USA Claims Fifth Consecutive Paralympic Ice Hockey Victory!
The United States won a 13th gold medal of the 2026 Games (Stefano RELLANDINI) The United States of America brought an end to competition at the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics on Sunday by claiming their fifth straight gold medal in ice hockey, courtesy of a 6-2 victory over Canada. A Jack Wallace triple steered the US to a dominant win over their North American neighbours at Milan's Santagiulia Arena. Kayden Beasley, Declan Farmer and Brody Roybal supplied the other goals for the defending champions, with Liam Hickey on target for the silver medallists.
"There's lot of relief, for sure," Farmer said. "It's so much pressure builds up to it. And I think for me, this was the most anxious I was for any gold medal game in my whole career.
"I'm just so happy for the guys, we earned it together. This group is great," the four-time Paralympic champion added. Wallace gave the US the lead after eight minutes, before Hickey levelled early in the second period for Canada.
The States then moved two ahead thanks to a quickfire brace from Beasley and Wallace. Wallace completed his hat-trick early in the third period, before Hickey struck again to give Canada a glimmer of hope. But as the runners-up from the last two Paralympics pushed forward to try and halve the deficit, the US pounced with Farmer and Roybal both scoring in the 42nd minute to sew up a 13th gold medal of the 2026 Games for their country.
Earlier in the bronze medal match, China came from two goals down to beat Czech Republic 3-2 and secure back-to-back third-placed finishes, following on from Beijing 2022. "It feels great. After so many years of hard work, working as a team, we were able to keep fighting and persevere," match winner Tian Jintao said.