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The best rivalry in women's hockey, and one of the best rivalries in sports, is on tap today as the U.S. and Canada meet in a preliminary-round game.
Both teams are undefeated here at the 2026 Winter Olympics, and this game will determine the top seed in the knockout stage.
Canada will be without team captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who suffered a lower-body injury against Czech Republic yesterday.
Share your views with us at live@theathletic.com and be sure to check out The Athletic’s live schedule this week.
After last night's game, Canadian forward Julia Gosling spoke about facing the U.S. next: "We're excited. We've been preparing the last two games for it. We've been playing smart, trying to play the right way with our details and habits, and yeah we're ready for the U.S. and really excited for this game."
U.S. goalie Gwyneth Philips was pumped up to face Canada today when speaking after last night's game: "It's going to be a fun game. I bet it gets pretty physical. We're all going all out. I'm excited to watch. I'm excited to be there. I'm excited to see it happen."
Canadian defender Kati Tabin quit hockey twice during her career. Now, she is on the Olympic team, playing on the biggest stage against Canada’s archrival.
Here is an excerpt from our Hailey Salvian that reflects on Tabin’s inclusion on this team:
📝: “Tabin’s inclusion on the Canadian roster is a strong indicator of two things: her own persistence and the opportunities created for players by the Professional Women’s Hockey League. In the two years since the league launched in January 2024, Tabin has gone from the bubble to establishing herself as a steady, shutdown defender and the exact kind of player Team Canada might need to upset the No. 1-ranked Americans.”
Read more below.
GO FURTHER
She quit hockey twice. Now, with no prior international experience, she’s an Olympian
The last time the U.S. and Canada met at the Olympics was the gold-medal game in Beijing in 2022. The Canadians took a narrow 3-2 victory in a thrilling game to reclaim the gold after the U.S. had won it in 2018.
A goal from Sarah Nurse and two from Marie-Philip Poulin staked Canada to a 3-0 lead, and they held on for the win despite a late flurry from Team USA, who got goals from Hilary Knight and Amanda Kessel.
Today's game will mark the first time Canada and the U.S. face each other at the Olympics in Italy, despite women's hockey having been played at Turin in 2006. The two countries didn't meet in the preliminary round then, and the U.S. suffered a shock defeat against Sweden in the semifinals to prevent a gold-medal matchup. That remains the sole gold-medal game in women's hockey history that didn't feature both the U.S. and Canada.
Tonight's game marks the 11th meeting all-time between the U.S. and Canada at the Olympics. The Canadians hold a 6-1-1-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L) advantage across the previous 10 matchups, including winning three of four in preliminary play.
Canada has outscored the U.S. 27 to 24 across those 10 meetings at the Olympics.
Team USA defender Laila Edwards also spoke about facing Canada next after last night's win: "Obviously, the stakes are higher, the intensity is higher, but we've just got to remind ourselves it's still hockey, and we do pretty good at hockey. I think when we just stick to our brand, we're intimidating.”
Canada forward Sarah Fillier spoke about Marie-Philip Poulin's importance after her injury last night: "When a player goes down like that, we just want to play for them and get the win for her. She's a huge part of our team. She's our leader and captain."
Fillier also looked ahead to tonight's heavyweight clash: "It's exciting. We're just trying to play each game, our opponent doesn't matter, we're just trying to play our best hockey to get us where we want to be in this tournament. It'll be a good matchup tomorrow.
Canada dominated Czech Republic 5-1 to remain unbeaten in the women’s hockey tournament at the Milan Cortina Games. However, the Canadians lost their captain Marie-Philip Poulin after taking a hard hit in the first period. She briefly returned to the bench at the end of the first, before exiting the game entirely.
Julia Gosling scored twice en route to Canada’s win. Kristin O’Neill, Renata Fast and Laura Stacey also added goals.
Canadian goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens, playing in her first game of the Milan Cortina Games, stopped 18 of 19 shots.
The U.S. women's hockey team improved to 3-0 at the 2026 Winter Olympics with a 5-0 win over Switzerland in preliminary play.
Haley Winn, Joy Dunne, Hannah Bilka, Alex Carpenter and Caroline Harvey scored for Team USA. Hilary Knight chipped in with two assists to add to her illustrious Olympic career.
Goalies Gwyneth Philips and Ava McNaughton combined for a 21-save shutout.
