Since the debut of the Para Ice Hockey Women's World Challenge three years ago, the U.S. Women's National Sled Hockey Team has dominated the event. 

Over the course of three tournaments, the Americans went undefeated and outscored their opponents 68-1 to secure three titles. 

That run of success establishes the U.S. as the No. 1 team in the world ahead of the inaugural World Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship, set to take place Aug. 26-31, in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia. 

Despite their previous dominance, the Americans are not at all complacent, said coach Rose Misiewicz. The games her team played in the lead up to the World Championship were the most difficult and competitive it has played yet. 

“The past three to four years, to really see the growth in the sport is unbelievable,” Misiewicz said.  “I'm expecting that we're going to have really good competition here.”

With limited time together during the year, the U.S. players have spent time this summer connecting virtually, working to regain their chemistry. The players have been broken into groups and are completing individual and team challenges to get them mentally and physically ready for the tournament.

Assistant captain Catherine Faherty said each player is responsible for coming to the tournament ready to play. It can be hard to train solo, but she said knowing that her teammates are doing the same and that they would be pushing her and holding her accountable if they were together helps her stay motivated. 

“Doing our respective parts individually is really important,” Faherty said. “We have a limited training camps and games a year, so when we come together, we have to quickly remember how to play with each other and everyone's little quirks on the ice and find that team chemistry.”

Misiewicz said it’s a challenge to coach a team that has been apart for so long and then comes together shortly before a tournament starts. From a hockey system standpoint, it is the most difficult part of her job, and she spends a lot of the early days reminding the players of their past training, undoing bad habits and trying to help the team find a rhythm.

Despite those challenges, she said she can’t wait to have the group together again. The tournament will be grueling, with travel challenges for the Para athletes and the possibility of four games in five days, but Misiewicz said it is also incredibly energizing. 

“The ladies on the team, they really are family. It is an environment where everyone can be themselves, 100 percent,” she said. “Everyone has such a joy for life and for getting on the ice and they take advantage of that time that they have together, on and off the ice. Everyone honestly cherishes that time that we are together.”

Faherty agreed, saying one of her favorite things is that the group always finds joy when they are together and are always excited to get on the ice.

The team has its sights on a gold medal, but Misiewicz said really the goal is for the Americans to be better when they leave Slovakia than they were when they arrived. 

For the Americans, this inaugural World Championship is about even more than their own play and results. Faherty and Misiewicz also want to help grow the game. They do not just mean getting more skaters enrolled — they want more teams playing at their level. 

When the U.S. hosted the first Para Ice Hockey Women's World Challenge in 2022, players and coaches alike heralded it as a massive step forward for international women’s sled hockey. Misiewicz said it was a goal 10 years in the making. Now this World Championship is another important step toward getting women’s sled hockey into the Paralympic Winter Games. 

“Moving from a world challenge to an official, sanctioned World Championship is a huge milestone,” Misiewicz said. “It is kicking things up a notch. You can feel the energy ramp up now. It has reinvigorated us, knowing that this is official. For women’s Para hockey worldwide, this is a massive, remarkable milestone and I just hope we continue to have the sport recognized throughout the world.”

While the Americans are the top-ranked team in the world, they have also taken on the task of bringing women’s sled hockey to new players in countries around the world. The world challenges were competitions, but they were also steeped in a sense of learning, growth and community. The U.S. team did an equipment drive to be able to send international players home with the gear they needed to continue to play. 

“To get to the Paralympics, we have to keep driving the sport in other countries,” Misiewicz said. “We have to help other countries grow and it’s hard for some people to grasp that they would need to be supporting another country that would be competing against us in the future.”

The increased visibility of women’s sled hockey that has come just since the first Para Ice Hockey Women's World Challenges has been evident across the sport, starting with Australia and Norway making their international debuts in Slovakia. Since 2022, World Para Ice Hockey has increased women's participation, rising from 0.01 percent to nearly 20 percent.

“Outside of our personal and our team goals and individual goals, we want women’s Para hockey to continue to gain traction around the world,” Misiewicz said. “We cannot reach our end goal if we don't have more countries involved. I hope that after seeing this tournament, there's another nation that says, ‘Next year, we will recognize a team and send them to the World Championship.’ That is the ultimate goal here.”

For the continued growth and sustainability of women’s sled hockey, the current players must continue to get the word out and help more women across the world get involved in the sport. 

“We want other teams to get better,” Faherty said. “We want people to be able to play and if that is because of our contributions and whatever we can do, like the equipment drives or development camps, that’s great.

“We can be as good as we can be, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter if there aren't other countries who are also growing and learning and getting better and growing the game in their respective parts of the world.”

The World Championship will feature six teams competing for gold as well as an all-women’s officiating crew. All games will be streamed live on the Paralympic YouTube Channel. 

Group A will feature the U.S., Norway and Australia, while Group B includes Canada, Great Britain and Team World, a squad composed by players from multiple nationalities. 

Team USA opens the tournament with a game against Australia at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Aug. 26. 

The full tournament schedule can be viewed here. 

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.