CORTINA, ITALY — Josh Pauls, the four-time Paralympic gold medalist and U.S. Para Ice Hockey captain, will represent Team USA at the Milano Cortina 2026 Opening Ceremony in Verona, a moment made even more meaningful by his family’s roots in Italy.

When Josh Pauls carries the United States flag into the Opening Ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games inside the historic Arena di Verona, the moment will connect past and present in a deeply personal way. For the captain of the U.S. Para Ice Hockey team, the honor reaches back to family roots that begin here in Italy.

“To carry the flag of the nation you’re representing in the Paralympics is a tremendous honor,” the four-time gold medalist said. “But to do it based on voting from your fellow athletes, to be picked by your peers, I think means even more.”

Pauls’ continued, “To do this in the country my grandfather was born in and to be able to carry the U.S. flag for the country he was able to come to and make a life for himself, is what America’s all about.”

Pauls’ grandfather, Al, was born in the Campania region near Napoli, roughly 500 miles south of Milan. Years later he would leave Italy, serve in the U.S. military and build a life in America, a journey that shaped the values Pauls carries with him today.

For Pauls, the recognition reflects something larger than a single player’s achievements. It reflects the culture of the U.S. Para Ice Hockey program, a team built on trust, accountability and what players often describe simply as brotherhood.

“Our team, it’s a brotherhood,” Pauls said.

That brotherhood has been central to Pauls’ career since he first joined the national team nearly two decades ago. Now 33, the defenseman will compete in his fifth Paralympic Winter Games and enters Milano Cortina as the most decorated sled hockey player in Paralympic history. Since making his Games debut in Vancouver in 2010, Pauls has helped lead the United States to four consecutive Paralympic gold medals.

Yet inside the locker room, Pauls’ impact is often described less through statistics and more through leadership.

“I honestly couldn’t tell you anybody in the world that deserves it more than him,” teammate Brett Bolton said. “I think he resembles exactly what it means to be an American.”

The values Pauls brings to the team trace back to the stories he grew up hearing from his grandfather.

“He went through the occupation here in Italy back in that day and has stories of hiding in a barrel and just surviving,” Pauls explained. “Then he came to the United States and became an auto mechanic and worked for a better life for his family.”

Those experiences left a lasting impression.

“He was always a big influence on me,” Pauls said. “Hard work pays off. Some of my hard work has paid off in the form of gold medals, which is really awesome, but more than anything I’m just immensely proud to be his grandkid.”

Pauls often shares that same philosophy of hard work  and finding a place to belong with younger athletes discovering adaptive sports for the first time.

“You’ve got to find your tribe,” he said. “Find the people that make your heart sing. Find the place where you belong.”

For Pauls, that place became the sled hockey rink.

“I found where I belong on this team and where I belong in the sport,” he said. “It’s given me so much. It’s given me everything I have.”

Sled hockey shaped not only his athletic career, but his life beyond sport.

“I wouldn’t have moved to St. Louis, and I wouldn’t have met my wife without sled hockey,” he said. “You never quite know where sports are going to take you.”

That perspective extends to the broader Paralympic experience. For Pauls, the Games represent a rare moment when athletes from across sports come together under one flag.

“This is what the Paralympics is all about,” he said. “It’s more than just hockey.”

As he steps front and center onto the world stage carrying that flag for the United States, behind him stands a program chasing a fifth consecutive Paralympic gold medal. Around him will be athletes from across Team USA. With him is the legacy of a family story that began generations ago in Italy.

For one moment, under the lights of the Opening Ceremony, those stories come together, carried forward by a captain, a teammate and the brotherhood that defines U.S. Para Ice Hockey.