STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's go overseas now to Italy, where the USA sled hockey team is trying for a fifth straight gold medal at the Paralympic Winter Games. Players compete while sitting on a sled that resembles a single giant skate. The Americans are off to a good start after beating host Italy over the weekend. Colorado Public Radio's Tony Gorman reports.
TONY GORMAN: Team USA is one of the world's most dominant teams in para ice hockey or sled hockey. The team has won six medals, five gold and one bronze since the sport debuted at the Winter Paralympics in 1994. USA has won the last four gold medals. Captain Josh Pauls is the only one on this year's team to have been around for all of them. He says there's something special about this year's team at Milano Cortina.
JOSH PAULS: We're so competitive and we're so much like a family that, like, I think that's truly what's led to our success so far.
GORMAN: The team is comprised of veterans, like 40-year-old Travis Dodson, and newcomers, like Liam Cunningham, who just turned 18 last week. The pressure is on for them to win, even more so after USA's men's and women's hockey teams pulled off thrilling overtime wins to reach the top of the podium at the Winter Olympics. After winning the last four gold medals, veteran forward Declan Farmer says their expectation is to reach the top of the podium again, but head coach David Hoff says the streak is not the focus of the team.
DAVID HOFF: I think sometimes in sports you get caught up, you know, focusing on the end result and you don't get the performance you want. So I think for us, you know, I mean, we're trying to really focus on the performance and if we can play as well as we can, you know, we believe we've got a chance.
GORMAN: If this team wins the gold medal, it would be the first time a country has swept the sport of hockey at both winter games. Team USA plays its second game against Germany later today.
For NPR News, I'm Tony Gorman in Denver.
(SOUNDBITE OF RUSSIAN CIRCLES' "YOUNGBLOOD") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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