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Canada, USA remain unbeaten after hard-fought wins in Buffalo

Defending champions edge China 4-2 and will play Czechia in the semifinals as Team USA beats Czechs 4-3 and now face China for a place in the final; Slovakia and Germany pick their first victories at the World Para Ice Hockey Championships 28 May 2025
Canada and China playing a Para ice hockey game
Canada and China advance to the semifinals in Buffalo as first and second in Group A, respectively
ⒸMicheline Veluvolu/USA Hockey
By Daniel Christian Gagne I For World Para Ice Hockey

The first two days of competition at the Buffalo 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championships drew clear lines in the sand, with Canada, the United States, China and Czechia all confirming their spots in the semi-finals, while Germany, Slovakia, Korea and Norway were directed towards the qualification round. And whether through luck or brilliant scheduling, all eight teams faced off against a counterpart who is advancing to the same round as them, meaning every minute of every game had direct seeding implications on the next round.

As day three (27 May) closed the preliminary round, defending champions Canada finished first in Group A with 9 points, followed by China with 6, Germany in third with 2 points, and Korea with 1 point. Hosts USA topped Group B (9 points), seconded by Czechia (6 points), followed by Slovakia (3) and Norway (0).

Canada edges China 4-2

While the Canadian team may have appeared as the favourite on paper, no one told the feisty Chinese national team that Canada was destined for victory, and fans were treated to the tournament’s most hard-fought game. 

“We expected that China would give us a real good test, they move the puck really well, they’re extremely fast and skilled” said Team Canada head coach Russ Herrington of the nail bitter. “We kind of expected that kind of game.” 

Indeed, the first period quickly became a battle of special teams, with China killing off two penalties and continuing the tremendous work they have done when down one player since the beginning of the competition. Both teams went back to their dressing rooms tied at one after fifteen minutes of action.

In the second frame, Team Canada was able to flip the script and use two shorthanded situations of their own to turn the momentum of a 1-1 game permanently in their favour. 

“It was an adjustment for us” explained Herrington. “I thought we did a pretty good job in the second period to adapting to the pace of play and we were able to generate some better chances, and on the flip side, able to kill back-to-back penalties which I think turned the momentum of the game.”

 

Canadian forward Dominic Cozzolino would prove to be a key player in his team’s efforts, scoring the first two goals for the maple leafed team, including an early third period marker which allowed Canada to take the lead and never look back. “I really like the way we stuck to our identity today; we could have come out and got frustrated that pucks weren’t going to the back of the net for us, but I just love our resilience and sticking to what we know makes us a great team” said the player of the game.

A thought also went out to Team Canada goaltender Corbin Watson, who turned away all but two of 15 shots he faced. “Watty played great, he’s a veteran guy back there (…) he kept playing, he kept making saves, he kept us in there all game” said teammate Adam Dixon, author of the game-winning goal. “We’re happy to have him back there.”

Team USA survives late push by Czechia 4-3

In an anticipated match-up, Team USA skated to a one goal victory over Czechia, narrowly escaping a third period comeback by the Czechs.

Indeed, down by three goals after two periods of action, Team Czechia scored two unanswered goals in the final frame to cut the deficit to one. Then, late in the period, a puck snuck pass USA goaltender Jen Lee (11 saves) after he was only able to get a piece of it on a high shot, but as it continued to make its way, it ultimately sailed wide of the net by only mere inches. It would prove to be the Czech’s final chance and seal the win for the hosts.

Defenseman Jack Wallace (author of the game winning goal and an assist) and forward Declan Farmer (two goals and one assist) led the way offensively once more for the red, white and blue, the former to much support from fans, friends and family.

“I got some family here and it’ll keep growing towards the end of the tournament,” said Wallace. “It means the world to play on home soil in front of our own friends and family, their support means everything to us because they have been supporting us our whole lives and now, they get to come and watch the product. We’re really grateful to have the opportunity.”

After the game, United States head coach David Hoff spoke philosophically about his team’s third period and the opportunity for growth on his team, never losing sight of the big picture: “We aren’t always in games that are like that and (…) it would be easy to ride some of our experienced guys out and just say “ok, we’ll finish with you guys”, but we tried to put some guys out there that maybe haven’t always been in the situation where the game is on the line and they are on the ice. (…) That’s the learning experience and if you never put players in that situation, how do they ever have the chance to excel at that?”

 

For his part, Team Czechia head coach Jakub Novotny spoke about his team’s improved play as the game progressed: “It was a good game, I liked the pace of the game. You could see we are playing against one of the best teams. (…) Our guys needed a little bit of time to get used to it, but I think from the second period [onwards], we got a handle on it. (…) Overall, I am very happy with the way we played today.”

Correspondingly, Novotny’s star goaltender, Patrick Sedlacek (25 saves), expressed satisfaction with the character of his team: “We played one of the best teams in the world [and] we played a hard game. 4-3 is one of the best results we can make, so I am proud of our team. We tried to build our team strong. (…) It’s the best comeback we’ve ever made.”

Slovakia outlasts Norway by a 4-1 score

Team Slovakia skated away with a 4-1 victory over Team Norway. Slovakian forward David Korman led the way offensively for his team, finding the back of the net once while adding two assists. 

However, despite achieving the desired result and keeping with the spirit of a true leader striving for perfection, Slovakia captain Martin Joppa was quick to point out that his team is capable of even more: “It’s a great win, (…) but I don’t think we played a good game. After we scored our second goal, we stopped playing and Norway was much better for (…) twenty minutes. We need to improve that for tomorrow’s game.” 

On balancing the dualities, Joppa added: “We won, so we’re really happy, but we can’t celebrate too long because tomorrow starts the important part of the tournament.”

Germany completes 3-2 comeback against Korea in overtime

On what has been the most exhilarating day of hockey this tournament has seen (so far!), the final game of the day delivered the cherry on top of the sundae as Germany completed its comeback against Korea in overtime.

The men in red, black and yellow may have lit the lamp first (thanks to Ingo Kuhli-Lauenstein finding a loose puck in the slot), but Korea’s Seung Hwan Jung responded with back-to-back goals in the last five minutes of the first period to give his team the lead. Fans would have to wait until the end of the second period to see the next goal, when German forward Bas Disveld evened the score in the final seconds.

After a scoreless third, the stage was set for some overtime heroics. Enter Bernhard Hering, who picked up the puck near the boards, cut across the centre of the ice and fired a top corner wrist shot to give Deutschland the win.

 

After the game, the overtime hero immediately turned his attention to Wednesday’s game against Norway in the qualification round, making the link between that game and a previous encounter between those two teams: “I expect a tough fight. (…) I am really looking forward to this game because we met them in Norway last year, where they took the win for the gold medal in the B Pool and now we’re going to take them on.”

The qualification playoffs kick off with said Germany versus Norway game, followed by Slovakia against Korea. The winners of both games will then meet on Friday (30 May) to determine the fifth-place team, but more importantly, which country has guaranteed their participation at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.

Meanwhile, after a two-day rest period, Canada will face-off against Czechia on Friday, followed by a host United States versus China game. The two victors will then advance to Saturday’s gold medal game, while the other two teams will meet for bronze earlier that day.

Complete scores, stats and schedule from the World Para Ice Hockey Championships can be found here.

USAHockeyTV is streaming all the Bufalo 2025 action live. 

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