USA looked calm and confident in their sweep of the opening leg of the Rivalry Series in Cleveland and Buffalo. After a 4-1 win in Cleveland, the American national team put out an even more dominant performance in Buffalo routing Canada 6-1.

While Hilary Knight led the way with a hat trick in the win, capped late with an empty netter, head coach John Wroblewski gave significant credit to Ottawa Charge netminder Gwyneth Philips who made 29 saves in the win.

"I thought Gwyneth was really really good and that just kept the game tilted in our favor going into the third period," Wroblewski said. 

USA entered the third period leading by a narrow 2-1 margin before Laila Edwards scored a beautiful goal to open the floodgates for the Americans. Kelly Pannek also scored for USA, as did hometown product Hayley Scamurra.

Scamurra Feels The Hometown Love

In front of her hometown friends, family, former coaches, and fans, Hayley Scamurra played her trademark style bringing energy, and contributing offensively as well.

"I just thought that some of the players like Scamurra, who gets the fifth one for us, I just thought that she played a suffocating style," said Wroblewski.

Wroblewski called Scamurra the quintessential player on Team USA who embodies what an Olympian is as USA prepares for the 2026 Olympics.

For Scamurra, the night was special not only as another opportunity to represent her nation, but also because of the number of people who have been there on her journey who could be in attendance and cheer her on.

"Oh my gosh, it was absolutely incredible," said Scamurra. "I couldn't have written it any better honestly, I could hear them all up there when my name was called and then when I scored they were extra loud. Just to have that physical presence of them the people that have been with me this whole journey and helping me get to this point and celebrating this with them was unbelievable."

Knight Pleased With Team, Scores Hat Trick

After Abbey Murphy scored a hat trick during game one of the Rivalry Series, Hilary Knight told the University of Minnesota star that it was her turn. The veteran, who is the all-time points and goals leader at the World Championships, tied for the PWHL scoring lead last season with Canada's Sarah Fillier. 

While her individual performance was a bright spot for USA, Knight turned the focus to her team.

"I really like the effort that we put forward, we had five lines out there and it was awesome," she said. "It's really hard if you're not getting as many minutes to stay in the game but everybody stood in the game and that was good to see."

Canada Not Pleased

The frustration with Canada's performance was evident among their players following a second straight loss at the hands of Team USA. 

While the result was not what Canada wanted, captain Marie-Philip Poulin says her team will not be focused on this outcome.

"We can't dwell on it for too long, it's two first games, they had a great start, they have a great team, and so do we," said Poulin. "It's going to be a battle and we're going to keep moving forward."

Poulin refused to make the excuse of being rusty as a team after not playing for months, while many American players are coming game ready from the NCAA. She also noted there are areas to improve in all three zones.

"It's all about us, it's easy to see what the outside noise is all about but at the end of the day it's what we believe in our dressing room and we do believe," she said. "It's part of the process and it's up to us to do what's necessary to come December and February."

Veteran defender Renata Fast echoed Poulin's sentiment that while this loss ended the opening leg of the Rivalry Series, the season itself is only beginning, and Canada plans to only get better from the experience of the last week.

"I think the whole point of these games," said Fast. "To reflect and to learn and to grow as a group and that's exactly what we'll do."