Canada has chip on its shoulder in Para ice hockey heading into 2022 Games

For veterans such as Tyler McGregor and Liam Hickey the bitter taste of Canada’s 2-1 loss to the U.S. in overtime in the Para ice hockey championship game at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games still lingers.

“2018 was pretty disappointing, to lose in overtime and come so close to that gold,” Hickey recently told CBC Sports. “I think we’ll be fighting extra-hard for our chance to get into the gold medal game this time around.”

That gold medal game four years ago was hard to forget. Canada led 1-0 and hit the post late in the third before the Americans tied it with 38 seconds remaining.

The Americans will prove to be a formidable force once again 2022. Since 2018, USA has defeated Canada in the 2019 and 2021 world championship finals not to mention claiming the last three Paralympic Winter Games titles.

Canada’s last Paralympic gold was in 2006 and its last world crown in 2017.

Asked what it would mean to win gold, Canadian team captain Tyler McGregor told the London Free Press that he “literally can’t even imagine. It would be probably one of my greatest accomplishments for the rest of my life and something that I will never forget.”

Along with McGregor and Hickey, the Canadians ice plenty of experience with 10 of 17 returnees from 2018 including forwards Greg Westlake and Billy Bridges headed to their fifth and sixth Paralympic Games respectively. Dominic Larocque is expected to get the bulk of the work in net and is solidly backed by first-time Paralympian Adam Kingsmill.

The Americans, with five rookies in the line-up, are led by captain Josh Pauls and Jack Wallace. USA will have a target on its back in every game as it goes for its record-extending fourth consecutive and fifth overall Paralympic gold.

“It’s going to be a lot of tough games from the start,” said American scoring star Declan Farmer to the Tampa Bay Times. “I think we’re a much better team than we were four years ago. It’s a testament to the growth of the sport and all the hard work we’ve put in over the last few years.”

The other countries in the tournament are South Korea, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia and China.

“Gold is what we have on our minds every day when we wake up to train,” said Hickey. “That’s all we work for.”

Canada is scheduled to open the tournament against the Americans on March 5.