Milano Cortina 2026: Germany end 20‑year wait, Landeros hits Michigan in Italy’s win

Hosts Italy booked a rematch with Germany on Saturday at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena after both teams won their Thursday games to advance to the Paralympic Winter Games fifth-place showdown.

The Azzurri eased past Japan 5-0 – highlighted by a brilliant Michigan goal from Nikko Landeros –shortly after Germany edged Slovakia 4-3 in sudden-death overtime, their first Paralympic Games victory in 20 years. 

It will be the teams’ second meeting at Milano Cortina 2026, after Italy’s 2-1 win in their closing Group A game. Slovakia will face Japan also on Saturday in the seventh-place game.

Germany 4-3 Slovakia

In German, they call it a Krimi – a thriller. Twenty years to the day since Germany last won a Para ice hockey game at the Paralympics, it happened again in Italy. This time it was in Milano, not Torino. With four goals from Felix Schrader – the last coming in overtime – Germany sealed a dramatic 4-3 win over Slovakia.

The result sends Germany to the game for fifth place on Saturday at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena against the winner of Thursday’s matchup between Italy and Japan. Slovakia will face the loser of that game.

“You can’t get more Krimi – more thrilling – than this in an ice hockey game,” Schrader said. “Despite being behind, we really stepped it up and came back. This is a huge success. I’m so happy for the whole team and for German Para ice hockey.”

Germany qualified for their first Paralympic Winter Games in 20 years by finishing fifth at last year’s World Para Ice Hockey Championships in Buffalo, USA. Schrader scored once in the 5-2 win over the same Slovak team.

Their last participation at the Games ended with a fourth-place finish. Germany beat USA and Sweden (on 12 March in 2006), then drew with Japan to reach the semifinals and the bronze-medal game, both which they lost.

Their journey at the 2026 Paralympics started off bumpier, losing all three Group A games against USA, China and Italy. But head coach Peter Willmann called Thursday’s game “our final”. His team played like one – and celebrated like one.

“We knew it would be incredibly hard work, but we believed in ourselves. Felix had a fantastic scoring night – four breakaways and four goals, the guy was sensational. But it was a solid team performance; everyone fought for each other. We wanted to get something out of the game today, and we succeeded.”

Slovakia, on the other hand, will be frustrated by missed opportunities to kill the game and their failure to capitalise on power plays.

“It’s hard to find the right words, but after the second period we believed the game was already won, and we started to make naive plays in the offensive zone,” captain Martin Joppa said. “We made four big mistakes and they scored four goals from them, and that’s it. We had a lot more chances than they did but didn’t score.”

Forward Felix Schrader scores all four goals in Germany’s victory over Slovakia. 🇩🇪🏒

It’s Germany’s first Paralympic win in 20 years.@Paralympics @milanocortina26 pic.twitter.com/lTUwHKGpzu

— Para Ice Hockey (@paraicehockey) March 12, 2026

Schrader needed only 1:20 to make it 1-0 with a precise cross-angle shot into Slovak goaltender Eduard Lepacek’s left corner, following an assist from Sven Stumpe – who was part of the German squad at Torino 2006. Slovakia hit the post through David Korman during a power play, but just 13 seconds after returning from the penalty box, Schrader scored his second unassisted – again with a cross-angle shot at 8:07.

Slovakia reduced the deficit with 2:58 left in the period when the Marian Ligda-Martin Joppa combination found Slavomir Ferencik, whose shot took a deflection and beat German goaltender Veit Muehlhans.

Milos Vecerek equalised just 38 seconds into the second period, skating through the German defence and finding the right angle with Muehlhans’ view blocked.

Slovakia thought they had extended the lead in the third period, but the play had already been blown dead with the puck under the German goalie. They again failed to score on a power play, and it was Schrader who brought Germany back, firing the puck into the top-right corner with 3:49 remaining in regulation.

The thriller wasn’t over. For the first time at Milano Cortina 2026, a game went to overtime – 10 minutes of four-on-four action. Or rather, three-on-four at the start, as German captain Jan Malte Brelage had taken a penalty just before the end of regulation.

Germany killed off their fifth penalty of the game, and when the chance came, it was Schrader again. After a clearance from the defence, he broke away and found himself alone in front of the Slovak net. He calmly sent the puck home at 6:04 to end a 20-year wait.

Muehlhans record 22 saves and Lepacek 10 on Thursday. 

Italy 5-0 Japan

Italy earned their second consecutive win at Milano Cortina 2026 with a dominant performance against Japan. Nikko Landeros recorded a hat trick in the 5–0 victory, including a Michigan goal – the first of the Games – to the delight of the home crowd.

“It's a great feeling. Everyone wants to score, so I'm just happy that I could help the team get a win like that,” Landeros said.

Hat trick AND a Michigan from Niko Landeros! 🎩🏒
Italy beats Japan for its second win in front of the home crowd and will face Germany for 5th–6th place on Saturday. 🇮🇹

Schedule, results & stats: https://t.co/shYvaS3ae9 pic.twitter.com/ynMYoxW0Bd

— Para Ice Hockey (@paraicehockey) March 12, 2026

A three time Paralympic champion with the USA (Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018) now representing Italy in his fourth Games, Landeros was pleased with the team’s strongest showing of the tournament.

“We passed the puck well, especially in the offensive zone. We were talking on the ice a lot. At the beginning of the tournament, you couldn't hear anyone speaking. It's important to talk and let your teammates know where you're at.

“This was a good change of energy for us. We're starting to get the ball rolling a little late, but at least we're getting it rolling, and hopefully we can move on from the first two losses and keep going.”
Italy’s next challenge is Germany in the fifth place game on Saturday – a matchup head coach Mirko Bianchi views as an important opportunity to close out the home Games.

“[The game] is very important because it would confirm the same fifth place as in Beijing. Being able to try to play as best as we can for the fifth position, it's a really good opportunity.”

Landeros opened the scoring at 6:32, striking just as Italy’s first power play of the game expired with a high shot into the top right corner behind Japanese goaltender Wataru Horie.

Japan managed only three shots in the opening period and won just four of 11 faceoffs.

Japan killed off an early second period power play, but Italy continued to control the frame with a 12-4 edge in shots. Their second goal came during four on four play at 4:37, when Landeros produced a moment of pure brilliance with his Michigan finish –  lifting the puck onto his blade and tucking it into the top corner.

Captain Gianluigi Rosa then set up Roberto Radice in front, and the forward redirected the puck through his sled and into the net at 11:28. Just 90 seconds later, Sandro Kalegaris’ initial shot was stopped by Horie, but the rebound off the end boards came straight back to him to make it 4-0.

Italy controlled the third period, and Landeros completed his hat trick with 27 seconds remaining when Francesco Torella found him alone in the slot to fire past Horie.

Japanese defender Akari Fukunishi logged 1:55 of ice time, becoming the fourth female player ever to compete at the Paralympic Winter Games.

Horie finished with 24 saves for Japan, while Santino Stillitano stopped all 13 shots he faced.

Complete stats, schedule and results from Milano Cortina 2026 are available here.