Spokane scores pre-Olympic game

The U.S. and Canadian women’s hockey teams will play an exhibition game in Spokane next year leading up to the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.

The match featuring Team U.S.A., the reigning world champions, and chief rival Team Canada was announced Tuesday by Star USA, the organizer of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships to be held in Spokane in January 2010.

“The rivalry between these two teams is huge,” said Barb Beddor of Star USA.

The two teams have won all three gold medals since women’s hockey was added to the Olympics.

The Oct. 16, 2009, game at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena is one of three games the two teams will play in the U.S. next year before the final selection for the Olympic Games. It will provide a matchup for the U.S. and Canadian players about 18 weeks before the Vancouver games, Beddor said.

“They’re going to go at it hard, even though it’s not a qualifying game,” she said.

Tickets will range from $15 to $35 each, she said. Tickets to the Olympic matches are expected to cost $125 to $325, Beddor said.

In the inaugural Olympic women’s hockey tournament, in Nagano, Japan, in 1998, the U.S. team took the gold with a 3-1 win over Canada. Four years later, in Salt Lake City, Canada defeated the U.S. in the final game, 3-2.

At the Turin, Italy, games in 2006, Sweden knocked the U.S. team out in the semifinals, and Canada took the gold, beating Sweden 4-1.