Sporting history was made earlier this year at the Sochi games in Russia, when team USA took to the ice to beat Russia in a hard-fought, bruising game of hockey, winning their second consecutive gold. But this wasn't hockey as most people know it. This was "sled hockey" - a variation on the sport designed for disabled athletes. The U.S. sled hockey team and its journey to paralympic glory, is the subject of a documentary called "Ice Warriors" airing on MPBN Television Monday evening. And for one northern New Englander, the movie has special significance.
Twenty-eight-year-old New Hampshire native Taylor Chace has always been hockey mad. Today, he works in marketing for the Portland Pirates, and, as a boy, he says, he dreamed of playing in the NHL.
As a teenager, however, his sporting ambitions took a big hit - literally. "When I was 16 years old I was injured in an ice hockey game," he says. "I suffered a spinal chord injury after taking a check at full-speed into the boards, back first, and hit the ice, unable to move my legs, and was paralyzed initially from the waist down."
After extensive rehab, Chace regained some use of his legs, and today he is able to walk short distances. Ice hockey, though, was no longer an option, a devastating blow for the young athlete - until he discovered sled hockey. "I think the first thing you'll notice is that you're sitting down in a sled using your arms, instead of your legs," Chace says.
In sled hockey, the arms are used to propel the player along the ice and to shoot at goal. It requires tremendous strength, fitness and balance. "When I was first got into a sled it was the hardest sport I've ever played," Chace says, "and I've excelled at every sport I've ever played in my life."
Tom Porter: "Did you find it harder than stand-up hockey then?"
Taylor Chace: "Extremely harder, and I almost gave up on it at first."
He stuck with it, though, and now Chace is a veteran of the U.S. squad, having competed in three paralympic games. He says the release of the movie "Ice Warriors" is a testament to how public attitudes toward disabled sports are changing.
"Society has kind of shifted towards an open-minded view of what athlete is all about, and the different types of athletes that are out there, other than what you see on TV every night in the four major sports," Chace says.
Team USA is a diverse group of athletes, says Chace. Some were born with disabilities, others had accidents or illnesses, and four of them are military veterans, wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan - all now united in the experience of taking on arch-rivals Russia in their own backyard, and winning.
"It was amazing," Chace says. "I mean, the crowd and the fans there are unbelievably loud, they're obviously very passionate about their country and they want to win at all costs. We knew it would be tough competition, and the athletes on that team were very tenacious and they want to win at all costs like we did. So it turned out for the best sporting atmosphere you could ask for, and the best competition you could ask for."
Despite the heightened international tension between the U.S. and Russia at the time of the Sochi games, Chace says he encountered no bad feeling - not even when team USA won the final 1-0. "I didn't hear one negative comment, one threat," Chace says. "Nobody was worried about anything except for competing in sport."
The documentary "Ice Warriors" airs Monday night at 10 on MPBN Television.