No fans, but Canadian women fired up for hockey worlds

It has been, give or take a day or two, roughly 18 months since the Canadian national women's hockey team has played a meaningful international game.

That makes Friday's game at WinSport — albeit with no fans in attendance — a highlight of epic proportions for these 25 athletes.

“It's been a long time coming,” said head coach Troy Ryan.

“Our group has done a fabulous job staying connected through the pandemic. It's just nice to have the opportunity to put everything that we've been working on to the test.”

Team Canada will embark on its quest for the 2021 IIHF world championship against Finland's national squad.

This tournament was supposed to be held in 2020 in Halifax, but like so many events during this pandemic, it was cancelled. It comes at a critical time, however, with the 2022 Beijing Olympics looming large.

“It's been nice to get back at it,” Ryan said.

“Obviously, it's been a challenging year for hockey as well as the entire world. We've had the opportunity to have a few camps throughout the year and we think we've benefited from those opportunities. But it's never the same. Playing red-white games against each other or just small group skill sessions, it's never the same as playing against an opponent in an international competition, best on best. So this is something they've been waiting a long time to have the opportunity to do and we're excited for them.”

“Not being able to play games and be with one another, and being isolated, are definitely difficult,” agreed 27-year-old forward Laura Stacey, “but I think also it's changed us and allowed us to embrace change and that could help our team. Being OK with the unknowns and being OK with things changing, having no idea what's next. A lot of strength comes from going through that adversity.”

Canada beat Finland 4-1 in a pre-tournament outing on Wednesday.

The home side had a lot of time to work on its penalty kill, being tagged for penalties 11 times.

Meanwhile, Friday's game will bring a chance to gain a measure of revenge. The Finns defeated Canada at the 2019 world championship, going on to earn a silver medal while the Canadians had to make do with bronze.

“We all know that Finland is a great opener for us,” said veteran Melodie Daoust.

“I still remember two years ago, that game we lost against them, so we want to send a message early on in the tournament.”

“The last time we played Finland was a tough ending to our championship and I think we all have that in the back of our heads,” said Stacey.

“We expect a lot of ourselves and we want better. So I expect a really hard game. To be honest, we're focused on ourselves as a team and playing our game plan and executing our style of play and doing it our way. If we do that, it'll set us up in the best possible way for success.”

Other opening-day matchups include the Czech Republic versus Denmark and the defending champion U.S. against Switzerland.

Round robin play continues until Thursday, a day that will feature the marquee tussle between Canada and the U.S.Canada's lineup is a mix of old and young, experienced and green.

Among those expected to shine is a healthy Marie-Philip Poulin, whose knee injury kept her out of much of the 2019 world tournament.

Natalie Spooner, 30, is another who will be relied upon.

Captain Jenni Hiirikoski will lead the Finns into battle in her 13th world championship appearance.

In spite of the challenges this past year and a half, Canada is always looked upon as a favourite ... and they wouldn't want it any other way.

“Having those expectations is a good thing,” admitted Stacey. “We expect that of ourselves. We use it as excitement and fuel. We've put in the work and prepared and now it's time to execute. The whole country is behind us and it's a really motivating feeling.”