Canada falls 5-3 to US at Para Hockey Cup to earn silver

OSTRAVA — Canada earned a third consecutive silver medal after falling 5-3 to the United States at the International Para Hockey Cup on Sunday.

Auren Halbert, Dominic Cozzolino and James Dunn scored for Canada, which got 22 saves from Adam Kingsmill.

Jack Wallace and Declan Farmer each had two goals, along with another from Brett Bolton, for the U.S. Griffin LaMarre stopped 10 shots in net.

“We have an understanding of what our identity is as a team and how we need to play night in and night out. I think today and yesterday we lived up to that and it gave us a chance to win,” said Canada head coach Russ Herrington.

“It’s difficult to win at this level and games often come down to little moments, and tonight the United States executed better in those moments than we did.”

Halbert opened the scoring two minutes into the contest, but Bolton knotted up the contest 29 seconds later. Farmer gave the U.S. a 2-1 edge with a power-play goal at 13:44 of the first period.

Cozzolino tied it 4:14 into the second before Farmer netted a second power-play marker just over two minutes later.

In the third, Dunn made it a 3-3 contest at 1:48. But Wallace restored the Americans' lead just over a minute later before scoring an empty-netter at 14:51 to seal the victory.

Canada finished the preliminary round with a 2-1 record, defeating Italy in the tournament opener, then dropping its second game to the U.S. before wrapping up with a victory over Czechia.

Canada earned its spot in the gold-medal game with a 1-0 overtime win over Czechia in the semifinals on Saturday.

“We saw tremendous growth this week, especially from our younger players. A lot of guys got to play heavier minutes than they are used to,” said Herrington.

“You’re always worried after winning a big tournament like Para Worlds that there may be some complacency, but a lot of our players came back in better shape than they’ve ever been in. I thought this was a very positive two weeks together.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2024.

The Canadian Press