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Buffalo 2025: Preview, stars and how to watch the World Championships

Canada will defend its first world since 2017 as hosts USA aim to reclaim the crown at the eight-team tournament, where five qualification slots at next year's Paralympic Winter Games are up for grabs 22 May 2025
A Para ice hockey player from USA against a player from Canada
Canada and the USA have met in the final of the last seven World Para Ice Hockey Championships
ⒸErica Perreaux / Hockey Canada Images / WPIH
By World Para Ice Hockey

When the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championships A-Pool begin on Saturday (24 May), Buffalo, USA will become only the second city in the sport’s history to host the event multiple times.

Held in conjunction with USA Hockey at LECOM Harborcenter a decade after hosting it for the first time, this year’s tournament will be for all the marbles – qualification slots for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.

The top five finishers from the event will earn a place at next year’s Winter Paralympics, while the bottom three will be forced to play in a Qualification Tournament that will take place later in 2025.

“We are expecting to see the most fast-paced, exhilarating tournament in the sport’s history over the course of the next week in Buffalo,” said Michelle Laflamme, World Para Ice Hockey Senior Manager. “Since coming to Buffalo a decade ago, Para ice hockey athletes and teams have made tremendous strides to grow the game, including new teams, new faces and increased skill sets – and you will see that on full display at these World Championships.”

Group A 

Canada will headline Group A as the No. 1 seed aiming to defend its first world title since 2017. Three of the top four scoring leaders at last year’s World Championships in Calgary were from Team Canada and are all returning: Tyler McGregor (18 points), Dominic Cozzolino (17 points) and Liam Hickey (17 points). 

“Sustaining success is a challenging thing to do, but we believe we have the right people, culture, and plan in place to do so,” said Canadian team captain McGregor.

Joining them is China, the Beijing 2022 Paralympic bronze medalists, still seeking their first podium at the World Championships A-Pool. China finished fourth each of the last two seasons, with 13 different players tallying points at the event last year.

Korea, in search of its first world medal in six years, hopes to recapture the form it had during its PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic campaign with a veteran cast of players led by well-respected head coach Taeho Kim.

Germany, seeded No. 8, has bounced six times between the A and B-Pools in the last 15 years and is now back in the A-Pool in search of a Milano-Cortina 2026 spot as well. The Germans most recently claimed silver at the B-Pool World Championships last year following a heartbreaking overtime loss to Norway.

 

Group B

Host nation USA enters the tournament on its home ice in unfamiliar territory – not ranked No. 1 in the world for the first time in seven years. However, Team USA, which still owns a record six world and five Paralympic titles, has never missed a World Championships podium in 25 years and will be the favourites in Group B. 

Declan Farmer – arguably the most well-known Para ice hockey scorer in the world – will head to Buffalo alongside teammates Josh Pauls, Brody Roybal and Jack Wallace. Now in his 14th season on the national team, Farmer led all skaters at last year’s World Championships with 20 points and the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics with 18 points.

Next in the group is Czechia, the dark horse of the tournament. In each of the last two seasons, Czechia has defeated China 3-2 in the bronze-medal game. Now, the Czech will skate for a fifth consecutive Paralympic Winter Games slot and aim to see if they can get even higher on the podium.

Slovakia, seeded No. 6, boasts one of the fastest-growing Para ice hockey programmes and for the first time remained in the A-Pool for a second consecutive season. Led by star scorer Martin Joppa, Slovakia is a four-time medalist at the B-Pool level and is looking to return to the Paralympic stage after making its debut at Beijing 2022.
 
Norway, seeded No. 7, returns to the A-Pool after playing the B-Pool for the first time in its 19-year World Championship history. A decade ago in Buffalo, Norway lost out on the bronze medal by one goal. Last year, the team claimed B-Pool gold on its home ice in an overtime thriller against Germany. Norway will look to build off that momentum to earn a spot in Milano-Cortina after failing to make the Winter Paralympics in 2022 – its first absence since the sport was added to the Games programme in 1994.

The World Para Ice Hockey Championships kick off on Saturday with Czechia taking on Slovakia, host nation USA facing Norway, defending champions Canada playing against A-Pool newcomers Germany, and will conclude with an all-Asia classic matchup between China and Korea.

 

How to follow!

The event will ultimately wrap with the gold and bronze-medal contests on 31 May. All games will be streamed live on USAHockeyTV. 

For the full schedule, results, team rosters and stats, visit here. 

Tickets are available for purchase and selling fast at https://www.universe.com/users/lecom-harborcenter-CWB0Y3. 

Related Topics

Para Ice Hockey
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