Heated rivalry too close to call
NCAA schedule gives U.S. leg up over Canada at world tourney in Sweden
Canada won the first eight women’s world hockey championships, but has claimed just two of the last seven.
The United States and Canada have met in the gold-medal games of all 15 tournaments to date.
All but one of Canada’s recent defeats in the final were one-goal losses, but the fact is, the U.S. has become harder to finish off in the world championship finale.
The two countries meet to open the 2015 world championship Saturday in Malmo, Sweden, playing each other in a Pool A game. Finland and Russia round out their group, with host Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Japan featured in Pool B.
Caroline Ouellette scored Canada’s overtime winner in Burlington, Vt., in 2012 for her team’s only world title in the last five championships. The Montreal forward said then: “We can’t say anymore we are better than them.”
In their most recent meeting, Canada edged the U.S. 5-4 in a shootout to win the Four Nations Cup in November.
“Maybe early on when women’s hockey made its debut at the world championship, Canada probably had the edge over the United States,” Ouellette said Friday in Malmo. “(Canada) had more depth, maybe better preparation and they were able to dominate those games.
“(Now) we know not much separates us from the U.S.”
Canada may be winners of the last four Olympic gold medals — including last year’s overtime thriller against the Americans — but the Winter Olympics are a different animal than the worlds.
All players from the world’s top female hockey countries have ad- opted the Canadian model and now suspend school and work for an entire winter. They train fulltime with their respective national teams for the Games. However, women’s worlds aren’t held in the same year as an Olympic Games.
In the years in between Olympics, the players go back to playing for their college or university, or return to work and their club teams.
The U.S. roster at a world championship typically has more college players, with 13 this year compared to Canada’s eight.
The American squad that beat Canada 3-2 for gold two years ago in Ottawa had 11 compared to Canada’s six.
A college or university team mirrors Olympic preparation in that the players are on the ice almost every day, can play up to 40 games in a season and dryland train with their teammates.
The Canadian Women’s Hockey League is important for female players who already have graduated or who aren’t in school. Without it, 15 players on Canada’s current roster and five on the American team wouldn’t have a place to play.
But CWHL players practise twice a week and play no more than 27 games in a season.
A roster heavy in NCAA Division I players can have another impact. Their Frozen Four final is often less than a week from opening day at the world championship, while the CWHL’s Clarkson Cup championship wraps up two to three weeks before the tournament.
For example, 10 U.S players participated in last weekend’s Frozen Four in Minneapolis, including four in Sunday’s championship.
Immediately joining the U.S. team extends their season’s peak. They ride adrenalin and a high level of play right into the worlds.
“Anybody coming from the college game, where you’re playing every day, practising with your team, you’re conditioned at a high level to jump into ... playing against great international players from all over,” U.S. goaltender Jessie Vetter said. “I think it’s an advantage for anyone who comes from college. We look to our college kids quite a bit throughout the worlds.”