Lee was transferred to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, to help his body and mind recuperate. There, he connected with Operation Comfort, a nonprofit group that provided rehabilitative and therapeutic programs for wounded veterans at the medical center.
“I tried playing wheelchair basketball, volleyball, other adaptive sports,” Lee said. “When I heard about sled hockey, I was a little surprised because I didn’t even know you could play hockey as a disabled person. I immediately signed up for it and as soon as I went in for my first practice with other service members I definitely fell in love. It’s really the fastest sport there is compared to other therapy or adaptive sports.”
Lee began playing with the San Antonio Rampage sled hockey team in 2009 and worked his way onto the U.S. national program by 2010. He’s 41-1-0-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L) with a 0.65 goals-against average, .907 save percentage and 25 shutouts for the national team. In addition to three Paralympics gold medals, he has three world championship gold medals (2023, 2021, 2019 and 2012) and two silver medals (2024, 2013).
All the hardware and championships are meaningful, Lee said, but the Beijing Paralympic gold brought him to tears because he earned it as the team’s No. 1 goalie.
“It was the first time that I was able to help contribute or be able to be part of all that, to get on the ice,” he said. “I thought about my family, too. I came to the United States as an immigrant from Taiwan and, knowing their sacrifices and struggles from growing up, it wasn’t easy. And my dream of being an elite athlete, being G.I. Joe, a soldier.
“Just being able to accomplish all that, though the path was different, it was still a huge accomplishment,” he said. “I was just happy, and that’s the emotion that came out.”
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