Canada, US meet again for gold medal

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — The United States played its way back into the only women’s hockey game that matters: a showdown with Canada for the Olympic gold medal.

The Americans are back in the title game for a third straight Olympics after shutting out Finland 5-0 on Monday in the semifinals. On Thursday, they will face their arch-rival, which beat the Olympic Athletes from Russia 5-0 a few hours later. They Americans will be trying to win their first gold since 1998, when women’s hockey made its debut in the Olympics.

And yes, the Americans understand the United States-Canada playing for gold is what everyone expects to see.

“Definitely, the rivalry has been there since I think I was born, so everyone’s looking forward to that,” said 22-year-old Dani Cameranesi.

This will be the third opportunity at gold for six Americans: captain Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight, Gigi Marvin, Kacey Bellamy and twin sisters Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson.

“It’s honestly a dream come true,” Knight said. “This is the world’s biggest stage. This is the game that you want. This is the game we’ve been dreaming of, and to have another opportunity to get back here, it’s huge.”

Canada has played in every Olympic gold-medal game and has won the past four. Counting Thursday’s Pyeongchang finale, five gold-medal games will have been against the United States.

The championship will also be a rematch of the pool-play finale, which Canada won 2-1 last week.

“You know we have the rivalry. It’s well-documented,” said Rebecca Johnston, who scored Canada’s fifth goal Monday. “And we’re just looking forward to having the opportunity to bring home another gold.”

“It’s going to be heated. ... It’s best on best, and that’s what the Olympics are for,” Jennifer Wakefield of Canada said.