Four years ago, the United States women’s hockey team entered the Gold Medal match looking to capture the international squad’s first championship since 1998. Taking on a loaded Canadian team that had defeated the Americans in the 2002 final, Team USA was never able to get their offense churning, falling to the strong Canadian defense 2-0. Now set to meet in the title match for the fourth time in the five Winter Olympics since women’s hockey was officially added to the roster of events, the United States and Canada are expected to battle in another thrilling affair, but this time, Team USA will be looking to halt a significant streak held by their biggest rivals.
The Canadians have won three-straight Women’s Ice Hockey gold medals but after taking down a talented Sweden squad in impressive fashion, Team USA and star Julie Chu hope the 2014 Sochi Games turn into their shining moment. “When that buzzer goes off and it erupted in the arena and we fell short of our goal of being the best in the world, that hurts,” Chu, who is looking to cap off her fourth Winter Olympics with a championship, said regarding the upcoming contest. “The last four years, that's been our goal.”
Recording three goals in the first period and two more in the second, Team USA took a 5-0 advantage into the third period of their semifinal clash with the Swedish National team. The true ability to score and defend has served the United States well throughout the winter tournament but a 3-2 loss to rival Canada earlier in the tournament showed that the USA is still susceptible to high-motor, physical teams. While the United States was busy handling Sweden, three-time gold medal champion Canada was disposing of Switzerland. Upending their Group A rivals in 3-1 fashion, Canada and forward Gillian Apps will look to build off their semifinal performance heading into Thursday’s championship.
“In the semifinals of an Olympic tournament, you never want to underestimate your opponent,” she said. “For us, it's just really important to try and put together a full 60 minutes. I don't think we've done that yet in the tournament. That's a huge thing for us and if we can do that, I think we'll be feeling a bit better about going into the final.”
USA vs. Canada – Women’s Hockey Gold Medal Final: DATE, TIME & VIEWING INFO
DATE: Thursday, February 20
TIME: 12:00pm, ET
TV COVERAGE: NBC
LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE
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