BUFFALO -- Liam Cunningham is the youngest player on the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team. But one wouldn't know it with the composure the 17-year-old displays both on and off the ice.
The defenseman, in his second season with the team, brings a poise that belies his teenage years.
"The way he plays the game really resembles or models how he is as a person, too," USA coach Dave Hoff said. "We're so fortunate to have him. There's a lot of years in front of him."
Cunningham has been partnered with U.S. captain Josh Pauls at the 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Championship, which is taking place at LECOM Harborcenter this week, a lead-up to the 2026 Milano Cortina Paralympic Winter Games in Italy.
"He's such a mature individual," Pauls said. "… He absolutely deserves to be here. So calm and composed for especially how young he is."
Part of that comes from not only life at home as the youngest of three brothers but also as a student and hockey player at St. Thomas Academy, a military high school in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. This year, he was named a platoon leader at school, which entails leading a class of 30 students when marching, among other instances.
"With two older brothers, I feel like you get beat up enough to where you're pretty strict in the house," said Cunningham, who grew up in River Falls, Wisconsin, before his family recently moved to Lakeland, Minnesota. "But, yeah, the military school as well. It's really helped me grow as a man. Our motto is -- the development of character."