Canada And USA Meet For First Time Since Olympic Gold Medal Game With Refreshed Rivalry Ahead

Canada and USA's women's national teams will face-off for the first time since the 2026 Olympic gold medal game on February 19 in Milan, Italy.

A lot has changed for Canada since then, who enters with a new general manager, new head coach, and only 13 returning members from their 23-player silver medal roster. USA's gold medal roster remains completely intact, but with pressure from outside talent and youth looking to unseat a returnee.

When the puck drops between Canada and USA it's always a fierce match up, regardless of who is in the lineup. Whether USA easily walks through Canada as they did during the 2025-26 Rivalry Series, or it's a closer contest is yet to be seen. Canada and USA will play October 28 in Windsor, Ontario, and October 30 in Plymouth, Michigan.

In past years, early Rivalry Series results were heavily skewed toward USA, with Canada catching up later in the season. In part, that was often due to the presence of top collegiate players like Caroline Harvey, Abbey Murphy, and Laila Edwards being available to the United States. But in general, USA's young players top to bottom looked sharper than Canada's veterans. USA had a large portion of their roster each season playing meaningful games in the NCAA, often for months, before stepping on the ice against Canada, while Canada's roster, almost in its entirety, had not played games prior to puck drop and following what has become a nearly unfathomably long offseason for women's hockey players. This season, that balance shifts slightly. USA has only Laney Potter, Joy Dunne, and netminder Ava McNaughton in their lineup from the NCAA. Only Dunne is certain to factor into their lineup in a meaningful way, although Potter will look to steal the final blueline position, and McNaughton is set to be USA's third goalie. Canada however, will feature many players who are well into their seasons including Rosalie Tremblay, Caitlin Kraemer, Chloe Primerano, Eve Gascon, Sara Manness, and Hayley McDonald are all in the midst of their NCAA seasons. Some are off to dominant starts. While Canada clearly remains outskilled in this match up, could their youthful game readiness factor in?

Nobody dreamed of a Team Canada without Marie-Philip Poulin, Brianne Jenner, Sarah Nurse, Natalie Spooner, Jocelyne Larocque, Emerance Maschmeyer, Claire Thompson, Blayre Thompson, Jennifer Gardiner, and Julia Gosling all at once. Some of those are injury or pregnancy related, some of those were Hockey Canada decisions, and Thompson retired at only 28. Still, no matter how you look at the less experienced Team Canada, Canada will almost certainly be faster, and hungrier. Without Poulin and the veteran core that has risen in big moments of the past, no one can sit back with the hope that Captain Clutch will save the day. But you can expect Canada to have extra jump, and be more dogged in their pursuit. It's the exact mentality USA used to push the pace on Canada the past two seasons, forcing late game errors and collapses from 2023 onward. Even though Canada stayed competitive, and even won some games and a World gold in there, they looked outclassed most of the time. Canada will look for competitive consistency, rather than single game heroics from here on out, and it's going to come with an elevated pace of play in this series.

There's a realistic risk USA puts up another lopsided win in this series against Canada. They may not with Canada's revitalized roster all looking to prove themselves while fighting for ice time and positioning heading to Worlds. But regardless of whether Canada loses big, stays close, or even wins a game in this series, where this match up starts in 2026-27, will not be where it finishes. By the time these two rosters face-off again, including if that comes in the gold medal game of the World Championships, USA will be facing a vastly different Team Canada by that point. Canada's young quartet of teenagers, and their growing cohort of under-25 players on their roster will only get better in pre-tournament competition, and through their round robin games against Finland, Sweden, Japan, and Denmark. Canada has enough games against weaker opponents in Japan and Denmark, as well as more competitive, yet not to the level of USA programs like Finland and Sweden, that this team is only going to get better. Canadian GM Daniele Sauvageau openly stated the first days of their training camp were all about teaching and learning, and that she expects that to continue. Canada might take their lumps, but where last season those lumps resulted in obvious frustration on and off the ice, this season they'll all be teachable moments where improvements will folllow.

USA has their own aging veterans in Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Lee Stecklein, but they still have gas in the tank. Whether or not they make it to 2030, which Hilary Knight already announced 2026 was her final Olympic Games, is yet to be seen. Regardless, USA's core is in their prime, and they've played Canada with an abundance of confidence, exuberance, and undeniable swagger. Over the last year, USA never stepped on the ice believing they had a chance to lose against Canada, and they didn't They swept the Rivalry Series, beat Canada each time they played them at the 2025 Worlds and 2026 Olympics, and even scored 10 goals on Canada for the first time in history. This is a powerhouse roster who will be looking to send a clear message to Canada's fresh recruits.