MILAN — Three weeks after the United States beat Canada in the Olympic hockey finals, the Americans beat their neighbors again to win Paralympic gold and complete the triple-peat in Milan-Cortina.
Jack Wallace scored a hat-trick to help the United States beat Canada 6-2 in the para ice hockey final on Sunday and become the first nation to sweep the hockey tournaments at the Olympics and Paralympics.
There is currently no women’s division in the Paralympics because it is classified as an open-gender sport.
It was the fifth straight Paralympic title for the United States and captain Josh Boles.
While the Olympics saw the U.S. men’s team win gold for the first time since the Miracle on Ice in 1980, it’s a very different story at the Paralympics.
The United States has now won six of the past seven Winter Paralympics. It was the third straight loss in the final for Canada, which won its only ice hockey gold on Italian ice, in Turin in 2006.
Earlier, China won the second bronze medal in a row after conceding two goals in the first three minutes to beat the Czechs 3-2.
Sunday’s final set an attendance record for the sport at a major tournament with 10,755 fans filling the stands close to capacity.
This record was set in the opening match of the tournament, where the preliminary round match between the United States and host nation Italy attracted 8,992 spectators.
