Milano Cortina 2026 Gold Medal Game: All You Need to Know about USA vs Canada

The United States and Canada have won every Paralympic Winter Games gold medal in Para ice hockey this century and will meet in the final for a third consecutive time on Sunday at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, competing for the last gold medal still in play at this year’s Games.

It will also be the third meeting between the two hockey nations at Milano Cortina 2026, after the USA defeated Canada in both the men’s and women’s finals at the Winter Olympics – each by a 2-1 scoreline in overtime.

The USA will be chasing their fifth consecutive and sixth overall Paralympic Para ice hockey title, while Canada aim to return to the top of the podium for the first time since Torino 2006 – the last time Italy hosted the Games.

How they got here

USA

The United States qualified for Milano Cortina 2026 by finishing first at the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championships in Buffalo, where they defeated Canada 6–1 in the final.

At the Paralympics, the USA cruised through Group A with wins over Italy (14–1), Germany (13–0) and China (7–1), before beating Czechia 6–1 in the semi-final.

Declan Farmer has been in exceptional form, scoring a hat-trick in every game and becoming the all‑time Paralympic scoring leader. He leads the Milano Cortina 2026 tournament with 24 points from 14 goals and 10 assists – a Games-record.

Canada

Canada secured their place at Milano Cortina 2026 with a second‑place finish at the Buffalo 2025 World Championships. They entered those Worlds as defending champions following a 2–1 victory over the USA at Calgary 2024.

Like the USA, Canada remain undefeated at Milano Cortina 2026. They topped Group B with wins over Slovakia (8–0), Japan (14–0) and Czechia (4–1), and went on to defeat China 4–2 in the semi-final.

Captain Tyler McGregor leads Canada in scoring with 13 points in four games (six goals and seven assists).

Check the Milano Cortina 2026 semifinals review here

What they said

Declan Farmer (USA alternate captain)

“I want this one the most. It’s a new group. I’m older in my career, I’ve put more of my heart into it. It’s always about the next one.”

Tyler McGregor (Canada captain)

“Gold is all we want. This team is ready to do whatever we have to do to finish on Sunday with a gold medal around our neck.”

David Eustace (USA forward)

“[The title] is all I want. That is all I want in the world right now. We need to keep working, and we know that we’re almost at the end. We just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing. We’ve been working very well as a team, but we need to keep our chemistry high, keep communicating and keep working hard.”

Boris Rybalka (Canada coach)

“We’ve got to stay disciplined. We can’t take penalties. Against the US, we can’t afford penalties. We know that, we’ve already talked about it, so we want to play a hard game, but a disciplined game.”

Goal songs

This is the song played every time the team scores.

Canada: 1, 2, 3, 4 – Alan Doyle

USA: Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Head-to-head at Paralympic Games

This will be the seventh Paralympic meeting between the North American rivals, and the USA remain unbeaten.

USA 5–0 Canada – Beijing 2022 final
USA 5–0 Canada – Beijing 2022 preliminary round
USA 2–1 Canada (OT) – PyeongChang 2018 final
USA 3–0 Canada – Sochi 2014 semi-final
USA 5–1 Canada – Salt Lake City 2002 preliminary round
USA 1–1 Canada – Nagano 1998 preliminary round

How to watch

Click below to find out where to watch and listen to the Milano Cortina 2026 Para ice hockey final:

Milano Cortina 2026 Where to Watch and Listen

The venue

The Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena hosted all Para ice hockey games at Milano Cortina 2026.

You can read more about the venue here.