US Hockey Team’s Road to Glory

By Rachel Burton

February 10, 2007

In front of yet another near-capacity crowd, Team USA took on Team Germany, its last obstacle in the search for gold, on February 9.  Team USA’s record was 3-1 going into the game, and Germany’s was 0-4. The first period saw no goals between the two teams until 15:39, when American Brian Van Vlyman snuck one in from behind the goal to make it 1-0. Four minutes later, teammate Ryan Krajewski scored the second goal, upping the score to 2-0. Germany made a total of six attempted shots on the goal, while the United States made 21 attempts. No penalties were given to the USA in the first period, an improvement from recent games.

In the second period, Team Germany remained scoreless while Team USA scored two more goals by Jason Kitchin, 7:29 into the period and James Siciliano at 10:59. Attempted shots on the goal by the Germans reached five, while the USA came up with 16. American goaltender, Jeffrey Mansfield, had made five saves by the end of the second period, when he was switched with Robert Boope for the third period. The score at the beginning of the third was 4-0, Team USA.

American Anthony McGaughey, Jr., who was penalized twice in the second period, was sent to the penalty box for a third time in the last period. While McGaughey was in the box, Matthew Jones scored the team’s fifth goal, and McGaughey came back to see Andy Howard send the puck into the goal again to make it 6-0, Team USA. Only one minute after Howard scored, teammate Stephen Wangberg made the team’s seventh goal.

By then, the Germans were beginning to look sharper, and sure enough, German Nico Nussbaumer scored the team’s first goal against Boope, who made five valiant saves in the last period. With five minutes left, American Jason Kitchin made his second goal. The score was 8-1, and remained so until the buzzer signaling the end of the game. German goaltender Werner Hummel, who played for the entire 60 minutes, made 44 saves against Team USA’s total of 52 shots on the goal. And so it was: the USA hockey team is the 2007 Winter Deaflympic gold medal team.

Team USA’s assistant coach David Zimmerman, when asked how he felt about winning the gold medal, said that he felt great because the team overcame the barrier of losing their first game against Russia. “I really respect the dedication of those kids,” said Zimmerman. “This is our third gold medal, but I’m sure it feels just as good as the first time.”