Middleton concluded that sled hockey was no different than ice hockey and went about making changes. After watching tape from Nagano and the world championship, he determined that the team was too slow on defense and spent more time chasing opponents than pursuing the puck.
He moved speedy forward Sylvester Flis to defense and instituted a style of play inspired by his NHL days.
“It was kind of the old Don Cherry system,” Middleton said. “We make the red line, you get it in the opposite corner, you go in and you bang them, force them to put it around the boards, the defenseman pinches in, keeps that puck deep. You work it, and work it, get some rebounds and score some goals.”
Even with the new system and revamped defense, Middleton and his players didn’t know how they would stack up against the other countries in Salt Lake City.
Travel restrictions in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. prevented them from competing in international contests.
“We were a total unknown – unknown to ourselves and to other teams,” team leader Rich DeGlopper said. “All we had done is scrimmage against ourselves. Before 9/11, we were going to play Japan and Canada.
“And, maybe, it was a blessing in disguise in that nobody knew how good we were then and maybe they were thinking, ‘OK, this is a team that we played in the world championships two years prior, and they were terrible.’ “
The terrorist attacks also gave the U.S. players a heightened sense of patriotism, inspiring them to be their best playing on U.S. soil.
“We had a billboard in the corner of our locker room, and it had a picture of the (World Trade Center) towers from 9/11, and we had each game down the side of it,” St. Germaine said. “And after each game, we put the score on there. We kept a tally.”
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