Defenceman Jack Wallace had three goals and an assist, and Brody Roybal chipped in with five assists as the United States claimed gold with a 6-1 win over Canada in the Para World Hockey Championship game on Saturday at LECOM Harborcentre in Buffalo.
It was the seventh gold medal at the event for the Americans, who have played Canada in the final for the eighth consecutive time.
Liam Hickey scored for Canada, which trailed 3-1 after the first period and 4-1 heading into the third.
“That is the best game I’ve seen the U.S. play in a long time, and it’s just unfortunate that it came today against us,” said Canada’s head coach Russ Herrington. “They didn’t give us any space or room to breathe. We were unable to impose our will at all tonight.
“I would say that is an American team that has been sitting on a sour feeling since last year’s final and they were waiting for their chance to get us back. We can take some solace in the fact it took that type of effort to beat us, but there is a lesson here too that now we need to have that same fire in our belly and take care of business (at the Paralympics) in Italy in March.”
Canadian netminder Adam Kingsmill stopped 18 of 24 shots, while Griffin Lamarre stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced for the U.S.
The U.S. went 2-for-3 on the power play, while Canada was 0-for-3.
“Obviously, our start was very good,” said David Hoff, head coach of the U.S. National team. “I thought we sustained that momentum throughout the game and never let our foot off the pedal.
“We were very tough to play against for three periods. We had a really solid performance by the whole group.”
Czech Republic beat China 2-1 in overtime to claim the bronze medal.
Canada topped the Group A standings with a 3-0 record, while the U.S. finished first in Group B with the same record.
Fuel for Milano-Cortina
“Not the performance we wanted today,” said Canada’s captain Tyler McGregor. “When you look at the bigger picture and look back at the full year and how far we’ve come and how much we’ve grown as a group, there are lots of positives we can find.
“This one didn’t go our way, and all the credit to the U.S., they played a heck of a game. This one hurts for sure, but for our group we know what we have to do: move forward, use this as fuel, get better every day and prepare to leave Milano-Cortina with a gold medal.”
Following the game, McGregor was named Best Forward of the tournament.
In 15 appearances at the World Para Hockey Championship, Canada has captured five gold medals (2000, 2008, 2013, 2017, 2024), in addition to five silver (2015, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2025) and three bronze (1996, 2009, 2012).