Two Hockey Powers Battle For Gold

Ever since it became an Olympic sport in 1998, Women's Hockey has been dominated by two countries, the United States and Canada. This week the two countries will face off again with the Gold Medal on the line for the 3rd time since the first games in 1998. The United States won the inagural gold in 1998 in which they beat Canada, but since then, in 2002, 2006 and 2010 the gold has gone to Canada. In fact Canada has beaten the United States in 2002 and 2010.

This is nothing new for the sport as the US and Canada have been the dominate countries in the game since 1998. I mean lets face facts no other country can really challenge the United States or Canada on the ice in Olympic Hockey. So it comes as no surprise to anybody these two nations face off with gold on the line. It is safe to say this is the best rivalry in women's sports and is up there in the conversation of one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. Think about this. Besides their battles for Olympic medals, there have been fifteen world championships for women's hockey and each time it has been the US against Canada in the finals. Throw that in along with the fact that these countries have meet in three of the four gold medal games in the Olympics and I'd say its making a claim to becoming a really great rivalry.

This also goes to show how weak some of the other countries are by comparison when it comes to the women's hockey game on the international level. The only country to play for a medal on the international level that wasn't either the USA or Canada was Sweden who pulled off a big upset in 2006 by beating the US to get to the gold medal game, only to lose there to Canada. Otherwise its been the US and Canada for all the marbels. It would be great for the sport if some other countries could be able to push the US and Canada but at the moment that isn't really a question.

So now that everything has gone down over the last 12 days in the Olympics the USA and Canada are the only two left standing. These two teams met in the group stage of these games, with Canada skating away with a 3-2 win, the only loss suffered by the United States at these games. Canada is coming into this gold medal game having won 19 straight Olympic hockey games. Canada has had superb goaltending in the tournament, as Shannon Szabados and Charline Labonte have split duties in the nets, allowing just three goals on 97 shots (96.10 percent) in their four games. The offense for Canad has been powered by Meghan Acosta (three goals, one assist), Rebecca Johnston (two goals, two assists) and Natalie Spooner (two goals, two assists). So solid scoring and defense hasn't been a problem for Canada.

Same can be said for the United States. Jessie Vetter has played pretty well herself in the nets for the Americans, but sh hasn't really played quite as well as the Canadian counterparts. She's only faced 55 shots in four contests playing behind a stacked American squad led by defender and captain Julie Chu. The downside is that Vetter has allowed five goals. That adds up to a questionable 90.91 save percentage so far for Vetter, a number that bodes well for this high-powered Canadian attack. Just like Canada, the United States has a very high powered attack, with Amanda Kessel (three goals, three assists), Kendall Coyne (two goals, four assists) and Briana Decker (two goals, four assists) leading the high scoring charge for the team.

Both countries can roll four lines and are solid in their own defensive end. If the game between the two in the group round was any indication, this one is going to be a very close, tight checking game that will come right down to the wire. Sure Canada has been good, but the United States have been coming in red hot and will finally get the monkey off the back and take the gold!