The NCAA factor, a goaltending dual, momentum, and Captain Clutch. The gold medal game between Canada and USA looks like another legendary match up in the making.
The NCAA factor, a goaltending dual, momentum, and Captain Clutch. The gold medal game between Canada and USA looks like another legendary match up in the making.
In the last two World Championship finals, and the 2022 Olympic Games, Canada took gold. After climbing out to a three game lead in the Rivalry Series this winter, USA watched Canada storm back winning four straight to take the series. Things have been going Canada's way, but USA feels confident the tide is about to change.
“It’s been going their way, so I think they have the confidence," said Team USA veteran Amanda Kessel. "But I have the confidence in our team, and I know that we have it in the room to win.”
After the semifinals, the word "confident" came out of almost every USA player. Meanwhile, Canadian players chose the word "excited" in describing their approach to the game. It's not an insignificant difference in mentalities. Canada is excited for the opportunity to three-peat as World Champions, USA is confident their rejuvenated roster has what they've been missing in recent competitions.
Here are a few factors to watch leading up to the gold medal game.
Measuring The NCAA Impact
While most players in the gold medal game have been playing on the PWHPA's Dream Gap Tour, the biggest impact is coming from NCAA players at the tournament.
This group has had more game repetitions this season, and perhaps that has been the difference.
With Canada, Sarah Fillier recently completed her year with Princeton, and she's now leading Team Canada in scoring, including a hat trick in the semifinals that helped break a deadlock. She has been the catalyst and Canada go-to contributor.
With Team USA, their top two scorers entering the gold medal game are Caroline Harvey, who won a national title this year with Wisconsin, and Taylor Heise, who plays for the University of Minnesota.
With USA fielding up to a dozen NCAA players for the gold medal game compared to Canada's three, it will be interesting to see if the NCAA impact and USA's youth movement are enough to dethrone Canada.
Momentum Favors Team USA
Whether it's real or perceived, Team USA believes the momentum is in their favour after a comeback in the dying seconds of their preliminary round game against Canada, and a dominant offensive outburst against Czechia in the semifinals. Alternatively, Canada survived in a shootout against USA, and then saw another lead disappear in the quarterfinals against Sweden, before going more than half a game scoreless against Switzerland in the semis.
“That gave us a lot of confidence and momentum," Kessel said of their preliminary comeback. "I don't even think that we played our best that game. We have a lot more in the tank, and the team is ready to go.”
Canada finds a way to win, but there have been stretches in this tournament they've looked pedestrian and beatable.
Expect A Goaltending Duel
With the focus of Canada and USA often focusing on national legends including Marie-Philip Poulin and Hilary Knight, there is a new element to examine in this gold medal game.
Veteran Ann-Renee Desbiens is appearing in her umpteenth gold medal game, while USA netminder Aerin Frankel is starting her first for USA's senior national team.
Frankel enters with the slightest statistical edge with a 1.18 GAA and .942 save percentage, compared to Desbiens' 1.23 GAA and .923 save percentage.
This is a battle of experience against a young goaltender looking to claim her crease for years to come.
Captain Clutch
If there's ever an x-factor to believe in, Marie-Philip Poulin is it. She's scored overtime winners and game winners for Canada at crucial moments in just about every international competition over the last decade.
Entering the gold medal game, Poulin is quietly sitting tied for 27th in tournament scoring and third on Team Canada behind Fillier and Sarah Nurse.
If we've learned one thing, it's that Poulin always rises to the occasion, and fans should expect nothing less from Captain Clutch.
Team USA and Team Canada face off at 7pm EST.