Even the Americans that can’t walk are better than Canada - US paralympic hockey win gold

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Declan Farmer: Born with a congenital condition called bilateral fibular hemimelia (missing or underdeveloped fibula bones), he had both legs amputated as a baby. Growing up in Florida, he tried various able-bodied sports but often struggled to keep up. At age 8, he attended a sled hockey clinic hosted by the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning and immediately fell in love with the ability to be truly competitive. He debuted at the Paralympics at just 16 years old and balanced his early national team career with earning an Economics degree from Princeton University.

Jack Wallace: Wallace grew up playing stand-up ice hockey and loved the speed and physicality of the sport. But in 2008, when he was 10 years old, a freak water skiing accident changed everything. A boat propeller sliced his right leg above the knee, resulting in amputation. Just a year into his recovery, he discovered sled hockey. He realized his athleticism hadn't gone anywhere, and he quickly climbed the ranks to the national team while eventually earning a degree in Biomedical Engineering.

Josh Pauls: Like Farmer, Pauls was born without tibia bones and had both legs amputated at 10 months old. Growing up in New Jersey in a family of die-hard hockey fans, he originally tried to play street hockey without prosthetics. When he was 8, his mom brought home a flyer for sled hockey. Initially, he resisted because he still dreamed of being the first double-amputee in the NHL and felt sled hockey meant giving up that dream. He eventually gave it a try at age 10, quickly realizing his natural speed gave him a massive advantage on the ice.

Josh Misiewicz: Misiewicz actually started as an able-bodied Division III college hockey player at Saint Mary's University in Minnesota. After two years, he left college to join the U.S. Marine Corps, serving as a machine gunner in Afghanistan. In 2011, while on a foot patrol, he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) and lost both of his legs above the knee. While recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, he thought he would never play hockey again until he was introduced to the sled version of the sport, channeling his recovery into a new elite athletic career.

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