Paralympics and the pressure of a clean sweep: Josh Pauls skates into Milan carrying family, history, and a gold standard

The sold-out arena noise hits first—8, 992 fans rising with every Italian touch of the puck—then the quieter details: the scrape of sled blades, the sharp shifts, the composure that U. S. captain Josh Pauls said mattered more than any single night at the paralympics. On Saturday in Milan, the United States opened against host Italy and turned an early jolt into a 14–1 record win, a result that sat somewhere between spectacle and warning: it is only the beginning.

What happened in USA vs Italy at the Paralympics opener?

Italy’s start looked like a storybook: the hosts scored 25 seconds in and held the lead for nine minutes at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, playing in front of the highest-ever attendance for a Paralympic Winter Games match. The opening goal came when Christoph Depaoli’s initial shot was stopped, but the rebound bounced back to him at the post for 1–0.

Then the United States answered. David Eustace scored just over three minutes later, assisted by Travis Dodson. Italy nearly swung the game again when Pauls was called for a penalty after bringing Nikko Landeros down, but U. S. goaltender Jen Lee made a stretching save to keep the score level. From there, momentum moved decisively.

Brett Bolton scored his first Paralympic goal off a rebound from a Declan Farmer attempt, and Farmer added a late marker to send the U. S. into the first intermission up 3–1. The second period became a flood: the defending champions scored five times in the opening 5: 18 and reached 10–1 by the end of the period. Farmer completed a hat trick; Bolton, Kevin McKee, Kayden Beasley, and Noah Grove also scored. Malik Jones, Evan Nichols, Jack Wallace, and Eustace rounded out the scoring in the third.

Italy’s Santino Stilliano made 24 saves and Julian Kasslatter added 15. Lee faced little, making one save, as the U. S. defense did not allow a single shot on goal after Italy’s first-period penalty.

Why does Josh Pauls keep talking about pressure—and privilege?

Pauls has never separated winning from weight. In the build-up to Milan, he framed the goal as a national “hat trick” of a different kind: not three goals, but three gold medals for the United States across men’s Olympic hockey, women’s Olympic hockey, and U. S. sled hockey at the Paralympic Winter Games.

“No country has ever won all three gold medals in hockey before in the Olympics and the Paralympics, ” Pauls said this week. “So I’d say it’s a little bit of pressure, but pressure is a privilege, right?”

For Pauls, the pressure sits beside a personal history of meeting expectations early. The defenseman has four Paralympic gold medals, the most of any sled hockey player in history. He won his first in 2010 when he was a junior in high school. Now 33, he is going for a fifth—on the same sheet of ice where Megan Keller and Jack Hughes scored overtime goals to clinch Olympic gold medals for the U. S. women’s and men’s teams at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 last month.

Saturday’s win offered its own kind of evidence, but Pauls urged restraint in the moment itself.

“Playing in front of a sold-out house was amazing. We could hear the crowd every time the Italians touched the puck, ” Pauls said. “It’s just one game. I don’t think we can get wrapped up in one 45-minute effort, but I think it bodes well for the future and for playing Germany in two days. ”

How a record win still points back to family—and a moment of meaning

In a tournament built on national symbols, Pauls carried something smaller and older into that crowd: his 90-year-old grandfather, born in Italy, watching from New Jersey.

“He’s watching at home (in New Jersey), I hope. It means the world, ” Pauls said. “For him to be born in Italy and then come over to the US and build a life and a family really showed me the value of hard work. He’s the reason I work as hard as I do. ”

The story of how Pauls arrived here begins long before Milan’s lights. He was born on Dec. 31, 1992, in South Plainfield, New Jersey, without tibia bones in each leg, and had both legs amputated above the knee at 10 months old. Hockey, though, was always close: his father, Tony, and members of his extended family were big fans of the sport, especially the New Jersey Devils.

At 8, Pauls went to watch a sled team play an able-bodied hockey team in a game that put the able-bodied players in sleds. He tried a sled himself and recoiled from the attention.

“So I got to go watch that, I thought it was pretty cool. Then they put me in a sled, and there’s a lot of attention on me. I was the one kid that was trying it, and I was just like, ‘This is too much. ’ I hated it. I didn’t really like it. I was like, ‘Nah, get me out of here, ’” Pauls said.

Two years later, his mother, Debbie, saw that a youth sled program was starting at the nearby Woodbridge Community Center. Pauls tried again, and the decision altered his life.

“My parents were like, ‘This drive is a little bit more manageable. If we wanted to get you involved in hockey, why don’t you give it one more try?’ And I’m very glad they did, ” Pauls said. “Because whatever changed in two years, I absolutely loved it. ”

What comes next for Team USA after the record opener?

The schedule in Milan moves quickly. The U. S. plays host Italy first, then faces Germany on Monday at 12: 05 p. m. ET and China on Tuesday at 8: 35 a. m. ET. The playoff round follows Thursday, with the semifinals March 13 and the gold medal game March 15.

Pauls has emphasized that the U. S. identity is not only about talent. It is also about the relationships that keep a team steady when the attention rises and expectations sharpen.

“I have more gold medals than I really know what to do with, ” Pauls joked this week. “But we aren’t winning just because we’re good at hockey. We’re winning because of the brotherhood we share, because of the connection we share as players, as teammates and as friends. ”

Italy, meanwhile, found itself facing the harsh clarity of the world’s top-ranked side. Landeros acknowledged the gap while reaching for lessons that can survive a lopsided score.

“I am not happy about the score, that’s for sure. We’ve played them in other tournaments, we’ve lost 2-0. I didn’t expect to be losing by 13 points, ” Landeros said. “But it’s hockey, it’s part of the sport. Things happen. They’re No. 1 in the world for a reason and they displayed that today.

“Scoring the first goal was really nice, but you’ve got to keep that energy. Line shifts need to be quicker, and it also takes a lot of heart. ”

In Milan, the noise returns—and the question stays

In the end, a record scoreline does not quiet the larger ambition; it amplifies it. Pauls arrived in Milan speaking about a clean sweep that has never been done, and he left the opener reminding everyone that one game can be intoxicating and misleading at the same time.

Back in that arena, with the crowd surging at every Italian possession, Pauls heard something he wanted to remember: not the margin, but the atmosphere—and the steadiness it demanded. The paralympics now move forward on the next puck drop, with the pressure still sitting where he put it: not as a burden, but as a privilege.