USA Goes for Fourth Straight Gold Against Canada at World Para Ice Hockey Championship

It’s another instalment of the best rivalry in hockey. Canada and the USA have faced each other for gold on other stages this season, and they’re set to do so again, this time at the 2024 World Para Ice Hockey Championship in Calgary.

Both Canada and the United States went undefeated in group play, with the USA outscoring their opponents 31-0 in three games and Canada outscoring their opposition 34-1. It was a pair of dominant performances during the round-robin, but neither team saw the same lopsided results when elimination games rolled around.

In their semifinal, Canada fell behind 1-0 to China after Jintao Tian opened the scoring midway through the first period on the power play. 

After a scoreless second frame, Canada exploded out of the gate in the third period. Only 1:19 into the third, Micah Kovacevich scored to tie things at 1-1. Dominic Cozzolino quickly scored another for Canada only 24 seconds later, giving the team a 2-1 lead. Veteran leader Tyler McGregor assisted on both goals. 

Canadian netminder Adam Kingsmill shut the door from there on out, making 14 saves in the win.

"What you saw in the semifinals today was two teams that had nothing to lose and played that way," Canadian coach Russ Herrington said to the CBC. "We have been talking all tournament about competing and playing freely, and I do not think we did that in the first two periods.

"In the end, I have to give a lot of credit to our team for being able to relax enough heading into the third period realizing that we put ourselves in a position where one good period could be enough."

The Americans had an equally difficult challenge in their semifinal, edging Czechia 3-1. Chris Douglas scored 8:59 into the game for Team USA, but Czechia continued pressing. After a scoreless second period, Martin Zizlavsky knotted the game at 1-1 for Czechia just over five minutes into the third period. USA bounced back with the clock running down, however, as Malik Jones put USA ahead 2-1, and Douglas secured the win with his second of the game, this time into an empty net in the dying moments of the game. For USA, it was a scare they didn’t expect, and one that prepared them for another contest against Canada.

“It was a challenging environment for us today, we struggled to finish a few chances and weren’t able to get any cushion early,” said USA head coach David Hoff. “But I thought that we were in such a tough environment in the third and we were able to finish and pull through, I think it showed a lot of character from our guys.”

USA will hope that character spills over into Sunday’s gold medal game against rival Canada.

There is dominance, and then there is the force USA has shown at the World Para Ice Hockey Championships. Team USA has captured three straight gold medals and has not finished off the podium at the tournament since 2000. They’ll look to win their fourth straight after beating Canada 6-1 in last year’s gold medal game in Moose Jaw, Sask. The Canadians, on the other hand, are looking for their first gold medal since 2017 in Gangneung, South Korea.

To win gold, team USA will need to stop Canada’s trio of Liam Hickey, Tyler McGregor, and Dominic Cozzolino. In Canada's top group, Hickey leads with 17 points in four games, while McGregor and Cozzolino both have 16. McGregor has been Canada’s top goal-scorer notching nine goals to date. On the USA side of the puck, veteran captain Josh Pauls remains one of their top players, with a plethora of high octane players contributing in the tournament including Douglas, Jones, and star Declan Farmer.

Puck drops on the gold medal game from the WinSport Arena in Calgary May. 12 at 5:30 p.m. MDT (7:30 p.m. ET). Czechia and China will play for bronze earlier in the day at 1:30 p.m. MDT (3:30 p.m. ET).