PYEONGCHANG (Reuters) – Canada’s women’s ice hockey team heads into the Winter Olympics as underdogs to a top-ranked U.S. team, but knows they have a mission to fulfill: a fifth straight gold medal.
Since the debut of women’s soccer at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Canada has failed to win gold just once. In most cases, they had to get past the USA, winners of that first-ever gold medal, to secure the top spot on the podium.
This year should be no different, except that the vengeful Team USA are slightly favourites, as eager to end their own losing streak as the Canadians are looking to extend their luck.
“We’re very confident about where we are,” Canada’s head coach Laura Schuler said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“I know we have a great team, a great team with probably the best chemistry, the best group of girls I’ve ever coached and when you have that good things happen.”
Teams Canada and USA have been battling to a near standstill for the past few months leading up to the Pyeongchang Games, which will be held Feb. 9-25. They drew 3-3 in a performance series, but before that USA took gold at the 2017 Women’s World Cup – their fourth consecutive time in the competition.
“I think that the rivalry between Canada and the USA was there from the beginning and every time we played USA the difference was just one goal, it went to overtime, it was a back and forth hockey game, it It’s a best-versus-best competition and I think that’s what makes it so great,” said Schuler, who played on the 1998 silver-winning team.
Canada open their Olympic season against Russia on February 11, then meet Finland before meeting their arch-rivals on February 14. However, Schuler’s players say they won’t look beyond the first two games.
“We cannot take any team for granted. We have a mission here,” said forward Meghan Acosta, one of Canada’s assistant captains.
“If we look too far ahead, we lose sight of our goals.”
Nor are they concerned that their southern neighbors will be seen as the team to beat this year.
“They’re too shy to say it, but we love being the underdog,” said Canada team general manager Melody Davis. “We accept that every day.”
Reporting by Dan Burns; Edited by Amlan Chakraborty
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