Four Nations Secure Paralympic Spots at Buffalo Para Ice Hockey Championships
The United States, Canada, China and the Czech Republic punched their tickets to the 2026 Milano Cortina Paralympic Winter Games on Sunday, claiming the top four spots at the World Para Ice Hockey Championships with dominant performances.
The host Americans delivered the most impressive showing of the day, routing Slovakia 13-0 to secure their semifinal berth and defend their Paralympic gold medal next March.
Jake Wallace led the offensive explosion with three goals and four assists, while Declan Farmer added four goals and two assists. The duo’s chemistry was on full display during Team USA’s 10th goal, when Farmer threaded a behind-the-back pass across the crease to Wallace, who buried it past the Slovak goaltender.
“I really liked our start,” said U.S. coach David Hoff. “We spread the scoring out with our third line scoring three of the first five, which puts us in a pretty good spot.”
Forward Kevin McKee, who contributed two goals and an assist, emphasized the team’s strong opening. “We started off pretty hot in the beginning,” he said. “Now we know we are in the semis.”
Canada Dominates Korea
Canada secured its Paralympic spot with an equally impressive 12-0 victory over South Korea. The Canadians exploded out of the gate, scoring five goals in the first five minutes.
James Dunn and Dominic Cozzolino each recorded hat tricks, with Dunn earning player of the game honors and Cozzolino adding three assists.
“I thought it was a great game by Canada, we played the way we wanted to play,” Dunn said. “We want to get starts like that every game.”
Canadian coach Russ Herrington acknowledged the relief of clinching a Paralympic berth. “Certainly, we spent three years trying to clinch a spot in Milano Cortina and we did that with the win today,” he said.
Czech Republic Shuts Out Norway
The Czech Republic earned its semifinal spot with a 4-0 victory over Norway in the day’s opening match. Michal Geier led the way with two goals, including an early first-period strike and a crucial insurance goal.
“For us, it was very important to start the tournament with two wins,” Geier said. “The most important thing is that we are qualified for the Paralympics. Now we can concentrate on the rest of the tournament.”
China Completes Quartet
China rounded out the Paralympic qualifiers with an 8-0 win over Germany. The Chinese penalty kill unit continued its tournament-long dominance, scoring another short-handed goal through Jin Tao Tian, who had scored three such goals the previous day. Yifeng Shen contributed one goal and two assists.
Final Spot Still Available
While four nations have secured their Milano Cortina spots, one Paralympic berth remains up for grabs. South Korea, Germany, Norway and Slovakia will compete in seeding and qualification games for the final spot.
Competition resumes Tuesday with Canada facing China and the United States taking on the Czech Republic in semifinal action. Norway meets Slovakia, while Germany battles South Korea in the final preliminary round matchup.
Complete scores, stats and schedule from the World Para Ice Hockey
Championships can be found here. USAHockeyTV is streaming all the Buffalo 2025 action live.