US Women’s Hockey Team to Face Canada in Olympic Final

The U.S Women’s hockey team are heading to the finals at the Beijing Games after defeating Finland 4-1 during the semifinals game on Monday. The U.S will now play Canada in what is being called a rematch of the 2018 Olympic final between the two hockey nations.

This will be the sixth time the U.S and Canadian women have played in an Olympic gold final, and one that Hilary Knight is hoping will result in the defending champions walking away with another gold medal at the Beijing Games this year.

After a scoreless first period, Knight, who plays forward for the U.S, scored two goals during the second period to put the U.S up 2-1. Also scoring for the U.S in the third period was Halley Scamurra and Abby Rogue, while netminder Alex Cavallini recorded 25 saves. Susanna Tapani scored Finland’s only goal.

The women’s tournament has faced criticism for the lopsided goals and the predictability that Team U.S and Canada will once again dominate. However, it is no surprise the two hockey superpowers are heading into yet another final, and that rivalry will be once again when Knight and her teammates defend their title on 16th.

“You know, I think it’s wonderful hockey. It’s the most beautiful rivalry in sports. It gets the best and the worst out of both of us at the same time. And it’s just a wonderful game.”

CBC Sports

Canada earned their place in the final earlier during the day when they scored five goals against Switzerland in the first period. Switzerland will now face Finland in the bronze medal game on the 16th. Part of the criticism against the women’s hockey tournament stems from Canada and the U.S playing in six of the last seven gold medal games. The only time the two haven’t advanced to the finals was when Canada played Sweden at the 2006 Turin Games.

While the U.S will be defending their win over Canada in 2018 in South Korea, they are from the favourites to win. The Canadians have dominated in every game they have played and are heading into the finals with a 6-0 record. They have outscored every opponent they have faced, and that includes the U.S during the preliminary round finale last week.

For Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin, she has made it clear that who they face in the finals makes no difference.

“We worked for these moments. We’ve been working for four years. I think we deserve it.”

However, teammate Sarah Nurse is looking forward to playing the U.S once again in the finals and renewing that rivalry.

“Obviously, playing the U.S. it’s always an exciting game, always an exciting rivalry. Our biggest focus is we get to play another game at the Olympics. We came here to play seven games. We wanted the last one to be the gold-medal game.”

As for the Americans, they will be eagerly waiting to defend their title and bring home another gold medal. They will be relying on Knight, Barnes, Scamurra and Roque, both of whom helped the U.S advance to the finals. Barnes helped give the U.S the lead after a second period powerplay goal, one that Finland coach Jusso Toivola felt was a bad call. When questioned over the call, Toivola said,

“Do I have to answer?. I don’t normally talk about refs, but I didn’t like that call.”

With the Canadians dominating the tournament and using a four-deep line to raise the bar in how they play the game, Sarah Nurse thinks they have taken the game to new heights.

“We’re playing a style of hockey that’s never been seen in our tournament before. And so, in 5-10 years, other countries are going to be playing our style of play, and we’re going to keep pushing the envelope and keep making our sport better.”

The Canadian women even broke their own scoring record, scoring five goals in less than 3 1/2 minutes. The onslaught of goals left Swiss coach Colin Muller stunned at how fast things went from bad to worse.

“We just had a blackout for four minutes. You can’t give them that momentum because they’re just like sharks when they smell blood. And when they taste it, they’re going.”

However, unlike the Canadians, the U.S is ranked fifth overall for scoring efficiency and during a heated rivalry, that could be the leg up they need to overcome the superiorly talented Canadians.