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ATTACK Jack Jack Wallace's Hat Trick Lifts Team USA to Fifth Straight Paralympic Gold Medal B Y Gregg Voss PHOTOS BY Getty Images JACK WALLACE HAS A KNACK for stepping up in big games. Last May, he scored a hat trick in the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championship title game to lift the U.S. to a 6-1 win over Canada He repeated that feat in the gold-medal game of the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, where the Americans defeated Canada 6-2 in front of a capacity crowd of 11,500 at Milano- Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. " We played our game," said Wallace, who was named the tournament's best defender for the second straight Games. "It was a gritty hockey game. We took advantage of our chances when they came up and I'm so proud of this team. " The Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, native scored once in each period, including a precision shot from the right side with 13:18 to go in the game on an assist from captain Josh Pauls, putting the U.S. up 4-1. Declan Farmer and Brody Roybal both scored in the final 3:40 to put the game away and allow the Americans to seize gold for the fifth straight Paralympics and sixth time overall. Wallace, who finished with four points, assisted on Farmer's goal. The Americans outshot Canada 26-15 en route to finishing the Games undefeated and outscoring their opponents 46-6. "I just really liked our compete level," David Hoff, head coach of the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team, said. "We were very determined and that was really the difference. We set a pretty good pace tonight, and forced them to play for three periods, and I really liked that." Wallace scored the first goal of the game, with 6:21 left in the first period, a shot in a scrum from the left side, with Pauls recording the assist. "It was a great play down in front," Wallace said. " We got the goalie moving so I decided it was a bit of a scramble after a couple of chances, and I was lucky it bounced out to me, and it was right at my right hand." Turns out Wallace was just getting started. MARCH 2026 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM // 37