Confident and united: Canada leveraging experience in pursuit of Para ice hockey gold in Milano-Cortina
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For Canada’s Para hockey team, every matchup against the United States is more than just a game — it’s a chance to make history.
This storied rivalry has seen its share of highs and lows. In the teams’ last matchup at the 2025 World Para Hockey Championship, Canada lost 6–1 to the U.S. A year earlier, Canada defeated its nemesis 2-1 to capture its first world title since 2017.
In recent Paralympic history, the U.S. has dominated, winning the past four finals. Canada’s last Paralympic gold came in 2006.
Despite the two-decade period since its last Paralympic gold, Canada’s ambition remains unshaken.
The recent loss at the 2025 world championships only made Team Canada’s hunger for gold that much greater.
That loss only fuelled their fire and served as motivation for the team entering the 2026 Paralympics in Milano-Cortina.
“If anything, that loss will inspire us to continue to bring our best every day until it’s time to redeem ourselves,” veteran forward Dominic Cozzolino said.
Opening ceremony Canadian co-flag-bearer and team captain Tyler McGregor shared similar optimism after the loss, saying “I don’t think it’s shaken our belief at all.”
A sentiment evidenced by Canada’s unblemished start to the preliminary phase of the Paralympic ice hockey tournament and punctuated with a 4-1 victory over Czechia on Tuesday to top Pool B ahead of Friday’s semifinal against China.
It was a 4-1 victory over Czechia for Canada’s Para ice hockey team Tuesday moving them to a record of 3-0 claiming top spot in Pool B at Milano Cortina 2026.
McGregor has led Canada since 2019, but his approach to leadership has evolved.
“Early on, it was something that I wasn’t necessarily prepared for … I put a lot of pressure on myself to do too much,” McGregor said.
The star forward from Forest, Ont., felt that he wasn’t being himself when faced with this new leadership role.
After growing into the role, McGregor learned that the best way to lead is just to be yourself. With this freedom he added that he could then continue “relentlessly pursuing a better version of myself both on and off the ice.”
He credits his growth and maturity to excellent guidance from both players and staff around him.
Now six years into his role as captain of team Canada, McGregor notes that he’s pretty fortunate to have such a solid team around him.
“My job [as captain] is pretty easy at this point. I’m surrounded by other exceptional leaders that we all kind of guide this team together.”
Canada’s national Para ice hockey head coach Boris Rybalka also praised McGregor’s leadership.
“He leads in the proper way. We call it playing the Canadian way — and he leads the Canadian way. I’m very proud that he’s our captain, leading us into the Paralympics in Milano,” Rybalka said.
When it comes to leading Team Canada, McGregor told CBC Sports that one of the most important lessons he’s learned is the value of composure and patience.
Early in his captaincy, McGregor said it was easy to “be critical of myself or others rather than help guide and be patient with the process.”
Now, McGregor believes composure and patience are “the skills that are so important” when leading Team Canada.
With two Paralympic silvers and a bronze, McGregor’s sights are firmly set on completing his collection.
“It’s collective contributions from everyone — we have a lot of depth on our team, but it requires everyone to be on the same page at their best at the exact same time. I’m looking forward to making that happen at the right time in Milano,” McGregor said.
Should Canada get past China, it will then face the winner of the United States vs. Czechia, which will also be contested Friday.
Milano Cortina 2026 marks a fourth Games for Liam Hickey of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
A multi-sport athlete, Hickey made his Paralympic debut in wheelchair basketball at Rio 2016 before switching to Para ice hockey for the 2018 and 2022 Games.
Despite Hickey’s wealth of experience on the Paralympic stage, the novelty has not worn off.
“Anytime you get to represent your country it’s something you don’t take lightly,” Hickey told CBC Sports.
“The older I get, the more I appreciate it and everything that goes into it, all the sacrifices that not only I have to make, but everyone around me.”
McGregor echoed that pride.
“I’m so humbled and honoured, sometimes I have to pinch myself that I have the opportunity to be captain of Team Canada. It’s incredible,” McGregor said.
Calgary’s Auren Halbert led Canada with four goals on route to a 14-0 victory over Japan Monday at Milano Cortina 2026.
For Cozzolino, of Mississauga, Ont., the fight continues.
“I was still kind of finding my identity as a player. I remember so much excitement,” he said.
Cozzolino first represented Canada at the 2018 Paralympics, where he was one of the team’s younger players.
Cozzolino’s Return
Milano Cortina 2026 will mark Cozzolino’s return to the Paralympics after taking the 2021–22 season off to focus on his mental and physical well-being.
As a young player, Cozzolino says the time away was incredibly helpful to regroup and find his passion for hockey again.
“Some of the losses, hardships that I experienced early on in my career really stuck with me and really ate away at me to a point where I wasn’t really having fun,” Cozzolino said.
“For somebody who grew up wanting to be in the NHL, whose only passion and love has ever been hockey, for me to not be enjoying myself on the ice, I knew something was wrong.”
Part of his return to play was also sparked from watching his teammates on the ice.
“I had the opportunity to watch my teammates, my brothers and best friends competing on the ice without me. So that really did a lot to light a fire in my belly again as well,” Cozzolino said.
Cozzolino’s comeback was triumphant — he helped lead Canada to gold at the 2024 world championship, where he was named tournament MVP and top forward with 17 points in five games, including the opening goal in the 2–1 gold-medal win over the US.
The time away helped Cozzolino immensely and allowed him to return to play with a fresh mindset.
“It made me a way better athlete, a way better person,” Cozzolino said.
Cozzolino has always held the game of hockey close to his heart. He even likes to put a positive spin on having to relearn the game after his accident in 2009, saying “I always tell people like I’m lucky I got to learn how to play hockey twice.”
Learning from the past, growing as a team
Looking back on Pyeongchang 2018, McGregor called the overtime loss to the United States “a heartbreaker.”
“We were fully capable of taking home gold — it was just sports being sports. We hit a post on an empty net,” McGregor said.
Regarding Beijing 2022, McGregor admitted the American opposition was on a different level.
“Truthfully, the U.S. was the better team at that time,” he said.
After winning the 2024 world championship, Canada entered the 2025 tournament with confidence. But following the 6–1 loss to the U.S., the team quickly shifted focus to the next Paralympics.
Cozzolino told CBC Sports the team was focused on using the loss as a learning experience but also looking ahead to the next match up.
The goal for the team was simply to “focus on winning the next day and the next day after that and every day leading up into Milano,” Cozzolino said.
Canada scored four goals in the opening period and went on to defeat Slovakia 8-0.
For Hickey, those setbacks, especially when the losses come against the U.S., are added motivation. He believes Canada is thick-skinned and always prepared for the next challenge together.
“Our room is so close — there’s so much togetherness. When you’re sitting in that dressing room and you look to your left and your right, there’s an immense confidence that every guy beside you is doing their best to be their best version, not for themselves, but for you,” Hickey said.
“I think that it provides us with the confidence that we can be the best team in the world on any given night.”
Rybalka agrees the unity of the team is what makes it special.
“They’re such a close-knit group. They wanna win for each other. I have never seen a group like this who care so much about each other, care about the community, care about their program,” Rybalka said.
“It’s very, very humbling.”
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