U.S., Canada women eager to resume fierce hockey rivalry

Forward Brianna Decker was unable to contain her enthusiasm in being selected to represent the United States in hockey for a third Olympics. She then bluntly declared the team’s one and only objective heading to the Beijing Games next month.

“Our business isn’t finished until we come back with a gold medal,” Decker said.

Though she didn’t have to say it, Canada — who else? — is standing in their way.

“I don’t know if it’s unfinished business, we’ve got business,” Canada coach Troy Ryan said when informed of Decker’s comments. “We’re going there as business as usual and we’re trying to win the gold.”

One of sports’ fiercest rivalries is set to resume when the 10-nation tournament opens on Feb. 3.

The United States is the defending Olympic champion after beating Canada in a nail-biting 3-2 shootout win in South Korea in 2018 to end Canada’s run of four Olympic titles. And yet, Canada is the reigning world champion after punching back with a 3-2 overtime win in August to end USA’s run of five consecutive titles.

“Yeah, it’s been a while since we’ve lost to them,” Decker said. “It’s really a sad thing, but you know, sometimes you’ve got to lose to get a little bit more out of your team and out of yourself.”

“To be honest,” countered Canada’s captain MariePhilip Poulin, “it’s going to be fun.”

And intense.

It was no surprise to anyone when the pushing, shoving and cross-checking resumed almost immediately at Allentown, Pennsylvania, in October in their first meeting after the world championships.

“Yeah, and you know what the best part is? We have them eight more times,” American forward Kendall Coyne Schofield said with a laugh, referring to what was supposed to be a nine-game Rivalry Series. It was cut to six games after the Canadians experienced a COVID-19 breakout.

Canada finished the shortened series going 4-1-1 against the Americans, with four games decided by one goal, and three in overtime.

Encouraging as the results were, they meant little to Ryan, who noted: “If you look at the history of these events and the results at the Olympics, there’s no positive correlation often.”

At first glance, Canada appears to have the advantage with speed and experience, playing an uptempo, transition attack Ryan introduced upon taking over in August 2019. His system places an emphasis on play-making defenders turning up ice and finding open players in the neutral zone to set up oddman breaks.

The U.S. relies more on a puck-control offensive style to set up in-close chances from Hilary Knight and Alex Carpenter, who returns after being left off the 2018 roster.

Barring what would be considered a major upset, the rest of the field continues playing catchup at the women’s level, with Finland, Switzerland, Russia and potentially the up-andcoming Czech Republic vying for bronze.