Tyler McGregor scores twice as Canada beats China 4-2 in the semifinal

MILAN, Italy – Canada defeated China 4-2  in the semifinals Friday to advance to the gold medal game in Para ice hockey at the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.

The victory sets another classic Canada-USA showdown for gold for the third Games in a row. The Americans won in 2018 and 2022.

In Friday’s game, Dominic Cozzolino scored the winner late in the third period to put Canada ahead 3-2. Liam Hickey scored the insurance goal two minutes later.

“It was kind of a battle with ourselves,” said veteran defenceman Rob Armstrong after the tight contest. “We had to find a way to get through the adversity and I think we proved it in that third period. We had some guys step up when we needed to.

“I think championships are made out of adversity, so this is a great stepping stone going into the gold medal game.”

Tyler McGregor scored Canada’s first two goals in the first period (6:05 and 10:43) to put Canada up 2-1 after 20 minutes.

“It was a bit of a boxing match,” said head coach Boris Rybalka. ‘’China is going to be aggressive, they got a very good team speed. But we kept persevering and got better as the game went on .’’

Zheng Zhang and Jintao Tian scored for China. The Chinese face Czechia for the bronze. The Americans won the other semi 6-1 over the Czechians.

“We’re so excited, this is what we’ve been training for,’’ said defenceman Zach Lavin ‘’We got a day to rest up and get refueled. We can’t wait for this. 

‘’This is four years in the making.”

The gold medal game is Sunday at 11:05am EST.