{"id":8290,"date":"2014-04-08T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T18:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=8290"},"modified":"2014-04-08T12:00:40","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T18:00:40","slug":"peak-profile-jeff-sauer-65","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2014\/04\/peak-profile-jeff-sauer-65\/","title":{"rendered":"Peak Profile: Jeff Sauer \u201965"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jeff<\/a>

Jeff Sauer ’65<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Jeff Sauer has spent his life around a hockey rink. His father was a hockey coach, and Jeff stepped onto the ice for the first time when he was 4 years old. He played high school hockey, and was given a scholarship to play hockey at Colorado College in 1962.<\/p>\n

He went on to coach at CC for 11 seasons, with 166 wins (including a memorable 23-16-0 season in 1974-75). Jeff coached college hockey for more than 30 years, until he retired after the 2001-2002 season from the University of Wisconsin as the fourth-winningest coach in college hockey history.<\/p>\n

But retirement didn\u2019t mean Jeff stepped away from the ice. He has not only kept his spot rink-side, but also found a way to make his favorite sport even more exciting.<\/p>\n

Jeff is the head coach for the USA Sled Hockey Team that competed at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games held in Sochi, Russia, March 7-16. The sport debuted at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, and fans fell in love with it. In sled hockey, players sit on double-blade sleds that allow them to pass the puck beneath them. They use two sticks with spike ends for pushing off and blade ends for shooting. The result, Jeff said, \u201cis a very physical game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a hockey game on sleds,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first thing you\u2019ll say to yourself when you watch these guys is \u2018how the heck do they do that?\u2019 It\u2019s not as fast, but it\u2019s a very physical game. There is checking just like in normal hockey. These guys are propelling themselves around the ice with their arms. The only thing they can\u2019t do is skate backwards. But they can stick handle and shoot the puck with both hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff heaps praise on his team, which includes four military veterans. \u201cThree of the four lost their limbs in Afghanistan or Iraq. They had all played hockey before and they have an understanding of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there were challenges, he admitted. \u201cWith their disabilities, they had to learn it all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff said that coaching the sled team has rejuvenated him. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved coaching because it allows me to watch athletes develop \u2014 not only on the ice or in their athletic endeavors, but also in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff and his wife, Jamie Adler Sauer \u201965<\/strong>, live in Madison, Wis., and have two children: Elizabeth Sauer Frederick \u201902<\/strong> and Chip. When Jeff isn\u2019t coaching, he can be found on the golf course.<\/p>\n

To learn more about Jeff Sauer\u2019s career, search for his name
\non the CC website.<\/p>\n

Learn more about sled hockey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Update:<\/strong> The U.S. sled hockey team defeated Russia 1-0 to take gold in the March 15 final. They became the first team to win back-to-back Paralympics gold medals thanks to the goal by Josh Sweeney, who lost his legs while serving in Afghanistan. After the victory, Coach Jeff Sauer said, \u201cI\u2019ve coached guys in the National Hockey League and guys that have won national championships, but the chemistry on this team with a 15-year-old and a 35-year-old player is better than any team I\u2019ve ever coached. There\u2019s a bond there and I love them like sons.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeff Sauer has spent his life around a hockey rink. His father was a hockey coach, and Jeff stepped onto the ice for the first time when he was 4 years old. He played high school hockey, and was given a scholarship to play hockey at Colorado College in 1962. He went on to coach…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-8290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-april-2014","tag-alumni-profiles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8290"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8353,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8290\/revisions\/8353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}