Women's para ice hockey will not be contested at the 2026 Paralympics, although a men's tournament will take place. The women's para ice hockey community however, has their sights set squarely on the 2030 Paralympic Games.
In August, the first ever women's Para Ice Hockey World Championships were held in Slovakia. Men had competed in a World Championship event for more than a quarter of a century, but it took until 2025 for the ice to begin to level for women.
While there will be no women's para ice hockey tournament at the 2026 Paralympics in Italy, governing bodies and teams from across the globe are targeting the 2030 Paralympics for the first ever women's para ice hockey Paralympic tournament.
At the 2025 Worlds, USA beat Canada 7-1 in the gold medal game to claim the inaugural title in a field that also included teams from Norway, Great Britain, Australia, and a Team World.
It was a groundbreaking event, but just one in what the sport's top athletes hope will be many to come...including participating at the 2030 Paralympics.
“This event itself, it felt groundbreaking and hopefully it is groundbreaking,” said USA's Kelsey DiClaudio, who was named tournament MVP at the inaugural World Championships. “I hope it propels the exposure that we really need to get other teams involved, other nations involved so that we can finally get a group to go to the Paralympics, and that's the name of the game is getting to that Paralympic goal.”
To get to the Paralympics, women's para ice hockey needs to do just as DiClaudio stated, grow. The sport needs more nations with fully functioning national teams to join USA, Canada Norway, and Australia. Team World was a step in that direction with athletes from nine different nations, who will hopefully return to their countries and continue to help grow the sport.
“We're not going to stop until we get to the Paralympics,” said DiClaudio. “It would mean everything. My teammates and I, we dream of being Paralympians, to get there one day would mean everything to us, this sport means everything to us. We want to show the world what we're capable of and keep going from there.”
Participation across North America continues to grow as well, with American players like DiClaudio, who plays for the Pittsburgh Mighty Penguins, and Flaherty who plays in New Hampshire with the Northern Passage Wildcats, coming from traditional hockey markets, while others on Team USA play their club hockey in Florida, Arizona, and California. No matter where they’re from, all of the players and coaches involved know that the Paralympics is where they want to go.
“I’m excited for the day that we get to the Paralympics Games,” said American athelte Catherine Flaherty. “All the hard work we’ve put in this far to grow the sport to get other girls and other countries involved. We’ve just got to keep doing the same thing, putting in the hard work and dedication and growing the game even more.”
Whether it's on the ice as players, or off the ice as coaches, the goal remains the same. With the World Championship now an annual event, no one is happy with watching the 2026 Paralympics, and inclusion to the 2030 games is the collective goal.
“To get to the Paralympics would be a dream just to be able to see all of these players perform in the Paralympics and I know that is their dream,” said USA head coach Rose Misiewicz. “The World Championships were a huge milestone that needed to be accomplished, and we have some more milestones to go.”
The 2030 Paralympics will be hosted in the French Alps.