MILAN — Officially, 10 countries were in the women’s hockey competition at the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina.
However, only two have won the gold medal – and as a result, they rotate every four years.
These Olympics are no different.
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On Thursday, again, for the seventh time in the eight Olympics since the sport’s debut in 1998, the gold medal match came down to the United States and Canada.
“I get chills thinking about helping them reach what they want,” said American coach John Wroblewski.
This will be the 12th time these rivals meet at the Olympics as Canada holds a record of 7-4 when they have been beaten by two goals in total. Canada is 4-2 in gold medal games against the US, with the Americans’ only victories coming in 1998 and 2018.
“It can go either way and the team knows that,” said Canadian star Marie-Philip Poulin. “We have what we need.”
However, Canada will need more than what it showed when these countries met nine days ago in the group stage, the US women won 5-0. It was Canada’s seventh straight win in all competitions, although Poulin missed that game due to injury.
Afterward, the Canadian coaches and players spoke of faltering confidence and lack of focus. The Americans, on the other hand, betrayed little satisfaction; there was no doubt that they believed they would see Canada again in the playoff round.
“It’s a gold medal game and they’re going to show up,” said American forward Taylor Heise.
Canada was not the only opponent of the US in these Olympics. The US scored 31 goals and allowed just one while outscoring opponents 254-95. Last allowed a goal 331 minutes and 23 seconds ago, a record for men’s or women’s hockey at the Olympics.
“Believe it or not, we were challenged,” said American defender Laila Edwards, one of 15 US players to score in the last six games. “We just won it and won. We will take what we can get and hopefully come out on top.”
Meanwhile, Canada has scored 13 more goals than it has allowed.
As Thursday’s gold medal game ends the tournament, it will also serve as a farewell to one legendary player, and perhaps another.
Hilary Knight, 36, said this will be her fifth and final Olympics representing the US.
“There’s nothing like playing at this speed and this pace,” Knight said. “Very sweet.”
“Sometimes I just watch him; he does everything the right way, and he’ll do anything for his teammates,” Heise said. “It’s sad to say that this may be his last, and we hope to win him over.”
In Canada, 34-year-old star Poulin will try to stop the US again. He scored the game-winning goals in 2010, 2014 and 2022 gold medals, and scored both goals in Canada’s 2-1 semi-final win over Switzerland.
“I played with (Knight) my whole career,” said Poulin. “It’s always a battle. We’re both hungry. We want more.”
Knight said: “You have two of the best players in the world to face.
No player in Olympic history has scored more goals than Poulin’s 20.
Playing the US is “very special,” Poulin said. “You mature a little bit, you grow up a little bit, but you don’t lose that feeling of winning.”
If Knight represents the old guard of the US, it has hit the brink of gold for its next generation.
Three of the four players with the most points in the tournament are from the US and are playing in their first or second Olympics. In her first Olympic Games, goalkeeper Aerin Frankel has set the record for most Olympic shutouts, with three.
Hannah Bilka, a 24-year-old from Texas in her Olympic debut, scored a tournament-high four goals. Edwards has two goals and five assists. Caroline Harvey has seven assists and two goals for an Olympic-best nine points.
The US outscored its opponents by a game-high 14 goals with Harvey on the ice, a dramatic turnaround for the 2022 Olympics, where Harvey played barely a minute in a gold medal loss to Canada.
“There will be nerves. There will be excitement,” Harvey said. “There’s going to be a lot of emotions in the building. So we’re just kind of balancing and knowing what we’ve got in the room, what we’ve got in our team, but we’ve got to take care of business.”
