Rico Roman (#23) scores a goal against Japan at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 on March 11, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea.
GANGNEUNG, South Korea – Brody Roybal (Northlake, Ill.) netted a hat trick and eight different players scored as the 2018 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team defeated Japan, 10-0, in its first preliminary round game of the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.
“We were extremely focused for 45 minutes and played a good hockey game,” said Guy Gosselin, head coach of the 2018 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team. “We moved the puck and communicated really well. This is a great start, but we need to stay focused with a game against the Czech Republic in less than 24 hours.”
The United States (1-0-0-0/W-OTW-OTL-L) will return to Paralympic action tomorrow, March 12, when it takes on the Czech Republic in its second preliminary round game. Puck drop at Gangneung Hockey Center is slated for 12 p.m. local time, making it a 10 p.m. ET puck drop on March 11 back in the United States. The contest will be televised live on NBCSN, in addition being streamed live on NBCOlympics.com.
Kevin McKee (Chicago, Ill.) opened the scoring just 1:01 into the game when Nikko Landeros (Johnstown, Colo.) found him in the slot for a shot that beat Japanese goaltender Shinobu Fukushima.
Team USA doubled its lead 3:33 later when Roybal tallied his first goal of the game. The play started after he took a pass from Misiewicz, skated towards the crease and lifted a shot over Fukushima’s glove.
Noah Grove (Frederick, Md.) made it 3-0 with 2:34 remaining in the opening stanza when he rifled a left-handed wrist shot from the left faceoff dot into the top left corner.
A six-goal second period pushed Team USA’s lead to 9-0. The scoring started five minutes into the period, when Landeros connected on the power play at 5:25 before Farmer scored an unassisted effort just 30 seconds later.
Less than three minutes later, the U.S. connected four times in a span of 1:29. Luke McDermott (Westerlo, N.Y.) started the scoring off assists from Adam Page (Lancaster, N.Y.) and DeQuebec. Just 34 seconds later, Rico Roman tapped in an initial shot by Page to make it 7-0 in favor of the U.S. Roybal then added his second goal just eight seconds later before completing his hat trick with 5:11 to play in the period.
Jack Wallace (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) added a goal 8:25 into the final period to account for the 10-0 final.
Goaltender Jen Lee (San Francisco, Calif.) stopped both shots he faced in the win.