This week’s episode of Talking Hockey Sense is a special one as three-time Paralympic Gold Medalist Josh Pauls joins the podcast fresh off his fifth world championship gold medal. The U.S. National Sled Hockey Team captain talks about his life and career, the mentality that has helped Team USA maintain unprecedented dominance in sled hockey, his leadership style and so much more.
Born without shin bones, Pauls has been a bi-lateral amputee for essentially his entire life, walking with prosthetics. Though he tried other sports, the New Jersey native and son of a pair of diehard Devils fans took to sled hockey after a few tries and quickly became one of the best players in the country. He made his first senior national team at 16 years old and explains the trials and tribulations that met him in those early stages of his career and how he grew into one of the best players in the world.
Pauls is one of only four players in USA Hockey’s sled program to have surpassed 100 career points. Currently residing in St. Louis where he trains with legendary sled hockey goalie Steve Cash, Pauls got married just days before recording this podcast, so life is pretty good for the 28-year-old.
Josh is also an accomplished motivational speaker and wrote a book called Lessons Learned: My Journey to the Podium. You can learn more about his speaking schedule and his book at JoshPauls.com.
I hope you enjoy the engaging, funny and inspiring conversation with one of the elite athletes inside USA Hockey’s national team system.
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After the interview, I shared some thoughts on the tragic passing of Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Matīss Kivlenieks. The 24-year-old packed a lot into his short life and I wanted to talk a bit about the legacy he leaves behind in hockey. Starting in one of the lower rungs of junior hockey when he moved to the U.S. as a teenager, Kivlenieks beat extremely long odds to reach the NHL and should be viewed as an inspiration to young players everywhere. My heart goes out to his family, friends, teammates and the many people he touched over the course of his career.
I also answered a bunch of questions from subscribers and listeners regarding the 2021 NHL Draft and beyond. Among the questions answered:
Can William Eklund be a center at the NHL level?
Why Matty Beniers over Eklund?
What gives with the draft class’s apparent relative lack of skating ability as a whole? Are that many players really average to below-average?
What would a possible trade package for Evgeny Kuznetsov look like?
And a few funny ones as well.
Remember to download and subscribe to Talking Hockey Sense wherever you get your podcasts. Also, if you’d be ever so kind as to leave a five-star rating and written review, it helps a ton. I will start reading five-star reviews on the podcast just to shout out some listeners who are helping the podcast grow.
And as always, the best way to support the podcast is by purchasing a premium subscription to this site. Everything I do at this point is 100% subscriber supported, so I need your help to keep this thing rolling along. You’ll also be getting a ton of original content regarding the NHL Draft, international, college, and junior hockey and much more. Thanks for the support!
Talking Hockey Sense Episode 16: Three-time Paralympic gold medalist Josh Pauls