Canada locks its spot for 2026 Paralympic Winter Games and semifinals at World Para Ice Hockey Championships

BUFFALO – Dominic Cozzolino and James Dunn each notched a hat trick on Sunday as defending champions Canada defeated South Korea 12-0 for its second win at the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championships.

With the victory, Canada locks its spot for the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games as well as a berth in the semifinals. The top five finishers at this year’s worlds earn a spot to Milano Cortina. Also qualifying so far for the Games are the U.S., Czechia and China.

“Certainly, we spent three years trying to clinch a spot in Milano Cortina so that takes that off the front burner, we don’t need to worry about that,’’ said Canada’s head coach Russ Herrington. ‘’Now we can focus simply on being Team Canada.’’

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Cozzolino, named the tournament’s top forward at last year’s worlds, is first in scoring this year with five goals and six assists in two games. He added three assists Sunday and posted two goals and three assists in Saturday’s tournament opening 11-0 victory over Germany.

At 2-0, Canada is assured to finish in the top two in its pool to advance to the semis.

“We played the way we wanted to, and it showed on the scoreboard,” said Dunn about Sunday’s game. ‘’We’re always looking to get starts like that and everyone was firing in the first period. The message amongst the boys was just to keep at it, keep chipping away and doing things the right way.”

Cozzolino’s linemate Tyler McGregor, who scored four times in the German rout, added two goals and three assists on Sunday.

“I think our identity is a bit more blue collar,’’ said McGregor. “We’re a team that certainly plays fast, but we play hard and when we’re playing at our best, we just want to get pucks in their zone, into particular areas and go on the hunt to create our offense from there.”

In Saturday’s game, Adam Dixon played in his 252nd career game passing Billy Bridges for the most games played with Canada’s national Para ice hockey team. He was presented with a silver stick.

“What an amazing moment to have (assistant coach and former teammate) Greg Westlake present that silver stick in the locker room… an incredible feeling, hard to explain,’’ said Dixon, a four-time Paralympian from Midland, Ont.

‘’I didn’t think I would feel the way that I did. I’ve just had a ton of fun playing hockey my whole life. As a little kid growing up all I wanted to do was play hockey every day, and now I get to… come to the rink and have the best time with the best people.”