U.S. takes gold, Canada silver in Para Cup

Team USA member Jack Wallace controls the play in Canada’s end. Photo by Brown

It was a tight game with an empty net goal sealing Canada’s National Para Hockey silver medal fate in Dawson Creek, B.C. over the weekend. Canada fell 2-0 to the U.S. in the gold medal game Saturday.

Ontario’s Corbin Watson was terrific in the Canadian goal, finishing with 16 saves, however outplayed in net by Jen Lee who turned away 10 in the shutout Brett Bolton opened the scoring for the Americans 8:05 into the opening stanza – eventually Brody Roybal found the empty net in the final minute of the contest.

“Our forecheck is our bread and butter, and when we were strong on the forecheck we were a relentless team. We forced a lot of turnovers and created scoring opportunities from the forecheck, and we are thrilled with that. Moving forward, consistency and execution in big moments will be a key for us,” said Team Canada captain Tyler McGregor, looking ahead to the Paralympics next year.

“We will be ready [for the Paralympics], and by the time March rolls around we will be ready to perform in Milan and represent Canada to the best of our ability.”

Earlier in the day, China captured its second-consecutive bronze medal at the Para Cup, doubling up Czechia 4-2. Dianpeng Qiu, Xiaodong Song, Zhidong Wang and Jintao Tian provided the offence for China, while Wei Wang made seven saves.

“We are happy with our tournament as a whole because our team got better every game and we are building a sense of belief,” said Canadian forward Adam Dixon. We’re excited about the opportunities we have to gather as a team over the next few months because it will allow us to work on our systems, and Canadians should be excited to tune [to the Paralympics] because it is going to be a great tournament.”

Canada’s head coach Boris Rybalka said the squad has taken big key steps since August.

“Now the real season starts when we gather again in Calgary in January. The next few months are going to be a lot of fun because our players and staff know how close the Paralympics are, and we have two months to prepare and be ready to represent Canada [in Italy],” he said.

“I am proud of these guys and we are happy with our progress on the ice so far this season, but a few months of practice will be great for us as we look ahead to Milan.”

Canada’s National Para Hockey expects to host a pair of training camps in Canada leading into the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. The team gathers in Calgary, AB, from Jan. 8-20 and Oakville, ON, from Feb. 9-19.

Canada will open the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games on March 7 against Slovakia, and will also take on Germany and Czechia in preliminary rounds before the tournament concludes with the medal games on March 15.