Canada's goalkeeper Ann-Renee Desbiens faces the U.S.'s Tessa Janecke during a preliminary round match of women's hockey in Milan on Feb. 10.Hassan Ammar/The Associated Press
On the ice or on television, there’s no heated rivalry quite like this one.
Canada and the United States are locked in for another gold-medal showdown in women’s hockey – the seventh time these two teams have met in the final of the Olympics.
It is a feud unlike anything else in hockey.
In their previous six gold-medal meetings at the Olympics, Canada has won four times, the U.S. twice.
Four times the matchups have been decided by a 3-2 score; one of those was settled in overtime, another came down to a shootout.
It’s that close, that bitter, that tense.
Canada's Renata Fast, right, and Switzerland's Laura Zimmermann during the women's hockey semifinal game in Milan on Monday.Hassan Ammar/The Associated Press
“We’re going to have to scratch and claw and absolutely bring our best game,” Canadian forward Brianne Jenner said Monday after Canada won its semi-final over Switzerland to advance to Thursday’s final in Milan.
Playing in her fourth Olympics, Jenner is a veteran of these battles. She was there for Canada’s narrow overtime win in 2014, she endured the painful shootout loss to the U.S. in 2018, and she helped reclaim the gold in 2022.
“We know that it’s going to take a brave, courageous, gutsy effort in the final. We’ve been there before, we know how to do it and it’s just a matter of us showing up,” Jenner said.
Since the women’s game debuted at the Olympics in 1998, it has always been a polarized battle between these two countries. Only once – when Canada beat Sweden for gold in 2006 – has it not come down to the two superpowers of women’s hockey.
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But the road to the final at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics is much different this year than any of their previous matchups.
The U.S. comes into Thursday’s game riding high, after steamrolling Canada 5-0 in the preliminary round and cruising through the tournament with a young, fast, offensively gifted roster that has dominated the field.
The Canadians have struggled, not only against the Americans, but also in a narrow 2-1 win over the Swiss in the semi-final.
And prior to Milan, Canada was overpowered in the Rivalry Series, a tune-up for the Olympics, losing all four exhibition matches to the Americans in November and December.
The U.S.'s Caroline Harvey, left, and Cayla Barnes, right, chase Canada's Marie-Philip Poulin during Rivalry Series action in Edmonton on Dec. 10, 2025.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
But the gold medal game is just that: one game. Forget recent events. Anything can happen in 60 minutes, the Canadian players insist.
“Anyone can beat anyone,” defender Jocelyne Larocque said. “You can learn from the past, but the past isn’t going to dictate anything.”
Larocque is emblematic of just how tense the rivalry between these two teams is. She’s won two gold medals against the Americans, but when Canada fell 3-2 in a shootout in 2018, she was so upset she refused to wear her silver medal on the ice.
“There are times that our game plan slips and we have to make sure that we don’t slip from our game plan,” Larocque said.
Forward Blayre Turnbull doesn’t expect an easy game, but she said Canada has moved on from its struggles earlier in the tournament, notably an apparent knee injury to captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who missed two games, including the loss to the U.S.
“No matter who you’re playing, you’re playing for an Olympic gold medal. It’s going to be the hardest game you’re playing in your whole life,” Turnbull said.
“We’re going to show up ready to go – and then we’re going to bring home a gold medal.”
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Still, Canada is in unfamiliar territory as the clear underdog.
“I personally love the underdog mentality,” defender Renata Fast said.
“There’s been a lot of noise on the outside, but there’s been tons of belief in the locker room, and we’ve gone through a ton of adversity this year,” Fast said.
Canada has brought a veteran team to Milan. Though they were outpaced by the Americans in their first meeting, Fast said their experience will matter when they hit the sport’s biggest stage.
“The core of this group has transformed this program to where we are today and this is the moment we have been fighting for – to play for gold,” she said.
Poulin, who scored both of Canada’s goals to send them past the Swiss in Monday’s semi-final, will be leaned on heavily.
Playing in her fifth Olympics, the 34-year-old is known as Captain Clutch for her ability to deliver in the biggest moments.
Widely considered the best women’s hockey player in the world, Poulin scored the deciding goal to win gold in Vancouver in 2010, Sochi 2014, and Beijing 2022.
Asked Monday if this may be her last game at the Olympics, Poulin couldn’t say.
“I haven’t thought that far yet,” she said.
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