Melting The Olympic Ice U.S., Canada Women Hockey Rivlary Heats Up

Women’s hockey joins the Olympic Games with little history, only one or two recognizable names and a small fan base.

But the sport will be blessed with one of the best rivalries going into Nagano.

Barring a stunning upset, the United States and Canada will play for the gold medal on Feb. 17. The U.S. has played 30 games the past four months, 15 against Canada.

That’s equivalent to the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers playing eight times during the season before meeting in the Super Bowl.

When two teams with far more talent than anybody else play that often, jockeying for momentum before the most important tournament in the sport’s history …

“It’s very intense,” said Canada forward Hayley Wickenheiser, who some consider the best women’s player in the world. “When we hit the ice, we want to win the game, but we have a mutual respect for each other.”

Nearly every player trotted out the “mutual respect” line when asked about the rivalry. But “friendship” was never mentioned, either.

“A couple of players on both teams have some battles with each other,” U.S. goalie Sarah Tueting said.

“There is respect. Hate? Well, um, it’s not really hate,” she said, never finding the right word to describe the rivalry.

Suffice to say that when Team Canada spent an afternoon on the Santa Cruz shores two days before its recent game at San Jose Arena, the U.S. women had their R&R elsewhere.

“We don’t hang out together,” Tueting said. “I only really know about half of their team. I don’t think I’ve ever said anything but ‘nice game’ and shaking hands. That’s fine for me. Some of our other players know them better.”

Tueting is 21. The more experienced U.S. players have spent years crushing all opponents but inevitably losing to Canada in the finals of international tournaments. Only in the past year has that started to change, and with it the rivalry has turned up a notch.

Canada has won all six world or Pacific women’s hockey championships, defeating the U.S. in the gold-medal game each time - including twice in overtime. But in preparation for the Olympics, the U.S. team has won six of 13 games and defeated Canada 3-0 in the finals of the Three Nations Cup in December in Lake Placid, N.Y.

It was not a “Miracle on Ice.” But it was a huge step for the U.S. team, which now believes it is on an even keel with the Canadian powerhouse.

“There’s no envy at all,” Tueting said. “We’re not intimidated by them. They’re a great team, but I think our fate is in our control. They’re our competitor, but they’re not our focus. We have to beat Finland, too, to win the gold medal.”

Finland is the only other team close to U.S.-Canada territory. The Finns tied the U.S. 3-3 in the Three Nations’ Cup opener but lost their remaining three games by a combined 12 goals. The drop-off from Finland to the next level of women’s teams - China, Sweden and Japan - is immense.

The world championship records show the divide between North America and the rest of the world. Canada is 20-0 at worlds, beating the U.S. by an average score of 6-2 and other opponents by an average of 9-1.

The U.S. is 15-0-1 at worlds against teams other than Canada, and its victories are by an average score of 9-2.

That’s why Canada and the United States have played each other so much. There just isn’t much competition elsewhere. Players say they get much more out of a 3-2 loss to each other than a 6-0 win over Japan or a college team.

“It’s a great rivalry because we push each other to improve and it just increases the caliber of play every game,” said Stacy Wilson, Team Canada’s captain. “It’s a positive thing for hockey.”

The Olympic schedule is nicely paved for both teams. The United States opens against China, which lost to the U.S. 6-0 in the world championship semifinals last year. Canada will get essentially a scrimmage against Japan, losers of its three previous tournament games against Canada by a combined score of 42-0.

Team USA and Canada should be 4-0 and have clinched berths in the gold medal game by the time they play each other in their final preliminary game Feb. 14.

That will just be a warm-up for the finale three days later, when a sevenyear rivalry turns into a one-game showdown for the gold medal.