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USA surprises Canada
Americans only undefeated sled hockey team
By Dennis Romboy
Deseret News Paralympic specialist
WEST VALLEY CITY — The BYU Alumni Band struck up the theme to "Hogan's Heroes" between periods of the USA-Canada sled hockey match Friday night.
Maybe the name of the rousing march ought to be changed to "Howard's Heroes," as in U.S. captain Joe Howard.
The flashy forward, who sports a red, white and blue soul patch, scored a goal in the first minute of the game to propel Team USA toward a stunning 5-1 upset of top-seeded Canada at the E Center.
"I think we've shocked lots of people so far," Howard said.
Of course, Howard can't do it alone. Col. Hogan had a cast of characters at his side, too. Playing the role of the crafty Englishman, Newkirk, was speedy defenseman Sylvester Flis, who was all over the ice.
Need the puck pilfered? Need a defender duped? Need the pipes cracked?
Sly's the guy.
The Poland native who became an American citizen a year ago April scored a hat trick while bottling up Canadian star Billy Bridges all night on defense.
"Our game plan was to shut Bridges down," Flis said. "And we succeeded. Not only that we actually left him at our end while we were scoring goals."
Make that while Flis scoring goals. The crowd roared in anticipation of something big happening every time he touched the puck. Often it did.
"That's why we give it to him," Howard said.
Though a defenseman, Flis has the green light to roam the ice and lead the break.
"Now that Flis is an American citizen, he has really changed the style of the U.S. team," said Canada forward Todd Nicholson. "He's a great player, but he's one player. He's skating all over the ice. I hate to say it, but unless he learns to become a team player, if someone gets him off his game it's going to be different."
Friday's win suddenly makes the improbable possible. The U.S., seeded last going into the tournament, is the only undefeated team left. After the game, players on both sides called it preview of the gold-medal match.
But Team USA still faces tough contests against defending gold medalist Norway and Sweden. It will need Howard, who in the past had a tendency to lose his cool, to continue to be a discipline leader. He has yet to get a penalty while still playing physical hockey.
"He done a marvelous job of setting that example for the rest of the guys," said goalie Manuel Guerra Jr., who stopped 12 shots in the game. "He talked about and he's doing it."
In earlier games Saturday:
NORWAY 8, SWEDEN 3: Sweden scored on nearly half of its shots for the game. But it managed only seven shots. Norway netted more goals than that in two periods.
The Norsemen rifled four second-period goals, including three in a two-minute span, to bury Sweden. The barrage continued in the third period with four more.
"We felt that we started the tournament during the second period," said Norway coach Morten Haglund. "We showed everyone, the world, what we can do and what we'll be doing the rest of the tournament, I hope."
Forward Helge Bjoernstad led the rapid-fire assault on Sweden goalie Kenth Jonsson with a hand in all eight scores. He had a hat trick and five assists. Defenseman Tommy Rovelstad also pumped in three goals.
Norway used stifling defense to keep Sweden away from the net all afternoon. The Swedes first shot didn't come until a minute into the second period, a goal by Jens Kask to stake his team to a 1-0.
The teams traded the next two goals until the floodgates opened for Norway.
Each team is now 1-0-1 for the tournament.
ESTONIA 2, JAPAN 1: Estonia handed Japan its second loss in the tournament with two third-period goals from Maksim Vedernikov.
Trailing 1-0 entering the final stanza, Vedernikov wasted little time, knotting the score just 23 seconds in. His game winner came with less than five minutes to go when he backhanded a loose puck past Japan goalie Shinobu Fukushima.
The Estonians clamped down defensively on the Japanese, allowing just one shot on goal in the last period.
"It was a big psychological boost just to know that we can actually win games that we are playing with teams that are a little stronger than we are," said Estonia coach Anatoli Zahharov.
Takayuki Endo, one of the fastest skaters on any team, scored Japan's goal on a power-play.
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March 10, 2002
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