Canada’s women’s hockey team has something to prove in Milan

Open this photo in gallery:

As the Winter Olympics kick off, Canada’s women’s hockey team finds itself in an unfamiliar and somewhat uncomfortable situation.

The defending Olympic champions, winner of five of the seven gold medals handed out since the women’s game was introduced in 1998, typically arrive at these tournaments with some swagger in their stride.

But Milan Cortina has a different vibe.

A few months ago, Canada endured a string of decisive losses to the United States in the Rivalry Series, a four-game tune-up event held in November and December that is meant as a sort of measuring stick before the Winter Games.

There isn’t much Marie-Philip Poulin has left to accomplish, except earn another gold medal

Canada lost the first two nationally televised games 4-1 and 6-1, respectively. Game three was a 10-4 debacle, much to the Americans’ delight. And the final contest ended as the series began, with a 4-1 loss.

Typically, the Rivalry Series isn’t that important – until it is.

Had Canada and the U.S. split the series 2-2, and the games were still close, no one would be talking about it afterward. Only Olympic gold matters to these two teams.

But the way Canada lost – so decisively, to its biggest nemesis – was the problem. And since women’s hockey is generally considered a showdown between these two countries, despite advancements made by other countries over the past decade, the results raise an awkward question. When it comes to Canada versus the U.S. in Milan, does this mean the Canadians are now the underdog against the Americans?

Open this photo in gallery:

It’s a narrative Canada’s brain trust pushes back on.

“I don’t think it does,” Gina Kingsbury, general manager for Team Canada, said in January after the Canadian roster was finalized.

“But I do think it certainly says that it’s probably not going to be an easy Games for us. We’re not going to walk in and, you know, steal the gold medal and not sweat,” Ms. Kingsbury said.

“This is going to be a hard one.”

Canada begins the defence of its 2022 gold medal Thursday, opening the tournament against Finland. Switzerland is next on Saturday, followed by Czechia on Monday, before closing out the preliminary round versus the Americans on Tuesday.

Beijing was a much different affair. Canada deployed a high-octane offence that could outscore its defensive lapses. This team will approach games differently. With veterans like Marie-Philip Poulin, back for her fifth Olympics, and stalwarts like Sarah Nurse and Jocelyne Larocque, it is a squad expected to lean more on experience.

Everything you need to know about Olympic hockey and Canada’s teams

“I think we will be hard to play against. I don’t think we’re necessarily the Beijing team that was very offensive – and maybe even recklessly offensive in some ways,” Ms. Kingsbury said. “But I love the fact that this team has the ability to adapt and play in different ways in order for them to be successful.”

Team Canada head coach Troy Ryan said there are lessons the squad has taken away from the Rivalry Series, which has allowed it to recalibrate for Milan.

“Some of the lessons are systematic, some of them are concepts, some of them are just player evaluations,” Mr. Ryan said. “There’s plenty of areas we’ve got to tidy up, and even some line combinations. I think we answered a few questions that we had.”

Ryan cautions against reading too much into the Rivalry Series.

A loss is a loss, and the coach isn’t making any excuses. But while the U.S. deployed a more Olympic-ready roster in the Rivalry Series, Canada used the tournament for experimentation – to see if certain players were ready for the sport’s biggest stage, and to evaluate whether some were capable of playing outside their primary roles. The way the games went informed how Canada chose its roster afterward.

Open this photo in gallery:

“Obviously if we take the Rivalry Series as a gauge of where we’re at, we need to improve in a lot of areas,” Mr. Ryan said. “We used it as an evaluation process, so I think it’s different.”

Had Canada played its full Olympic roster during the four-game tune-up, “the results wouldn’t be quite as bad,” he said.

Underdog against the U.S. or otherwise, Mr. Ryan said the team won’t worry much about what labels are placed on it from the outside.

“You’ve got such a mature group that have been through it all. I honestly think you could put anything on them. I don’t think it’s really going to bother them,” Mr. Ryan said.

Open this photo in gallery:

Blueliner Renata Fast, returning for her third Olympics, said the team has put the Rivalry Series result behind it, while also making sure to take lessons from it.

“You don’t win an Olympics in December,” Ms. Fast said.

“Although the Rivalry Series games were super important and they didn’t go the way we wanted them to, we also come out of it learning a ton. I think our group did a lot of self-reflection and team-reflection coming out of those games.”

The road the Canadian team took to get to these Games differs entirely from any previous Winter Olympics.

Open this photo in gallery:

The introduction of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, which played its first game in 2024, meant the players spent this season competing for their respective clubs, rather than gathering together in one city to train as an Olympic squad and play exhibition games.

While that has meant less practice time as a team, Ms. Nurse said the old centralization model couldn’t match the speed of a PWHL game.

“They’re not as intense games, I’d say, as you get in the PWHL,” Ms. Nurse said. “When we play in the PWHL, we say it’s like playing Team Canada and Team USA every single night.”

Canadian forward Sarah Fillier believes the PWHL model will boost the pace of play in Milan.

“It’s going to elevate the game,” Ms. Fillier said. “Just because we’re playing best-on-best hockey in a real league, instead of centralizing per country and not playing as many games.”

Open this photo in gallery: