The U.S. became the first nation to repeat as Paralympic sledge hockey champion, beating Russia 1-0 in the gold-medal game in Sochi on Saturday.
Josh Sweeney scored the only goal in the second period. Sweeney, 26, is a retired U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant and a Purple Heart recipient.
“I saw the defender, and he had the puck and I just went after him and I got the puck from him and took it down and did a little fake because that’s what you want to do when you’re going up against a goalie that good and just put it in the net,” Sweeney said in a press release. “It wasn’t anything that any of my other teammates couldn’t have done, I just did it.”
Goalie Steve Cash posted the six-save shutout, four days after his Paralympic shutout streak of some 313 minutes was snapped by Russia in a 2-1 loss for the Americans in group play.
Cash, 24, was named the U.S. flag bearer for Sunday’s Closing Ceremony on Friday.
Russia performed well for the tournament, winning a silver medal in its first Paralympic sledge hockey appearance.
“I’m not disappointed at all,” Russian goalie Vladimir Kamantcev said. “We played well. It’s a dignified finish for Russia and for ourselves. We showed a good game, a battle, intellect, will and character.”
Also Saturday, Canada beat Russia 8-3 for the wheelchair curling gold.
Russia leads the medal table with 70 total and 27 golds. The next best nations have 21 medals and seven golds. The U.S. has 17 medals and two golds with one day of competition left in Sochi.
Congratulations men's sled hockey team winning gold-medal awesome job guys welcome to the gold-medal club
— MIKE ERUZIONE (@MERUZIONE) March 15, 2014