CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Josh Pauls (Green Brook, N.J.) scored twice, while Declan Farmer (Tampa Fla.) and Malik Jones (Aurora, Colo.) each tallied three points to help lift the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team to a 4-1 victory over Canada to win the 2024 Para Hockey Cup championship at Bell Aliant Centre.
Team USA has now won an unprecedented 11 Para Hockey Cup titles, including nine-consecutive first-place finishes, a streak that dates to 2015.
“I thought we played a really solid game today,” said David Hoff (Bottineau, N.D.), head coach of the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team. “If you look at the second and third periods we did a lot of things well and it paid off in the end.”
At the 7:13 mark of the opening frame, Pauls collected the puck and raced past the Canadian defense from the neutral zone to create a breakaway chance, opening the scoring with a top-shelf finish.
Canada knotted the game up with 4:45 remaining when Tyler McGregor capitalized on a wrister from the slot.
GAME PHOTOS
Despite numerous scoring chances generated by each side in the middle frame, the game remained 1-1 through two periods, with goaltenders Jen Lee (San Francisco, Calif.) and Corbin Watson making stops at both ends.
Jack Wallace (Franklin Lakes) broke the tie 2:54 into the final stanza, scoring the go-ahead goal with a top-shelf laser through traffic from the top of the right circle.
At the 4:28 mark, Farmer doubled the lead when he batted home a rebound from just outside the crease off a shot from Jones for his tournament-record 11th goal.
Pauls notched his second tally of the game with 3:26 to play with a backdoor tap in off a feed from Farmer to seal the 4-1 victory for Team USA.
Lee stopped 11 shots to earn the win in goal for the U.S.
The 2024 Para Hockey Cup championship game will be televised on delay on NHL Network, tomorrow (Dec. 15) at 1 p.m. ET.
NOTES: Team USA outshot Canada 21-12 ... The U.S. was 0-1 on the power play, while Canada was 0-1 … Noah Grove (Fredrick, Md.) was named U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. finished the tournament with a perfect 5-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record … Team USA now has a 9-1-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record on the season.
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