From The Archive: Gold Diggers

Welcome to this edition of "From The Archive". In this recurring series, we open The Hockey News' vault and display some of the top Vancouver Canucks related articles from the past. Today's article is Olympic-themed and comes from Volume 79, Issue 7, where Jared Clinton looks ahead to the 2026 Winter Olympics. 

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IT MAY HAVE TAKEN until the bitter end, with arena preparations bleeding into late January, but finally, thankfully and quite literally, the stage is set for the 2026 Olympics in Milan.

Across the men’s field, the national-team rosters range from all world to imperfect outfits with upset potential. There’s also one club, the Italians, that will serve as lovable cannon fodder. Sitting 18th in the IIHF rankings, the host nation will be lucky to escape Group B with a single-digit minus-goal differential – especially given they are staring down meetings with Sweden, Finland and a Slovakian side aiming to play the role of sleeper.

In Group A, a stacked Canada roster will be challenged in its pursuit of a bye to the quarterfinal. Canada will have to get past Switzerland and Czechia, the IIHF’s second- and fifth-ranked nations, while contending with a French team seeking to create chaos. And having not had the chance to compete in the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Czechs and Swiss will be playing with chips on their shoulders, desiring to prove their place in hockey’s international hierarchy.

Over in Group C, Team USA won’t overlook the Danes or Latvians – the latter have a penchant for being a tough out in international play – but stand to face their toughest test in the Germans. Silver medallists at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, albeit in a tournament bereft of NHL participation, The Germans are among the more mercurial competitors, capable of anything from the astounding to the abysmal. They have finished as high as second and as low as ninth across the past five World Championships.

All of this is just to get to the elimination round, though. And once there, anything can happen. If the Olympics were contested under best-of-seven rules, Canada or the U.S. would surely emerge victorious. Player for player, the North American outfits are the best of the bunch. But what creates intrigue is the uncertainty of single-elimination play. No nation is preordained, and all it takes is one upset to scupper the pre-tournament podium prognostications.

That, of course, is contrasted by the women’s tournament, which is all but certain to end in a showdown between superpowers Canada and the U.S.

The Canadians and Americans have been opponents in all but two major tournament finals since 1990. They’ve been separated by the narrowest of margins, with gold medal contests decided by a single goal in five of the past six competitions, but the narrow gap between those two nations expands to a chasm when measured against the rest of the field. Since 2021, Canada and the U.S. have combined to defeat Finland, Switzerland and Czechia in semifinals by a total of 52 goals.

In no way is that meant as disparagement, nor is a bracket-busting stunner out of the question. In 2006, the last time the Olympics were on Italian soil, Sweden shocked Team USA in the semifinal and took home silver. And at the 2019 World Championship, Finland defeated Canada in the semifinal and appeared to have downed the U.S. in overtime to win gold before a controversial no-goal decision paved the way to an American shootout victory.

The reality, however, is that the tournament will very likely be won by one of the two powerhouses. And recent results suggest the U.S. enters with top odds. The Americans have defeated the Canadians in six consecutive clashes, including domination of this season’s Rivalry Series: the U.S. chalked up four consecutive victories by a combined 24-7 scoreline.

That doesn’t make Canada the plucky underdogs, though. The Canadians have won five of seven golds since women’s hockey was added to the Olympics, and they have done so even during down periods. To wit, Team USA had won eight consecutive meetings entering the 2002 Olympics and four consecutive games before the 2014 Games. Canada emerged from both competitions with gold.

But the next chapter in the cross-border rivalry – and perhaps a new chapter in the men’s game – can only be written after the puck drops in Italy. Let the Games begin.

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