This is like a minor miracle to me right now:
According to his USA Hockey profile, Taylor apparently wants to coach hockey in the future, likes the Beatles and the Rolling Stones (heck yeah!) and is afraid of dog drool. Vince Vaughn is his favorite actor and Old School is one of his favorite movies. Apparently our sled hockey team likes male comedians. Hahaha I love these profiles. He's probably really annoyed thinking about people creating a mental image of him based on this stuff. :D He barely answered any questions, okay, there's nothing I can do!
"Taylor" is to USA sled hockey what "Ryan" is to USA stand-up hockey, so here is a video where Taylor Chace and Taylor Lipsett talk about their first victory. Chace is second and is sporting some quality facial scruff. (I have since fallen in love with Taylor Lipsett as well, who is an adorable bunny and the team's top-scorer, I believe, and has an epic bromance with Steve Cash.)
An article about Taylor from right before the gold medal game.
Boston Globe article that the photoshoot was for.
Article about UNH's Northeast Passage Program that got Taylor into sled hockey - the first and third pages are mostly about Taylor.
Media Guide Info Page.
Cute video following Taylor from his accident in 2003 up to his participation in the Torino Paralympic Games (where he also had horrible bleached hair. D:)
And I did manage to locate this article about him hanging out with little kids!
Still more links
From the media guide, stats for each member of the team. If. . . if someone could tell me what these mean, that'd be awesome. XD
Summary info about the team and a pretty cute team picture with their World Championship golds. Slightly larger version where USA Hockey has apparently identified them as the women's team. Nice job there.
This video isn't all thrilling hockey exploits, but it's cute and educational - a member of USA's 2002 gold medal-winning team explaining sled hockey and a lot of the gear and stuff. And it's subtitled for the hearing impaired! (Also I haven't finished the very end but he was talking on the ice and the zamboni was out there too, so it might get more exciting.)
Adorable photo gallery of the team in Vancouver, riding the ferry.
I really could have focused on any member of the team, they're all awesome. If anyone is still desperate for more sled hockeyage, Taylor Lipsett and Greg Shaw probably would have been next, so here's a video of Taylor doing some sweet tricks and here's a video of Greg talking about sled hockey. And also an article about adorable Nikko Landeros.
Anyway, you should all tune into Ace of Cakes on the Food Network at 10PM tonight is what I'm saying. 9PM central!
At the Paralympic level, sled hockey is a sport for athletes with lower limb disabilities (at a more casual level, anyone willing to be strapped into a sled can give it a try). All the same rules as stand-up hockey, same rink, same puck, same nets. But the players are in sleds (sledges if you're not in the US, we're the only people who don't call it sledge hockey) which have two blades on the bottom, and they have two shorter sticks that they use to propel themselves around the ice.
Team USA's adorable captain, Andy Yohe, and a player on the Japanese team model their sled hockey gear for you. ;) (Andy is sadly not featured in this entry, despite his endearing awkwardness in interviews.)
There are two blades but at the highest level I think they're about an inch or so apart so the balance involved is pretty prodigious. And the sticks are about 2 feet long and have a regular blade on one end, then pointy picks on the other end that are used to propel yourself. So players slide their hands up and down the stick to switch from moving to shooting. You can shoot with both hands or sort of dribble, and pass the puck underneath your sled, it's all really awesome. The puck handling just looks really, really cool. For me it definitely makes it even more fun to watch than stand-up hockey.
Although the two sports are pretty much the same - I think sled hockey might have a slightly different pace but it could also just be the teams I've watched. But yeah, apart from the sleds and sticks, I think one of the only rule differences is a new penalty: t-boning. The players check the living hell out of each other, but you are not allowed to drive the point of your sled into another player - no perpendicular hits in the sleds. It's a really physical game, though - and when you get checked in sled hockey, you're not going into the glass. You're being slammed right into the unforgiving lower wall of the rink. Also, very sharp picks.
