Team USA’s Kelsey DiClaudio Is Chasing Gold at Para Worlds

When Team USA takes the ice for the opening match of the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Women's World Championship against Australia, 28-year-old Kelsey DiClaudio will be ready to fight for a medal.

A tournament years in the making, DiClaudio knows how monumental this world championship will be for women’s sled hockey.

“Although I've been playing for 20 years, it almost feels like this is the beginning of my career,” DiClaudio told The Ice Garden. “It's such a big deal that this first one is finally happening.”

The United States enters as the favorites in the tournament that runs from Aug. 26-31. The World Championship will feature Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Australia, and a team made up of players from different countries that will compete as Team World, all vying to win the inaugural tournament.

DiClaudio said she is excited to compete against the other participating countries and is full of anticipation. She doesn’t know when it will sink in that she will be taking part in another historic tournament and for the player from Plum, Penn., who found sled hockey in second grade, she understands this moment is the biggest yet for the women’s game.

“I'm so grateful and honored. There's been so much that's gone into this throughout the years even before being put under USA Hockey… to show where we are is pretty incredible because a lot of work behind the scenes has gone on to propel this,” said DiClaudio.

The star forward has been described as fearless, dynamic, and an elite player. A member of the Pittsburgh Mighty Penguins, DiClaudio grew up as the only woman on the Pens team. She competed with the team in the semi-finals of the first annual USA Hockey Sled Classic in 2010 and was a member of Team USA at the 2014 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Women's International Cup. DiClaudio made the U.S. National Development Team in 2015, becoming the first woman in North America to play for a federation-funded sled team. DiClaudio has been a mainstay on the women's team even being named an alternate captain. She also won three straight gold medals with Team USA stemming from their sweep of the IPC Women’s World Challenge from 2022 to 2024. 

But sled hockey still has steps to take, especially for a sport still trying to find its place into the Paralympic Games in 2030. Though there are only six teams competing this year – and eight are needed to be allowed into the Paralympics – DiClaudio knows the women are heading in the right direction.

“[Worlds] is a big statement. We've worked hard to get to the place that we're at,” she said. “We all compete against each other and we all want to win. But at the end of the day, we all want to get to the Paralympics, so we come together as nations to make sure that other girls in other countries get the opportunity that [many] might not get.”

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Fostering a culture of accessibility and inclusivity is important for DiClaudio. For a sport that can exclude willing participants by gender, finances, or accessibility, she makes sure others feel included because she believes inclusion leads to someone giving their best. 

“I've had so many incredible opportunities and so many incredible experiences from hockey and I never would have because even my demographics, I never would have gotten into hockey if it wasn't for being disabled and getting into Para sports,” DiClaudio said. “It's super important to make sure that everybody gets a chance to play this game because it's such a special game.”

It hasn’t always been easy for DiClaudio. Her journey has had ebbs and flows and while she was accepted in numerous ways while taking part in the sport, she’s also dealt with the ugly side of being a woman in a male dominated sport. 

Sometimes she wouldn’t be allowed into locker rooms even though it wasn’t a problem and at times she’d be delegated to a janitor’s closet to dress; isolated from the team she plays on the ice with. She also dealt with comparisons to men which she did not like. But going through those negative experiences is something DiClaudio never wants up-and-coming girls in sled hockey to ever go through.

“It's been an up and down kind of journey. I've been very accepted in so many aspects and it has led me to become the athlete that I am and propelled me to be able to compete the way I compete,” she said. “But I've also had experiences that I would never want another little girl… to go through… It's super special now that these girls coming up and on our team can prove the athlete that they are.” DiClaudio added she is grateful girls now don’t have to go to great lengths to be considered equal or feel part of the pact like she felt she had to in the past.

That adds to the excitement she feels for her teammates. 

“This is such a special opportunity. A lot of us have been through so much together through the years. It's going to be something special,” DiClaudio said about the tournament. “Something that's also going to be cool is the newer players and how they're going to be treated like the athletes they deserve to be treated as… I hope they indulge in it while they can.”

DiClaudio is focused and has her sights set on winning it all. “It’s gold or bust,” she stated. Winning it all would mean everything to her and it would be special to be able to do it with her teammates in the inaugural event.

This sport means more than anything to DiClaudio. A sport she said has helped her recognize her own abilities and has shown her her true purpose. And even if she feels it sounds a little cliché, she truly feels she was born to play this sport.

DiClaudio is a standout player beaming with talent and speed and goal scoring prowess. She also has plenty of tricks up her sleeve. She’s scored Michigan goals before, on a sled and in grand fashion and she didn’t say no when asked if she’d try one during this tournament.

“It's never something that's planned, but it's always practiced. It’s always a possibility,” she said.

For the player excited to compete and hoping the fun she has playing sled hockey can translate to the fans watching, the World Championship is another way of showing the world what women’s sled hockey is capable of.

You can watch the 2025 Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship on Youtube beginning August 26. For a list of Team USA’s games - against opponents including Australia and Norway in the preliminary round - click here.