Milano Cortina 2026 Day 1 Review: Czechia pushed to the limit, China win big

World Championships bronze medallists Czechia survived a scare against Japan to open their Milano Cortina 2026 campaign with a 3-2 victory at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Saturday (7 March), day one of Para ice hockey at the Paralympic Winter Games.

Despite dominant possession and shot totals, the win was far from guaranteed. Japanese goaltender Wataru Horie turned aside 27 of 30 shots, while Itsuki Ito was a constant threat in transition.

“We had some expectations for how the game should go and it didn’t go that way, so we’re a little bit disappointed that we didn’t score a little bit more and [the game] was that tight,” Czech Head Coach Jakub Novotny said. “Japan did a great job in defending and being as accurate in shooting as they were. But we were the better team and luckily we scored one more goal, and that is what we will take.”

It was Ito who set up Shosei Utai, who fed Kazuyoshi Nittsu to make it 1-0 on Japan’s first shot on goal with 8:46 left in the opening period.

Czechia responded quickly, hitting the post less than a minute later before captain Radek Zelinka equalised with 6:06 remaining (assist: Zdenek Habl).

Zelinka then turned provider with 3:56 left in the period, finding Michal Geier to give Czechia a 2-1 lead.

But Japan opened the scoring in the second period as well. Ito capitalised on a counterattack initiated by Masahiro Matsushita, pulling the puck under his sled and beating Czech goaltender Patrik Sedlacek with 9:51 left in the frame.

Czechia regained the lead on the power play. Lukas Kapko’s pass toward Geier bounced off Horie, and landed back in front of Kapko, who finished into an open net for the 3-2 advantage.

The Czechs fired eight shots on goal in the third period but were repeatedly denied by Horie, ultimately escaping with a narrow win in Milano.

Sedlacek made two saves on four shots faced in the game.

The only female player at this year’s Games, Akari Fukunishi was one of the five Japanese unused substitutes. 

Germany couldn’t hold back China’s offensive firepower. 12–0 🏒📷 in the opening game of group A. @paralympics @milanocortina26 pic.twitter.com/8b5f6ZIMFV

— Para Ice Hockey (@paraicehockey) March 7, 2026

China 12-0 Germany

China wasted no time signalling their intent to defend a top‑three finish at Milano Cortina 2026, overpowering Germany 12-0 in Saturday’s second game at Milano Santagiulia.

“I hope I can score a goal in every match,” captain Zhidong Wang said, after scoring twice at the game. “I'm very excited and happy because this game went very well. We want to keep calm for future games and see how the other strong teams will behave. We worked in a collaborative way and did everything the coach told us to do.”

On whether they can improve from the bronze medal at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, Wang said:

“Four years have passed and, during this time, we have been training a lot. My role also changed a lot, from a regular player to now having more responsibilities as a captain. We want to play better and, in these Games, we will face very strong teams. We want to learn from the other teams and get the best possible results.”

German captain Malte Brelage said the team knows where to improve ahead of the next game against defending champions United States.

“Against teams like the USA, China, these guys, we need to protect our house, play more defensively, these are the things we need to concentrate on more for the next games.”

“Be more at the back, secure the net and everything. We have to be faster. We have to feel safer in our house. So those are the two things we have to concentrate on.”

Wang opened the scoring at 6:16, finishing a setup from Yifeng Shen and Zhanfu Zhu, then doubled the lead less than three minutes later – again with Shen providing the primary assist. China kept pressing, with Dianpeng Qiu and Jintao Tian (twice) closing out a dominant first period for a 5-0 advantage.

The Beijing 2022 bronze medallists continued to dictate play in the middle frame. Qiu struck twice more to complete his hat trick, and Hongyu Chen added another as China stretched the lead to 8-0.
The third period belonged to Tian and Wenxu Liu, each scoring a pair to seal the comprehensive victory.

Wang, Shen, Zhu and Zhi Lyu all finished with four points. German goaltender Simon Kunst battled through 24 saves, while China’s Yanzhao Ji turned aside all five shots he faced to record the shutout.

Day one action continues with USA vs Italy in Group A, followed by Canada vs Slovakia in Group B.

Complete schedule and results from the Para ice hockey Paralympic Winter Games tournament can be found here.