The United States defeated arch-rivals Canada, 5-1, in dynamic fashion on Saturday in the gold-medal game at the World Para Ice Hockey Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
It was the fifth consecutive time that the two countries had contested the gold medal match in this tournament, with Canada winning twice and the United States winning for a third time against Canada.
The USA have now finished on the podium at the last nine World Championships dating back to 2004, and they will hold onto their No. 1 world ranking heading into the Beijing 2022 Winter Games as both the reigning Paralympic and world champions. With its silver medal, the Canadians have now finished on the podium at all but one of the 11 editions of the World Championships since they began in 1996.
“That was probably our best game we’ve ever played against Canada since I’ve been on the national team in nine years,” Declan Farmer said.
“I thought we really earned this victory tonight, but that doesn’t mean we are discounting Canada, RPC, South Korea or Czech, or any of these teams going into next season. We know the bigger mountain is the Paralympics and we are ready to get grinding on that.”
Steve Cash recorded the shutout between the pipes for the USA, while Larocque had 34 saves for Canada.
“I’m proud of this team, and I thought we battled,” Canadian captain Tyler McGregor said. “We lost and they simply outperformed us. We’ll leave here and re-evaluate and regroup quick.”
US forward Brody Roybal was named both the Most Valuable Player and Best Forward of the tournament, leading the world champions with 11 points, including seven goals and four assists.
“Our goal here was to get better every single time we got on the ice, and that’s what happened,” Roybal said. “We are world champions again, and we are so happy for it.”
Canada’s Liam Hickey was tabbed the Best Defender with 10 points, and Larocque was the Best Goaltender with three victories in the net and an 88.89 save percentage.
By finishing within the top five in Ostrava, both the USA and Canada booked their tickets to the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, where they will be joined by the RPC, South Korea and the Czech Republic. Additional teams will qualify at the Paralympic Qualification Tournament later this year.
