Winter Paralympics 2026: Canada set up Para ice hockey final with USA by beating People’s Republic of China 4-2

Milano Cortina 2026 – Canada come through Milan thriller to stamp final ticket

This game against the Beijing 2022 bronze medallists was undoubtedly Canada’s toughest test of the tournament, as China fought their way back to equalise and stun the partisan Canadian crowd. From there, things seemed like they could have gone either way until team captain Tyler McGregor roused his team to put them back on course for the final.

“It was about getting back to who we are, reminding our team to be calm and composed,” he told Olympics.com. “In the third period, we really started to turn it around because we started to simplify our game. We probably had our best period at the end of the third.”

McGregor broke the deadlock with 10 seconds left in the power play, finding space and firing in his effort high and hard. The 32-year-old’s second goal had an element of luck about it – Mathieu Lelievre’s shot went through the goalkeeper and came to a standstill barely an inch from the line, leaving the captain to tap home for the double.

China still had a stake in the game, and taking advantage of a penalty, Zhang Zheng tapped home a fluid team play to reduce the deficit at the end of the first period. After forcing a penalty within 10 seconds of the restart, they did not need a second bite at the cherry, exploiting the space in between the backline and levelling up thanks to Tian Jintao.

At the other end, Chinese goalie Wang Wei was having a superb game, recording 17 saves across the evening. He was also assisted on occasion, such as when the bar denied McGregor from completing his hat-trick.

With six minutes and seven seconds left on the clock, Cozzolino’s long shot took a deflection straight past Wang to restore Canada’s lead. China’s Qiu Dianpeng had to be stretchered off, causing a lengthy delay, and upon the restart, Hickey restored the two-goal advantage and assured Canada’s spot in a third consecutive gold medal game.

Looking ahead to the final, McGregor explained: “We know we need to do it as a collective unit, and we need to come at them wave after wave. We know it’s gonna take a ton of heart, a ton of effort and a ton of execution, and we can’t wait for that opportunity because we’ll be ready.”