WEST VALLEY CITY — A psychologist told Brian Ruhe earning a college degree wouldn't be possible with the brain injury he suffered in an auto accident.
Ruhe, a University of Cincinnati aerospace engineering major at the time, had lost his cognitive thinking skills. And for six weeks, it looked like the doctor would be right.
Then one night everything came back.
"It was just like the switch turned on and I started remembering things again," he said.
The 27-year-old Ohio native changed his major to biomedical engineering and graduated at the top of his class at Wright State University.
"I was more interested in prostheses and prosthetic devices because that's what I walk with now," said Ruhe, whose legs were amputated above the knee.
A defenseman for the U.S. sled hockey team, the "Ruhester" helped flip the switch that has rocketed surprising Team USA to the top of the standings midway through the 2002 Paralympic Games. The U.S. is almost assured a spot in the gold-medal game.
Ruhe earned player-of-the-game honors Monday in a 2-1 defeat of defending gold medalist Norway. In addition to punishing defense, he had two assists.
The victory put sixth-seeded Team USA in position to go from worst to first. It will play for gold with a win against either Sweden tonight or Estonia on Thursday.
"We're on the brink of something special here," said veteran goalie Manuel Guerra Jr., who has allowed only two goals in three games. "But anybody can beat anybody on any given day, so we're not taking the next two games lightly."
No one expected the United States to contend at all.
"They have been hiding. They have been hiding real good," said Team Norway forward Helge Bjoernstad. But he doesn't begrudge the new-found American success.
"They are working like a perfect team in this tournament. I'm actually very excited about the improvement totally in sledge hockey."
Bjoernstad, the Paralympics' leading scorer through three games, said the level of play is rising in Germany and Great Britain, too. He'd like to see 10 or 12 teams in the 2006 Paralympics.
Ruhe is a relative newcomer to sled hockey, taking the sport up only two years ago.
"This first time I got on the ice, I loved it," he said.
When Ruhe isn't patrolling the blue line for the U.S. Paralympic team or his club team, he's working on a doctoral degree in biomedical engineering at Northwestern University. His research compares the gait of double amputees with prostheses to that of able-bodied people.
"Hopefully, I'll be able to learn what differences are there and how to compensate for those differences to make amputees walk more normally," he said.
Monday's results:
USA 2, NORWAY 1:
A fluke third-period goal by Sylvester Flis proved to be the game winner as the United States remained undefeated.
A Norway defender knocked the streaking defenseman off the puck in front of the net before he could get a shot off. But the puck slowly glided under his sled and into the net.
Flis couldn't figure out why the crowd erupted for what he thought was going to be a penalty. "I turned around and the guys said that was an awesome goal," he said.
Matt Coppens nailed the first U.S. goal just 2:32 into the contest on a rebound of a Brian Ruhe shot.
Helge Bjoernstad scored with 1:09 remaining to keep Norway in the game to the end. The two teams combined for only 17 shots on goal.
Norway fell to 1-0-2.
ESTONIA 3, CANADA 3:
A controversial no-goal call late in the third period foiled Estonia's chance for a huge upset of Canada.
Leading a two-on-one breakaway, Maksim Vedernikov centered the puck for Kaid Kalm, who collided with a Canadian defender. The puck appeared to glance into the net before the players crashed into Canada goalie Paul Rosen, dislodging the goal.
"You can see clearly on the replay that it was a score. But we can do nothing about that now, I guess," Vedernikov said.
"I know I stopped it and I don't know what happened after that," Rosen said.
International Paralympic Committee referee-in-chief Alf Andersen said neither the referee nor the linesmen saw the puck cross the red line. Unlike Olympic hockey, video replay is not used in the Paralympics.
Both teams are now 1-1-1.
SWEDEN 4, JAPAN 2
The Swedes picked up their second victory of the tournament over winless Japan.
Four different players scored for Sweden, including Marcus Holm, who now has four goals and four assists in three games.
Sweden has the inside track to the gold-medal game but faces tough tests against the United States and Canada in its two remaining games.
E-mail: romboy@desnews.com