Milano Cortina 2026 Group B Review: Czechia make history, Canada overpower Japan

Czechia made history with a commanding 8-1 victory over Slovakia on Monday (9 March), day two of Group B action at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. 

Canada's win over Japan later in the day confirmed Czechia's qualification for a Paralympic semifinal for the first time and moved them a step closer to their dream of a maiden Winter Games medal. 

“It has been our goal from the start to qualify for the semifinals and play for a medal. I’m glad we managed to achieve that goal, and we are preparing for the games ahead,” said Czech captain Radek Zelinka.

Head Coach Jakub Novotny was pleased with his team’s response after a narrow opening‑day win over Japan.

“Against Japan, it didn't go as we expected or wanted, but today I think we played much better. We were more relaxed, it wasn’t so tense. Against Japan, we were very tense, we couldn’t handle the puck very well, we didn’t pass to each other. This time it was more stress‑free, and you could see that on the ice.”

After three consecutive bronze medals at the World Championships, Novotny said he knew expectations were high.

“It was our goal to win these two games. At the last three World Championships, we knew that if we wanted to play for a medal, we had to win the first two games.”

Next up for Czechia will be Paralympic silver medallists Canada, who face Japan in Monday’s late game. A Canadian win would set up a showdown between the two teams for first place in Group B – and potentially avoiding defending champions USA in the semifinals.

Filip Vesely led the scoring against Slovakia with four points. He opened the scoring 4:50 into the game at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, intercepting a Slovak pass and finishing unassisted in front of goaltender Eduard Lepacek.

Czechia doubled their lead at 12:40 through a brilliant assist from Alex Ohar, who stretched to keep control of the puck before sliding a pass to Martin Zizlavsky for a one‑touch finish.

Zizlavsky added a highlight‑reel goal early in the second period, firing a powerful left‑hand shot from the offside into the top corner to make it 3-0. He then combined with Vaclav Hecko to set up Vesely for the fourth. Zelinka and Pavel Dolezal struck before the intermission as Czechia took a 6-0 lead, scoring four times on just seven shots.

Slovakia capitalised on a power play to cut the deficit, with captain Martin Joppa setting up David Korman.

But Czechia restored full control as Zelinka and Michael Geier scored 11 seconds apart – Geier striking unassisted after taking the puck off the centre‑ice face-off – to close out the 8–1 win. 

“I liked that we still managed to score. I'm glad we didn’t end up with zero,” Korman said. “Thanks to Martin Joppa, who assisted me. I scored at the last Paralympics as well, so it’s a great feeling. I'm not the type of player who scores a lot, so it’s good for me.”

“We could have been better, but Czechia are a very good team, bronze medallists at the World Championships.”

Czech goaltender Martin Kudela stopped eight Slovak shots, while Lepacek turned aside 22 at the other end.

Until Milano Cortina 2026, Czechia's best Paralympic result had been fifth place at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014.

USA, Canada, China and Czechia: our four semifinalists at @milanocortina26 🏒

This Tuesday, 10 March, we’ll find out the semifinal matchups. pic.twitter.com/ztsR53gZut

— Para Ice Hockey (@paraicehockey) March 9, 2026

Canada 14-0 Japan

Canada closed out day two at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena produced the highest score of the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games so far, overpowering Japan 14-0.

The Beijing 2022 silver medallists will now meet Czechia on Tuesday (10) to determine who their semifinal opponents will be.

Auren Halbert led all skaters with a seven point performance (four goals, three assists). Captain Tyler McGregor added two goals and three assists, while Dominic Cozzolino recorded a hat trick and one assist. Vincent Boily (one goal, three assists) and Anton Jacob-Webbs (four assists) also reached four points.

“I’m lucky enough to play with great players, and it just as easily could have been one of them with three tonight,” Cozzolino said.

Canada’s defensive structure was equally dominant, holding Japan to just two shots on goal. Japanese netminder Wataru Horie faced a heavy workload, turning aside 42 of 56 shots.

“We pride ourselves on being a good defensive team first, and I think that shows with the shot count,” Cozzolino added. “We like to take care of our own end, and we know our offence will take care of itself as long as we play good Canadian hockey.”

James Dunn scored twice in the third period, while assistant captain Liam Hickey and defenceman Adam Dixon also found the back of the net.

Head Coach Boris Rybalka praised his team’s steady approach.

“It was the game plan. We just wanted to be consistent like we were in the last game – consistent on our forecheck, consistent on our backcheck. That was probably the biggest thing, that we just stayed the same. And that was a big positive.”

Looking ahead, Rybalka kept the focus narrow as Canada continues its push for a first Paralympic gold since Torino 2006.

“Our focus now is just on Czechia. It’s a short turnaround, so we’re trying to get the players out of here quickly, get them ready and focused for the game tomorrow, and then we’ll worry about the semis. We don’t know who the opponent is yet, so that’s why we’re just doing it game by game.”

Japan will face Slovakia in the other Group B matchup on Tuesday.

Head Coach Kojin Nakakita said Team Japan will be taking some lessons from the game.

“We need to be very strong defensively. We were strong against Czechia but Canada, of course, is much, much better in the system they have. We learned quite a bit from their systems, so I think we need to work on that.”

On Tuesday’s game against Slovakia he added:

“For the remaining game, maybe against less powerful guys, maybe we can put a system in place. We'll try our best.”

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