Moose Jaw 2023: Defending champions USA shows its strength

The defending Paralympic and world champions USA opened its campaign for a sixth world title on Monday (29 May) with a 6-1 victory over Czechia at the Moose Jaw 2023 World Para Ice Hockey Championships A-Pool in Canada.

Travis Dodson was quick to give the United States a 2-0 lead in the first period, finding the back of the net twice on rebound opportunities just over three minutes apart. Brody Roybal added a goal of his own to give his team a 3-0 lead after 15 minutes.

Malik Jones and Declan Farmer increased the lead to 5-0 in the second period, but Czechia responded with Filip Vesely capitalizing on a turnover in the U.S. zone.

Dodson completed the hat trick in the third period and Noah Grove notched a power play goal late in the game to complete the scoring.

“It feels good to get the first [game] out of the way,” Dodson said. “Now we can kind of get into a rhythm. We got three games in a row coming up here, but we’re excited to get this thing going.”

Jen Lee made nine saves for the USA win, while Martin Kudela turned away 22 shots for Czechia.

China 5, Norway 1

After recording its historic first win in Pool A in the opening day, China continued its winning streak with a 5-1 victory over Norway.

The Chinese only needed 58 seconds for the first goal of the game, with a beautiful passing play in front of the net allowing Zhi Dong Wang to give China a 1-0 lead.

Wang added his second goal of the day in the second period on a rush opportunity to extend China’s lead.

Yi Feng Shen scored a hat trick in the third period, plus Zheng Zhang added one of his own, to make it 5-0, but Loyd Remi Solberg spoiled the shutout to get Norway on the board with 48 seconds remaining.

"Team Norway is a great team. From our side, there were a lot of opportunities to score, but we did not score as many as we had hoped." Wang said. "It was shocking, excited and encouraging to see so many Chinese fans cheering. We feel the warmth from the local Chinese fans."

Andreas Sundt battled to make 23 saves for Norway, while Wei Wang made eight saves in China’s triumph.

Canada 15, South Korea 1

In the finale of the day, Canada opened its first World Championships on home soil with a huge victory, defeating South Korea 15-1 to start the tournament.

Tyler McGregor scored the first goal to record his 200th international point with Canada. McGregor added another, James Dunn scored twice—plus Dominic Cozzolino, Auren Halbert and Adam Dixon—to give Canada a 7-0 lead after 15 minutes.

Cozzolino added three more goals of his own in the second period and Zach Lavin scored in the middle frame to increase the lead to 11-0 with one period to go.

However, Korea spoiled the shutout for Canada, with Seung Hwan Jung getting the puck past Jean-François Huneault to put the Koreans on the board.

Dixon and Dunn both scored again in the third period, along with Corbyn Smith and Vincent Boily , to close out Canada’s scoring.

The game also marked Raphaelle Tousignant’s World Championships debut as she became the first woman to play for Canada's Para ice hockey national team in a World Para Ice Hockey competition.

"We got off to a great start, everyone contributed tonight which is great to see and hopefully we keep rolling into tomorrow [against Korea]," Cozzolino said. "This is the start you like coming into a tournament, especially on home ice in front of our fans. Having lots of our teammates families in the crowd is amazing." 

Hyuk Jun Choi made five saves in the first period and Dae Han Bong saved 22 shots for Korea in relief. Huneault made five saves in Canada’s first game.

The hosts return to the ice on Tuesday (30 May) to face Czechia in the final game of the day in the Moose Jaw Events Centre. Germany v Italy opens Tuesday’s action followed by USA v South Korea.

Moose Jaw 2023 can be watched live on the World Para Ice Hockey website and World Para Ice Hockey Facebook page with geo-block restrictions in Canada and Czechia. Complete schedule and live results are available here.