Canada defeats China 4-2 at Para ice hockey world championships

BUFFALO – Dominic Cozzolino scored his tournament leading sixth and seventh goals to lead Canada to a 4-2 victory over China on Tuesday at the World Para Ice Hockey Championships.

With the victory, Canada concludes the preliminary round with three wins and no losses for top spot in its pool. The defending champions now face third-ranked Czechia in Friday’s semifinal.

Canada and China were deadlocked 1-1 after two periods. In the third however, Canada scored three unanswered goals in the first seven minutes including the winner by veteran Adam Dixon.

Cozzolino gave Canada the lead at the 3:47 mark of the third on a pass from team captain Tyler McGregor.

Dixon, playing in his national team career leading 254^th game, cashed in just over two minutes later followed by Mathieu Lelièvre at 7:25 with his first of the tournament. Yi Feng Shen tallied for China with 1:51 to go in the game.

“There was no panic at all in that room,’’ said Cozzolino on the feeling in the team’s dressing room after two periods. ‘’We know what makes us a great team and we stuck with it.

‘’I was proud of the guys. We didn’t waver at all, didn’t get frustrated and I think the end result shows that. Every line just kept pounding the rock as we say, and it led to success.”

Cozzolino opened the scoring at 3:47 with an unassisted marker but Hang Che tied it on the power play just over two minutes later.

Corbin Watson was in net for Canada which outshot the fourth-ranked Chinese 25-15.

“Great game from the guys,’’ said Watson. ‘’They gave me some good looks so I could see everything coming my way. As the game goes on, you’re going to get some weird bounces and some breaks that go the other way, but I think we were sound defensively and just kept chipping away until we were able to capitalize.’’

Assistant coach Greg Westlake, a five-time Paralympian, praised the team’s tenacity.

“You could really see how tight of a team we have,’’ said Westlake. ‘’You’re trying and trying, getting lots of shots but nothing is going in… you just have to stay with it. Great persistence and we showed our identity and showed that as a group we can come with all three lines and stay at it for an entire game without wavering.”

The semifinals on Friday are scheduled for 1:30 p.m.  and 5 p.m. The medal matches are Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. All times ET.

The top five teams in the tournament also qualify for the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. Canada, USA, China and Czechia all clinched their spots after their second wins on Sunday.

All 20 tournament games are available via livestream at USAHockeyTV.com.

For more information: https://hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/team-canada/men/para-hockey/2024-25/world-championship/stats/team-rosters?teamid=249