The Milan Cortina Games mark the eighth Winter Olympics to feature women's hockey. You'll notice a pattern looking at the previous results — and that pattern is expected to hold this year…
(Gold – Silver – Bronze)
The 10 teams are divided into two groups, with each team playing every team in their group once. The groups are purposefully unbalanced, with the five highest-ranked teams — Canada, the United States, the Czech Republic, Finland and Switzerland — all in Group A. Group B consists of Sweden, Japan, Germany, France and Italy.
This structure exists to create more competitive games in group play, given the significant talent gap between the favorites (especially Canada and the United States) and the rest of the field. All teams in Group A advance to the quarterfinals, with their ranking in group play determining their seed. The top three teams in Group B join them; the bottom two are eliminated.
There are no ties in Olympic hockey. Non-medal games proceed to a shootout if no team scores during one period of 3-on-3 sudden-death overtime. Wins in regulation are worth three points; wins in overtime are worth two points and losses in overtime are worth one point.
In their respective groups, teams are ranked by total points, with head-to-head results breaking two-way ties.
Here are the Group A standings heading into today's Canada-U.S. game:
If Team USA wins this game, they'll clinch top spot in the group. If Canada wins in regulation, they'll do likewise, whereas if they win in overtime, they'd need a win over Finland, against whom they'll be heavily favored, on Thursday to take top spot.
The United States team improved to 3-0 with an easy win over Switzerland yesterday, while Canada swept aside Czech Republic. That set up today's showdown (although Canada will have one preliminary-round game left after its opener against Finland was postponed).
There’s no replacing Marie-Philip Poulin, whose very presence seems to give Canada the mental edge most nights. The most clutch player in the game, Poulin scored the gold-medal-winning goals in three of her previous four Olympics (2010, 2014 and 2022). So it’s not as simple as next woman up. That said, Canada isn’t lacking for talented options to replace Poulin on the top line.
Fillier is the first player who comes to mind for obvious reasons. “She could be Ms. Canada after Pou is gone,” said one player in The Athletic’s anonymous player poll last month.
She’s been the most dynamic player for Team Canada early in this tournament and actually led Canada in ice time (22:36) during its 4-0 win against Switzerland. She’s an elite offensive talent — and ranked third in The Athletic’s player ranking leading into Milan — with big-time international experience. She was among Canada’s top scorers at the 2022 Olympics and could have a massive 2026 tournament.
Her line with Sarah Nurse and Daryl Watts was the only trio that stayed together throughout yesterday's game as head coach Troy Ryan put the lines in a blender and that could be a critical group if Canada is going to have success against the Americans when it matters most.
Marie-Philip Poulin, considered by many to be the best player in the history of women’s hockey, will be a massive absence for the Canadians today.
Speaking after last night's game about the hit that injured Poulin, Canada head coach Troy Ryan said: "I think it was a penalty. I don’t know if it’s a major. I didn’t review it yet on video, but I think a call was made on the play and I don’t know if more was necessary."
Kristyna Kaltounkova, the Czech player who delivered the hit on Poulin, said that she tried to play the puck and that there was no malicious intent.
Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena
This arena was specially constructed to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, after which it will “be transformed into a multi-functional centre for sport events and live entertainment in the city (of Milan),” per the Olympics website. It seats 14,000.
There were concerns raised about the small size of the arena as well as the quality of the ice in the weeks leading up to the Milan Cortina Games, but there have not been any major issues among the several preliminary round women's hockey games taking place before the men's tournament starts later this week.
This just in: The Canadian Olympic Committee and Hockey Canada have announced in a statement that team captain Marie Philip-Poulin has been ruled out of today's Canada vs. USA game.
Philip-Poulin suffered a lower-body injury in yesterday's win against Czech Republic.
GO FURTHER
Marie-Philip Poulin is injured. What does it mean for Canada’s Olympic gold medal hopes?
One of the great rivalries in hockey will be renewed today at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Canada versus the United States in women’s hockey is always a must-watch at the Winter Olympics.
Canada has five Olympic gold medals in women’s hockey, while the U.S. has two. In the lead-up to the Olympics, the Americans won all four games of the Rivalry Series over Canada by a combined score of 24-7.
Today will mark the 194th meeting between Canada and the U.S. in women’s hockey. Canada leads the series 106–86–2.
Who will win today's women's hockey showdown between the U.S. and Canada? Will one of those teams win the gold medal?
We’d love to hear your thoughts, opinions and predictions for the Milan Cortina Games.
Email us at live@theathletic.com, and we'll take the best submissions and feature them in our coverage here!
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