Here, you can discover sled hockey alongside Rick Mercer (and Canada's 2006 gold medal winning team! yeeeah!):
Click to viewRick Mercer is my hero, by the way. He's the only way I get to see Paralympians get interviewed - he hung out with Brian and Rob McKeever and it made me so happy. I wish there was someone doing that in the US. . . (and just more people covering the Paralympics in general, obvs.)
Here's a sample of the game itself:
Normally I hate videos filmed from the crowd, and I don't like sports videos without commentary, but I think this one is really good. Of course it's Canada and Norway whereas I plan to focus on Team USA, but oh well! Try not to get mental whiplash or anything. (I initially focused on Team USA because I was heartbroken about team Canada, who didn't win a medal - and I still am heartbroken, but now I'm just absolutely, utterly in love with USA's sled hockey team. Actually thanks to the research I did to initially put this post together for _extreme!)
Team USA plays a hard, fast game of hockey. They like to send the puck out to open ice and have one of their team members race for it, because they know they'll be able to get to it first. They the youngest team in the competition. All but three of them were under 25 when they won gold, and 7 of them were under 21. XD
Bah, I could only find another vid from the stands to show USA hockey - it's not as good because some of the action happens at the other end of the ice, but there's still some cool stuff.
USA Hockey actually has pretty good amount of info available on its athletes. Some videos, articles, pictures, even a blog. Also, this fabulous media guide about all their teams. Sled hockey starts at page 202, although I will be quoting from it in this entry! (The women start on page 116. Dude, there are more hockey stats and Olympic hockey history in this pdf than my puny mind can comprehend.) (Btw I've been able to download it fine, but not open it in my browser, idk what's up.)
Anyway, I want to introduce you to a couple of Team USA's incredible athletes, because they're what really makes me enthused about this team. It's such a young, adorable team! I picked these three guys because they were kind of the names and faces that stood out to me while watching the Paralympics on Universal Sports, before I really had a handle on what was going on. But really, you do hear some guys' names more than others but the whole team is so strong, and so young and so cute, I could have featured any of them and I want to do more!
But yeah, all three of these guys are incredible hockey players. And I'm not saying that in a "seriously guys I want to stress how athletic they are because they're paralympians" way or whatever. I keep talking about it just because it blows me away. It makes it so much fun and so exciting to watch them, they're incredibly good on the ice. I tend to only really like sports when I see a really high level of skill, and I like sports that really display that - like I love watching Kevin Martin curl, because you know he's going to pull off these amazing shots and the whole team is just like a well-oiled machine and it's beautiful. Anyway, um, it just really excites me and is, honestly, really hot when someone is incredibly skilled at something.
Alexi Salamone
Position: Forward
Height: 5-5 (165) [tbh, I'm not sure about the heights & weights they give for the bilateral amputees. . . seems a little confusing. But I don't know who to ask about this or if it's really inappropriate to do so.]
Weight: 135 (61)
Birthdate: 6/17/87
Hometown: Grand Island, N.Y.
Current Team: Buffalo Sabres Sled Hockey
Disability: Bilateral Amputee
I initially chose Alexi when I started this project because he'd been in that Inspirational Visa Commercial and I figured it'd be easier to find stuff about him. But indeed, he is one of the stars of the team. He scored in every game but one at the paralympics, and in that one game he had two assists. He was first named to the US national team in 2003, at the age of 16!
Al also appears to be a massive badass. One of the announcers was talking about how he gets all fired up and is quite a feisty player after he got a penalty for, I think, charging another player. The announcer was kind of like "Yeah, he's a really angry player. . . uh, I mean, he has to get a lot of speed because he's not the biggest guy on the ice." XD On the other hand, I have both seen Alexi as a little kid because his parents rock the home videos (see below, it was on ESPN - I'm not that much of a creeper!) and I have seen him with little kids talking to a school after winning gold, so I have a more cuddly impression. Would not want to play hockey against the guy, though!
