The 2018-19 U.S. National Sled Hockey Team will train this weekend in Minot, N.D., at Maysa Arena. The team, which trains throughout the country in part to help grow awareness of the sport, is training in North Dakota for the first time after also holding its first-ever training camp in Las Vegas last weekend (Oct. 4-6).
Team USA will participate in four practices, all open to the public, commencing Thursday. See below for the full practice schedule:
Date | Time (CT) |
---|---|
Oct. 11 | 7:00-8:30 p.m. |
Oct. 12 | 4:00-5:30 p.m. |
Oct. 13 | 9:00-11:00 a.m. |
4:00-5:30 p.m. |
David Hoff, a native of Bottineau, N.D. who served as an assistant coach on the gold medal-winning 2018 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, is serving as head coach of the 2018-19 U.S. National Sled Hockey Team for the first time. Hoff, who has been involved with USA Hockey as a coach-in-chief for the last 10 years, serves as an athletic director, mathematics teacher and head coach for the boys' ice hockey team at Bottineau High School. He graduated from Minot State University in 1990.
Team USA's roster boasts 12 returnees from the 2018 U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team that claimed an unprecedented third-straight gold medal at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, last March. Notable standouts include forwards Declan Farmer (Tampa, Fla.) and Brody Roybal (Northlake, Ill.); defensemen Josh Pauls (Green Brook, N.J.) and goaltender Steve Cash(Overland, Mo.).
NOTES: Labatt USA, Deloitte and Toyota are all sponsors of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team ... Since 2009, the U.S. has played in eight consecutive gold-medal games at the Paralympic and World Championship level, claiming three Paralympic gold medals (2010, 2014, 2018) and three world championship gold medals (2009, 2012, 2015) ... Dan Brennan (Colorado Springs, Colo.), director of sled hockey for USA Hockey, returns as the general manager of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team. Additional team staff members include assistant coach Corey Gorder (Bottineau, N.D.), athletic trainer Mike Cortese (Boynton Beach, Fla.), equipment manager Joel Isaacson (Houghton, Mich.), and team physician Mike Uihlein (Grafton, Wis.).