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Canada’s Para ice hockey team settled for silver after a 6-2 loss to the United States on Sunday in the final event of the Milan Cortina Paralympics.
Liam Hickey scored both goals for Canada, which hasn’t won hockey gold at the Paralympics since the 2006 Games.
Canada has medalled at every Games besides 2002 and 2010 since its inception at the Paralympics in 1994.
Captain Tyler McGregor displayed a mix of disappointment and pride in his team following the loss.
“I’m feeling like I just want to go hug my teammates and just spend time with them,” McGregor said.
“I’m proud of who they are, who they’ve become, the team that we get to go on this journey with. We’re heartbroken right now, and it’s hard to really think of what just happened. I just want to go spend time with them, enjoy every minute we can together and move forward.”
Americans go onto a 6-2 defeat of Canada in the gold medal Para ice hockey game Sunday as Canada settles for silver at Milano Cortina 2026.
Jack Wallace led the Americans with three goals while Kayden Beasley, Declan Farmer and Brody Roybal, with a short-handed empty-netter, added the others.
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Wallace said with a broad smile when asked about his hat trick.
It’s the fifth straight Paralympic gold for the U.S., which lost to Canada at the 2024 world championships but won in 2023 and 2025 leading up to these Games.
The U.S. has now won six of the past seven editions of the Winter Paralympics. It was a third straight loss in the final for Canada, which won its only Para ice hockey gold on Italian ice, in Turin in 2006.
Earlier, China claimed a second successive bronze medal as it fought back from conceding two goals in the opening three minutes to beat Czechia 3-2.
Sunday’s final set a new record attendance for the sport at a major tournament as 10,795 fans filled the near-capacity stands.
The mark had been set in the opening match of the tournament with the preliminary round game between the U.S. and host nation Italy drawing 8,992 spectators.
Canada head coach Boris Rybalka expressed optimism despite the loss, turning the page and looking forward what comes next for the program.
“We’re excited about the future, our next gen and the development and the players coming up. Management has done an outstanding job starting to set things up already for this year and for the next four years,” Rybalka said.
“Canada will be at the top of the mountain, and we’re looking forward to it for the next four years.”
