Preview: Unbeaten USA eyes historic fifth straight Paralympic crown
In 2022, the United States made historical past, turning into the first sled hockey workforce to win 4 straight Paralympic titles. This yr, the Americans earned an opportunity to lengthen that report to 5.
Only three different hockey applications have gained 4 back-to-back titles at the Olympics or Paralympics: Canada’s Olympic males’s workforce (1920, 1924, 1928, 1932), the Soviet Union’s Olympic males’s workforce (1964, 1968, 1972, 1976), and Canada’s Olympic girls’s workforce (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014). Norway is the solely nation — except for the United States — to make 4 straight Paralympic gold medal video games, although it solely gained as soon as, in 1998 (the United States prevented Norway from repeating as champion in 2002).
The Americans have been on a roll up to now in Milan, going unbeaten throughout 4 video games and outscoring opponents, 40-3. In a present of unwavering poise, they’ve overcome one-goal deficits twice, embarking on an unanswered scoring spree to regain the lead in eventual wins over Italy (14-1) and Czechia (6-1). In their semifinal win over Czechia on Friday, they tied the nation’s report for many objectives scored in a single Paralympic match, set in 2018.
