Members of the U.S. men's sled hockey team celebrate winning the 2019 Para Ice Hockey World Championships on May 4, 2019 in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Team USA and Canada have taken turns as world sled hockey champions since 2012, so it was fitting that the gold-medal game of the 2019 tournament was also a back-and-forth affair.
This time, it was the Americans prevailing and taking back the world title from their biggest rivals, winning 3-2 in overtime. Two-time Paralympic gold medalist Brody Roybal scored the game-winner 5:08 into the extra period to touch off the celebration.
The U.S. never would have gotten to overtime if not for Declan Farmer tying the game with 3:26 to go in the third period. Farmer did the same thing for Team USA in the gold-medal game at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, also against Canada, also a game the Americans won in overtime.
Team USA started off strong on Saturday, outshooting Canada 8-1, but could not score. It was Canada who opened the scoring in the second period, and the teams then traded goals with Josh Pauls and Farmer scoring the equalizers. Farmer was named Best Forward at the tournament for the second consecutive time.
Besides collecting its fourth world title, the U.S. finished an impressive season with eleven wins, one overtime win, and just a single loss. It was the seventh time the U.S. and Canada met this season, with Team USA winning six of those games. U.S. goalie Steve Cash was in net for all six, part of his perfect 7-0 record this season.
Todd Kortemeier is a sportswriter, editor and children’s book author from Minneapolis. He is a contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.