Canadians boast speed, experience
WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM GUNNING FOR ITS FIFTH STRAIGHT OLYMPIC GOLD
The amount of past Olympic gold already accumulated by t hose on t he Canadian women’s hockey team heading to the PyeongChang Olympics in February is staggering.
Of the 23 players named to the 2018 edition of the team on Friday, 14 were on the 2014 team in Sochi, six captured gold four years earlier in Vancouver and veteran Meghan Agosta was part of those two, plus the 2006 team in Turin, Italy which also won the gold.
So what has Hockey Canada done to shore up its chances for a fifth consecutive gold when they hit the ice in South Korea?
With nine Olympic rookies on the squad, the team is certainly embracing the worldwide trend toward a high- paced attack as a new wave injects more than just youth into the proven team of Canadian stars.
“The first t hing t hat comes to mind with this group is speed,” 26- year- old forward Brianne Jenner said on a conference call after the team was unveiled in Calgary. “With the nine rookies, we have some really athletic players who will be joining this roster and they’re going to bring a lot of speed so we’re very excited about that.”
Jenner is one from the impressive group of holdovers from four years ago which captured gold in Sochi with that dramatic overtime win over the U. S. Those veterans may be relied on to carry the team and looked upon as role models, but ideally the new blood will keep it moving forward as for the first time Canada will head to the Olympics without its superstar captain, Hayley Wickenheiser.
In the group finalized on Friday, Team Canada would appear to have a formidable mix of gold- tested veterans with the next generation of stars. The average age of this team is 27, a group culled from a deep pool of talent from coast-to-coast.
“Having the young faces coming up, it’s so exciting,” said forward Marie- Philip Poulin, a two- time Olympic champion. “They bring so much. We’ve been lucky having great role models and now ( some of the veterans) take that role seriously. It’s quite the honour.”
Canada opens its golden defence on Feb. 11 against whatever is left of the Russian women’s program that recently had six players banned for doping trans- gressions. The key early test will come on Feb. 15 with the first of what is expected to be two meetings with Team USA.
That rivalry — the one that, let’s face it, remains the only one of consequence in the women’s game — continues to build in drama. While the Canadians pulled out the unlikely win for the gold at the Sochi Olympics, the Americans responded by winning the next three world championships.
The two nations have battled back and forth since the U.S. won gold when women’s hockey made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan. It would be a shock to see a gold medal game not involving both of these teams at the Gangneung Hockey Centre on Feb. 22.
Agosta has been around long enough to know there isn’t much to separate these two, so she isn’t about to go overboard over the recent success against their main (and only) rival.
“I think it definitely brings a lot of confidence and a trust in our ability that we are a great team and we can win,” Agosta said of the recent ‘ friendly’ series against the U.S ., the final game of which was played before a rousing crowd of 17,468 and won 2-1 by Canada in overtime at Rogers Place in Edmonton. “But we can still be better. I know we each have individually more to give.
“We know going into the Olympics that it’s not about what we’ve done in the past but we’ll use that as momentum to continue on. If we are playing the U.S. in the finals, we can go out and play our game and believe in ourselves and our abilities and knowing that they can be beaten.”
With the heaviest lifting done and the roster set, Team Canada will be in a fine- tuning mode as it chases its fifth Olympic gold. Prior to its travels to PyeongChang, the team plays five games against Alberta Midget Hockey League opponents early in the New Year. Head coach Laura Schuler and general manager Melody Davidson opted for a roster that includes five defencemen, 14 forwards and three goaltenders.
“It was an extremely difficult decision narrowing down our roster due to the depth of talent on our team,” Schuler said. “We’re really, really happy with where we are at and excited about our future as we push towards the Olympics.”