Canada fends off tough Chinese squad 4-2 at 2025 International Para Hockey Cup

OSTRAVA, Czechia – Tyler McGregor scored twice as Canada overcame a slow start to defeat China 4-2 on Thursday at the 2025 International Para Hockey Cup.

With the win, the Canadians improve to two wins and one loss. They opened the tournament dropping a 2-1 overtime decision to the U.S. on Monday and thumped Czechia 6-1 on Tuesday.

It was China’s first loss at the five-country tournament. The 2022 Paralympic Games bronze medallists opened with victories over Czechia and Italy. The Americans lead at 2-0 pending their game later Thursday against the hosts.

Tyler McGregor led the Canadian attack Thursday with two goals, his third and fourth of the tournament. Auren Halbert and Rob Armstrong also scored for Canada which led 2-1 after the first and 3-2 after 30 minutes.

The Canadians weren’t exactly thrilled with their start to the game. China took an early lead before Armstrong and Halbert scored 93 seconds apart to put Canada ahead permanently.

“We came out a little flat,’’ said Halbert.  ‘’We weren’t playing our game. As the game went on, we were able to get back into the right mindset and settle in a bit.”

Canada concludes the preliminary round on Friday at 4:30 a.m. (ET) against Paralympic Games hosts Italy. The game will be streamed live on the Czech Para Hockey YouTube channel.