Milan • Cue “Free Bird” for the third and final time of the 2026 Winter Paralympic and Olympic Games.
Jack Wallace scored three goals as the United States beat Canada, 6-2, on Sunday in the para ice hockey gold medal game to earn a fifth straight title and complete an Olympic and Paralympic sweep of golds.
It’s the first time that all three hockey tournaments (Paralympics, Olympic women and Olympic men) featured a U.S.-vs.-Canada gold-medal game in the same year. The United States came out victorious in all three.
The United States dominated the Paralympic tournament, with lopsided wins over Italy, Germany and China in the opening rounds before beating the Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, in the semifinals.
“This team is so special,” Wallace told NBC’s Andrea Joyce after the win. “We love each other. This team grinded it out, a gritty f---ing game. It was unbelievable. I love these guys so much.”
Canada came to play in Sunday’s final, backed by a loud and pro-Canadian crowd. Canada managed 15 shots, the most the United States goalies had faced all tournament.
In front of a sold-out venue, per the broadcast, the two teams played a tight first period. Team USA struck first, with three-time Paralympian Wallace scoring an unassisted goal on a power play at the 8:39 mark. The United States sped around the ice, keeping the Canadians from scoring in the first period and dominating shots on goal, 10-4.
Despite Canada striking quickly in the second period on an impressive power-play second-chance goal from Liam Hickey, the United States stayed calm. The game remained tied for about five minutes before first-time Paralympian Kayden Beasley scored and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” blared. A little over three minutes later, Wallace scored again to give the United States a 3-1 lead.
The Americans escaped into the break after a tense final 45 seconds of the period when Canada nearly scored on two shots.
Any time the U.S. and Canada meet, it’s bound to be a physical contest, and Sunday was no exception. At one point, five-time Paralympian Josh Pauls was slammed to the ice, and he was down for a few minutes with a trainer coming to attend to him. Pauls skated off to cheers as he headed back to the bench and remained in the game.
In the third period, Wallace gave the U.S. a 4-1 lead on a crafty shot from the faceoff circle and the defenseman secured a hat trick.
“It’s really easy to play defense when these guys are grinding below the goal line,” he told Joyce. “I feel like I got pretty lucky.”
But Hickey scored 24 seconds later, cutting the U.S. lead to a tense two goals once more. Declan Farmer added a goal shorthanded to help seal the United States’ victory. Brody Roybal added an empty-netter to cap the Americans’ fifth-straight gold, dating back to the 2010 Winter Paralympics. It’s the program’s sixth gold medal overall.
The tournament was always likely to come down to the U.S. and Canada, the two teams that have dominated sled hockey in recent years, meeting in three straight Paralympic finals and eight straight world championship finals. The Canadians scored 26 goals and allowed just one in round-robin play. The Americans scored 34 and gave up two.
The U.S. shook off a slow start against the Czechs in the semis, scoring five unanswered over the last two periods to win, 6-1. Canada had a tougher time with China, tied 2-2 into the final period before scoring twice to set up the rematch with their rivals.
China won bronze earlier in the day, beating the Czechs, 3-2.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.