I. Oh my god. I saw him make the most awesome play, where it was just him from Team USA by the other team's net, and it's him and three of their defensemen and their goalie, and he just does this amazing puck-handling, passing it to himself under the sled while simultaneously manouvering himself away from them to score. IT WAS CRAZY SHIT. But I don't think I can find a clip of it, but I'm going to try to figure out where I saw it.
Anyway, Alexi is hot in a hockey player way, I think. Or, well, sometimes he's hot. XD
Less flattering official profile pic:
And in 2003 he used to wear glasses omg so precious!
Based on his USA Hockey profile, it appears Alexi likes manly action stuff. Favorite movies are the Bourne series and his favorite actors are Bruce Willis and Nicholas Cage. OK, I have no explanation for the Nicholas Cage thing. Um, also he gives "crafts" as one of his hobbies which is so cute I don't even understand.
Alexi also grew a goatee during the tournament. I don't approve of this. But maybe it's a playoff beard thing? I don't know how that works in these international competitions, but I did notice a fair amount of face fuzz.
I cut out everyone's adorable info pages from the media guide, if you want the info I used to write my profile presented in a visually attractive manner. XD
He did a bunch of little videos for Visa, and they're pretty awesome:
Working out (in his baseball cap, I don't know if that's kind of like a "cool guys walk away from explosions" thing or what)
Introducing us to his sled
Montagey thing in which Steve Cash says "Watch this guy and you'll love the sport" and it's so true and I wish I had better clips of them actually competing to show you guys.
On how he started sled hockey
Going to night practice - I love the vids he filmed himself, it feels like a homework assignment. XD
Also, a seven minute long ESPN profile. He has terrible hair, but apparently this was something the entire 2006 team did together, which makes me really glad I started watching in 2010 when the coaches didn't let them do that. XD His parents call him Al and it's pretty cute (actually I'm pretty sure that's what everyone calls him) and there is footage of incredibly adorable little tiny Alexi, and also his heart-wrenching story - kid's been through a lot.
There was a super cute article about him visiting his niece's school with the medal but I can't find it right now. Oh well!
Steve Cash
Position: Goaltender
Height: 5-5 (165)
Weight: 125 (57)
Birthdate: 5/9/89
Hometown: Overland, Mo.
Current Team: DASA Jr. Blues Sled Hockey
Disability: Right Leg Amputee
MONEY!! As the rest of the players call him. #1 ranked goalie in the world!
Team USA were not scored upon through the entire tournament (and seriously, there were some strong teams out there) and it is thanks to this guy - goalie Steve Cash! Only 20 years old! A shutout at the Paralympics and he's not even old enough to drink.
Steve is amaaaaazing! Team USA did a great job controlling the puck and preventing the other teams from making too many shots, but that just meant that it would have been easy for him to get off his game or not be in the zone or whatever (I don't know the terminology but I have heard commentators speak of this phenomenon). And he still didn't let any shots through! And being a sled hockey goalie seems like one of the toughest jobs in sports, for realsies.
Hugs from Japan's goalie after the gold medal game.
Steve's US Paralympics profile - he started all 16 games in the 07-08 season and was named 2009 Paralympic SportsMan of the Year. God damn! He's going to school at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and has coached USA Hockey Sled Hockey Player Development Camps! I'm basically quoting his whole profile because it's all so impressive.
More recently, he was named Male Athlete of the Month for March by the US Olympic Committee. The US Sled Hockey team was the Team of the Month! (And my girl Alana Nichols was the female athlete! Awww yeah!)
He's so cute in his USA Hockey profile, or maybe I just love him because he says the Mighty Ducks series are some of his favorite movies. He also likes Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler.
Media Guide Info Page.
Steve also was a goalie for stand-up roller hockey. And he just won an ESPY for Best Male Disabled Athlete. (Yay!) (Amy Palmiero-Winters won for Female Disabled Athlete, and she is totally awesome, even though ultramarathons freak me out. But I'm sad that Alana Nichols didn't win. :/ OH WELL SHE WILL COMFORT HERSELF WITH HER THREE GOLD MEDALS.)
