Canada goes for gold against USA in Olympic women’s hockey tonight
For the fourth straight Olympics, Canada and the United States will meet for women’s hockey supremacy in the gold medal game.
And it never gets old.
One of hockey’s greatest rivalries is set to ignite tonight with the meeting of the border buddies tonight. The game goes tonight at 11:10 pm ET/8:10 pm PT.
The two countries have combined for all six Olympic gold medals in women’s hockey history. That run will be pushed to seven.
How we got here
Canada went perfect through round-robin play with a 12-1 win against Switzerland, an 11-1 drubbing of Finland, and a 4-2 win over their gold medal foe. Canada then toppled Sweden 11-0 in the quarters, and dusted up Switzerland again to the tune of a 10-3 victory in the semis to plot their course to a date with the United States.
The United States bested Finland 5-2 in its tournament-opener, and cruised to a 5-0 win against Russia, officially known as the Russian Olympic Committee, to start the round-robin 2-0. They stumbled to a 4-2 loss at Canada to close out the preliminary round. Team USA avoided scares against Czechia and Finland — each by a score of 4-1 — to advance through the quarters and semis into a final date with Canada.
About that round-robin game
Canada bested the United States in round-robin action, toppling the southern neighbour with a 4-2 win in Beijing to take first place in Group A with a 4-0 record. The United States finishes second with a 3-1 record.
Brianne Jenner scored twice, and Jamie Lee Rattray and captain Marie-Philip Poulin each scored singles for Canada in the win, which saw Canadian goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens turn in a 51-save performance that set a new Canadian record, women’s or men’s, for most stops in an Olympic game.
Four years ago…
The last time these two countries competed for Olympic gold was, naturally, in 2018. The United States avenged three Olympic gold losses, in 2002, 2010, and 2014 in an epic shootout that left the Americans golden for the first time since the Nagano 1998 Olympics.
Other international action
It couldn’t be any more even between Canada and the United States at the IIHF Women’s World Championship. Since 1990, each country has laid claim to a total of 20 medals. Canada does hold the edge in gold-medal finishes, with 11. The United States has nine. Team USA holds the edge with 11 silvers — three more than Canada — and Canada lays claim to the only bronze between the two.
Canada holds the recent edge there too, winning gold last summer. The United States last captured a first-place finish in 2019 — their last of five straight wins on the stage and the last in a run of eight golds in nine years. There was no event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Where to watch
The gold medal game between Canada and the United States takes place Wednesday, February 16 at 11:10 pm ET/8:10 pm PT on CBC television. It can also be viewed live for free on CBC.ca and the CBC Olympics app. The CBC Gem app will also allow users to stream the game to an external device, for free, and is compatible with Apple TV, FireTV, Google Chromecast and Roku TV.
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