Team USA played their way back into one of hockey’s great rivalries: a showdown with Canada for Olympic gold.
The Americans are back in the title game for a third straight Olympics after shutting out Finland 5-0 on Monday in the semi-finals of the women’s ice hockey tournament. They will face their arch-rivals, who beat the Olympic Athletes from Russia 5-0 a few hours later, on Thursday. The Americans will attempt to win their first gold since 1998 when women’s hockey made its debut in the Olympics.
And yes, the Americans understand the United States-Canada playing for gold is what everyone expects to see. “Definitely the rivalry has been there since I think I was born, so everyone’s looking forward to that,” said 22-year-old Dani Cameranesi.
This will be the third opportunity at gold for six Americans: captain Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight, Gigi Marvin, Kacey Bellamy and twin sisters Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson.
“It’s honestly a dream come true,” Knight said. “This is the world’s biggest stage. This is the game that you want. This is the game we’ve been dreaming of and to have another opportunity to get back here, it’s huge.”
Finland lost Ronja Savolainen when she had to be helped off the ice and to the locker room after a knee-on-knee collision with Duggan. She was knocked off balance before crashing face-first into the boards, snapping her head back. When play resumed without a penalty, some fans booed. Savolainen returned in the second period.
Stauber said the referee immediately came over and said it was a collision. Duggan said she was really Savolainen recovered and that any decision about a potential suspension was out of her control. “There’s been some other plays that haven’t been put into question, and so I can’t imagine that there would be any disciplinary action just based on other things that have been let go,” Duggan said.
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