UPDATE: Team USA has locked up the #1 seed in the medal round with wins over Italy and China. Scroll down for more updates.
Just days from puck drop at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, the US para ice hockey squad is lacing the skates with one goal in mind: a historic fifth consecutive Paralympic gold.
Their campaign opens March 7 at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena against the host nation, Italy. But let’s be honest—everyone’s already eyeing one potential matchup with our neighbors to the north. Our frenemies on Team Canada.
The US and Canada squared off twice at the just-concluded Olympics, with the gold medal on the line in each instance. Both matches—first the women, then the men—ended in overtime victories for the Americans. A win in sled hockey would make the US three-for-three in 2026.
But the real prize is the fifth straight Paralympic gold. Team USA has dominated the hockey competition at the last four Games, stretching all the way back to Vancouver in 2010. Canada’s last gold? Turin, 2006.
Since 2018, the two rivals have met in championship matches seven times—twice at the Paralympics and five times at the World Para Ice Hockey Championships. The United States has won six of those matches, with the lone defeat coming at the 2024 World Championships in Calgary.
That streak almost makes you wonder: Can we even call it a rivalry?
Given how badly these teams want to beat each other, the answer is a resounding “yes.” The head-to-head mayhem began at the 2018 Paralympics in PyeongChang, when Declan Farmer scored the tying goal with 37 seconds left in regulation to send the US and Canada into overtime. Minutes later he buried the winner, delivering one of the most electric finishes in Paralympic history.
Ever since, the temperature has always risen when these two teams collide on the sleds. The US won again in overtime at the 2019 Worlds, and they’ve notched decisive wins in four of the five ensuing matchups. US goaltender Jen Lee added his own punctuation at the 2022 Paralympics, shutting the Canadians out twice—once in the group stage and again in the finals.
And then there’s the next generation.
Seventeen-year-old Liam Cunningham arrives in Milan as the youngest player on the roster. The Minnesota native, diagnosed in childhood with a degenerative bone disorder, found sled hockey as an outlet. At 15, he made the national team. Now he’s chasing gold.
“I’m hoping to be part of another gold medal team,” Cunningham said recently. “That’s what we’ve been working for.” [NOTE: Cunningham scored his first career Paralympic goal in the group-stage game against China.]
The Canadians own as many overall sled hockey medals (six) as the US, and they’ve appeared in the medal round at every Paralympics since sled hockey was introduced in 1994. But they aren’t coming to Milano-Cortina to defend a streak. They’re aiming to end one.
This is sled hockey at its purest—fast, physical, unapologetic. Players drive themselves across the ice with spike-ended sticks, absorb contact along the boards, and fire heaters into the net. This isn’t adaptive sport as novelty. It’s hockey. Full stop. Three 15-minute periods. Six players per side. No “set play” safety net. Just defending, neutral, and attacking zones shifting like pieces in a chess match.
If Milo, the stuffed Paralympic mascot, ends up in silver-medal hands again, someone on one side of the border will absolutely screenshot it and troll their friends.
But beneath the taunting, there is something real: respect. If the United States wants to make it five straight Paralympic wins and three straight global hockey titles in 2026, the path likely runs through Canada. Again.
When and How to Watch
The sled hockey preliminary-round matches begin on Saturday. The US is in Group A, and Canada is in Group B. Most hockey games will be aired on Peacock or televised on USA Network. The gold-medal game will be broadcast on NBC.
Game schedules for Team USA and Team Canada are below (all times Eastern):
Saturday, Mar 7: US vs. Italy, 11:05 am; Canada vs. Slovakia, 2:35 pm USA won, 14-1; Canada won 8-0
Monday, Mar 9: US vs. Germany, 12:05 pm; Canada vs. Japan, 5:35 pm USA won, 9-0; Canada won 14-0
Tuesday, Mar 10: US vs. China, 8:35 am; Canada vs. Czechia, 12:05 pm USA won, 7-1
[NOTE: Declan Farmer set a new Paralympic record for career points scored with 53—with two more games to play.]
The two semifinal games will take place on Friday, March 13, beginning at 9:35 am. The two medal matches will take place on Sunday, March 15, beginning with the bronze-medal match at 7:05 am and the gold-medal game at 11:05
