Team USA delivered a dominant performance on Saturday afternoon at LECOM Harborcenter, defeating archrival Canada 6-1 to win the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championship, capturing a record-setting seventh world title.

In a rematch of last year’s gold medal final, the Americans flipped the script in emphatic fashion, setting the tone early and never letting up in front of a home crowd in Buffalo, New York. Team USA dictated the pace and executed on both ends of the ice.

“I thought we just let loose and played. [We were] as dominating on both ends of the ice as we’ve been in a long time,” said head coach David Hoff in a USAHockey TV post-game interview.

“I think we showed dominance. It was a great team win,” said team captain and nine-time world championship participant Josh Pauls in a post-game interview with USAHockey TV.

“We wanted a good start for sure. I mean we were thinking the first period is all that matters [we were] like let’s just come out flying,” said tournament most valuable player Declan Farmer.\

Farmer, a mainstay for Team USA, delivered on that statement as he opened the scoring for Team USA on a power play less than three minutes into the first period. He converted a wrap-around goal on a feed from Brody Roybal.  Jack Wallace also earned an assist, starting his offensive fireworks for the afternoon. 

“Jack Wallace fired us up before the first period,” said Pauls later in that past-game interview. Wallace’s fire would continue throughout his four-point game.

Less than a minute later, Wallace appeared to make it 2-0, but official Patrick Meyers waved off the goal.  Following an official review, the call was overturned and Wallace was credited with his seventh goal of the tournament. Roybal and forward Malik Jones assisted on the play. USA was up two-nil on the Canadians. Team Canada goalie Adam Kingsmill had been breached.

It took Canada more than ten minutes to mount an effective offensive charge against the physical Americans. Alternate Captain Liam Hickey scored the first, and only, Canadian goal after being left alone in front of the net on a missed defensive assignment.

The Americans were not deterred. Showing some nifty puck handling and poise in traffic, Captain Josh Pauls beat the Canada net minder with less than five minutes remaining in the first period for his second goal of the tournament. Roybal assisted on the score as a delayed penalty was about to be called. Chants of “USA, USA” filled the LECOM Harborcenter.

“You know we had a great crowd here tonight,” said Pauls in the post-game interview.

“It’s so cool just to have our fans out there,” added Roybal.

Up 3-1, the U.S. continued to pressure in the second period. Wallace added his second goal of the game as a sprawling Farmer flipped the puck to Roybal who fed Wallace on the only goal of the second period.

Canada mounted a brief flurry of activity, but the U.S. countered with a Wallace breakaway followed by a three-on-one breakaway that added to a huge shots on goal differential for the U.S.  The Americans put more shots on goal in this game than Kingsmill faced in the four games combined previously in the tournament. The U.S. ultimately outshot Canada 24-11.

The U.S. continued to press with the 4-1 lead.  It seemed that the Americans had learned from group play not to relax. Wallace completed a hat trick, beating the Canadian netminder on his glove side, assisted by Roybal and Noah Grove. Officials reviewed the goal as it seemed that Farmer got tangled up with Canada’s Alternate Captain Tyrone Henry, and it looked like interference might negate the goal.  The review again awarded the goal to Wallace.

Joshua Misiewicz added the finishing touch on the win with a power play goal at the eight-minute mark of the final period.  He was assisted by Farmer and Grove.

Roybal finished with five assists, while Farmer and Wallace combined for four goals and three assists. The trio led the U.S. in points scored during the tournament. Griffin Lamarre allowed only one goal on 11 shots to earn the win in goal, finishing with a .67 goals against average.

It was Team USA’s most complete performance of the tournament — defensively sound, neutralizing all six Canadian power plays, and offensively potent, scoring more goals on Team Canada than all other opponents combined.

“We liked the place we were in as a team. We got to go hard and really just focus on that next shift mentality, and I think we did a really good job of that. The scoring took care of itself,” said Farmer.

Roybal echoed Farmers sentiment, “I think we just have a well-rounded team. Today we ran three lines the entire time. Others do two lines and try to keep up.”

The victory marks the seventh world championship gold for the United States — the most by any nation in Para Ice Hockey history. This win not only reclaims the top spot on the podium but also reinforces Team USA’s status as the sport’s global standard.

Now it’s time to look to the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Italy.

“It sets the tone for sure,” said Farmer of the win. “This next season is going to be a long grind to Milan, and you’ve got to have rest in it to be fresh mentally and physically, said Farmer.

“We have 17 leaders on this team, and we need everybody,” concluded Pauls in the post-game interview.

Roybal agreed, adding that the team is ready to work hard in order to be ready for Milan.