China completed an impressive comeback to defeat Czechia 3-2 and secure their second consecutive Paralympic bronze medal on Sunday (15 March), the closing day of Milano Cortina 2026, at the Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena.
“[The medal] means that China’s Para ice hockey team can reach an even higher level and continue improving,” said Jintao Tian, who scored twice in the win. “The mindset of the whole team was that no one gave up.”
The other Chinese goalscorer of the day, Zhidong Wang praised his teammates for staying composed after Czechia jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the game.
“No matter what happens in a game, we never give up until the very last moment. Whether we are down 2-0, 3-0, or even 4-0, as long as there is one minute or even one second left, we will fight with everything we have.
“I’m extremely excited, truly thrilled [with the bronze medal]. Right now, I’m just thinking that I can finally relax for a while. I was very tense.”
Czech captain Radek Zelinka could not celebrate the elusive medal, but felt his team left everything on the ice.
“It’s difficult. But I would like to say a massive thank you to my teammates and to our fans who came here,” Zelinka said. “Our rivals were very strong. We made a few mistakes, and they punished us, making 2-2. Then the match was wide open for both sides and anything could happen. Today they scored one more goal than us, and they are the happier one.”
The game
This was highly anticipated match up. China had beaten Czechia twice en route to bronze at Beijing 2022, but since then the Czechs had claimed three consecutive bronze medals at World Para Ice Hockey Championships against the Chinese.
BRONZE MEDAL GAME 🥉
China breaks the tie early in the third period and defeats Czechia (3-2) to capture its second Paralympic bronze medal!@paralympics @milanocortina26 pic.twitter.com/loIR3Y6ADY— Para Ice Hockey (@paraicehockey) March 15, 2026
Czechia opened strongly, applying early pressure on the Chinese defence and striking twice in the first three minutes. Pavel Kubes scored his first goal of the tournament just 1:40 into the game, finishing a Michal Geier setup from the left corner with a right-hand shot into the net. Captain Radek Zelinka doubled the lead 54 seconds later when a Martin Zizlasky attempt was blocked and he buried the rebound with a one-touch shot underneath Chinese goalkeeper Yanzhao Ji.
China erased the deficit with two goals late in the first period from Jintao Tian and Zhidong Wang. Yifeng Shen set up his 12th assist of the tournament, finding Tian alone in front for a quick whip shot at 6:30. Just over two minutes later, Zhanfu Zhu sparked a counterattack with a bank pass off the board that sent Wang in alone on Patrik Sedlacek. Wang waited for the Czech goalie to go down and slid the puck under him to tie the game.
It took China nearly six minutes to register their first shot, but from that point they forced Sedlacek into steady work and finished the period ahead on shots 7-5. China also killed two Czech power plays in the final five minutes before intermission.
Both defences held firm in a tight second period with few clear scoring chances. China again led on shots 8-6 and came closest in the dying seconds when Xiaodong Song’s angled effort forced Sedlacek into one of the tournament’s best saves, stretching his left arm to deny a shot headed for the top corner.
Shen added another assist to his standout week in Italy – leading the stats with 13 ahead of the USA-Canada goal medal game – setting up Tian for his ninth goal of the event just 18 seconds into the third period. China capitalised on an early icing face-off in the Czech zone, with Shen holding the puck deep before feeding Tian for a precise shot under Sedlacek’s glove and over his pad.
China maintained their aggressive approach and killed an early Czech power play, which briefly resulted in four‑on‑four play. They also led the period in shots 8-5. Czechia pulled Sedlacek for an extra attacker after another power play in the final 90 seconds, but it was China who nearly scored again, with Geier blocking Shen’s attempt at the empty net.
Shen finished as China’s scoring leader at Milano Cortina 2026 with 14 points, followed by Tian with 13. Zelinka led Czechia with seven points at the Games.
Sedlacek made 20 saves against China, wrapping up the tournament with an 84.95 save percentage. Ji stopped 14 shots in the bronze medal game for an overall percentage of 82.22%.
Complete results and stats from Milano Cortina 2026 can be found here.