Some sled hockey goalie trivia: because they only use one stick so they still have a glove hand, goalies have metal picks sewn into the back of their glove so they can use it to propel themselves. It looks pretty badass and also quite dangerous (in general, sled hockey involves a lot of sharp objects).
Taylor Chace
Position: Defenseman
Height: 6-1 (185)
Weight: 195 (88)
Birthdate: 5/9/86
Hometown: Hampton Falls, N.H.
Current Team: Northeast Passage/UNH Wildcats
Disability: Incomplete Spinal Cord
Taylor fuckin' Chace. I'm harboring a pretty big crush on him. That I think god disapproves of because he was actually on the Today Show and it was not put on their website, I do not know why and it's killing me! And then I was watching their match against South Korea on paralympicsport.tv and after the first period the announcer says they're going to play an interview with him during the break and then the footage skips to the end of the second period. D:
In addition to being good-looking and just my age, Taylor is one of team USA's top scoring defensemen and a sports studies major at the University of New Hampshire. He's also one of the assistant captains (it's him in my icon). He played forward until recently and then was switched to defense (as was captain Andy Yohe) which gives the US a pretty fierce defense. Plus, Taylor is 6'1" and has a lot of mass on him. And he's super fast with the puck and just. . . I crush. I have a video somewhere that I cut out of him scoring this beautiful goal where he passed the puck to his left-hand stick under his sled and scored lefty and it's amazing. But I don't have it now. XD Man I fail.
Taylor actually has done a photoshoot!! This is like a minor miracle to me right now:
According to his USA Hockey profile, Taylor apparently wants to coach hockey in the future, likes the Beatles and the Rolling Stones (heck yeah!) and is afraid of dog drool. Vince Vaughn is his favorite actor and Old School is one of his favorite movies. Apparently our sled hockey team likes male comedians. Hahaha I love these profiles. He's probably really annoyed thinking about people creating a mental image of him based on this stuff. :D He barely answered any questions, okay, there's nothing I can do!
"Taylor" is to USA sled hockey what "Ryan" is to USA stand-up hockey, so here is a video where Taylor Chace and Taylor Lipsett talk about their first victory. Chace is second and is sporting some quality facial scruff. (I have since fallen in love with Taylor Lipsett as well, who is an adorable bunny and the team's top-scorer, I believe, and has an epic bromance with Steve Cash.)
An article about Taylor from right before the gold medal game.
Boston Globe article that the photoshoot was for.
Article about UNH's Northeast Passage Program that got Taylor into sled hockey - the first and third pages are mostly about Taylor.
Media Guide Info Page.
Cute video following Taylor from his accident in 2003 up to his participation in the Torino Paralympic Games (where he also had horrible bleached hair. D:)
And I did manage to locate this article about him hanging out with little kids!
Still more links
From the media guide, stats for each member of the team. If. . . if someone could tell me what these mean, that'd be awesome. XD
Summary info about the team and a pretty cute team picture with their World Championship golds. Slightly larger version where USA Hockey has apparently identified them as the women's team. Nice job there.
This video isn't all thrilling hockey exploits, but it's cute and educational - a member of USA's 2002 gold medal-winning team explaining sled hockey and a lot of the gear and stuff. And it's subtitled for the hearing impaired! (Also I haven't finished the very end but he was talking on the ice and the zamboni was out there too, so it might get more exciting.)
Adorable photo gallery of the team in Vancouver, riding the ferry.
I really could have focused on any member of the team, they're all awesome. If anyone is still desperate for more sled hockeyage, Taylor Lipsett and Greg Shaw probably would have been next, so here's a video of Taylor doing some sweet tricks and here's a video of Greg talking about sled hockey. And also an article about adorable Nikko Landeros.
Anyway, you should all tune into Ace of Cakes on the Food Network at 10PM tonight is what I'm saying. 9PM central!