Canada's veteran roster will give their all in hopes of repeating as gold medalists at the 2026 Olympics. Each player fought for inclusion on the roster. Win or lose, Canada's roster is facing significant changes, but if they lose, Canada needs to move on from their coaching and management team.
Canada will bring 16 players who represented the nation at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing to the Olympics in Milano Cortina next month. After being swept by the USA in the Rivalry Series, and losing both games to the Americans at the 2025 World Championships, many expected change for Canada that did not come.
Instead, Canada will bring an aging roster, many who have dealt with recent injuries, or are still dealing with injuries, to Italy in hopes of retaining their gold medal status.
If Canada fails to win their sixth Olympic gold, it shouldn't be the players who take the bulk of the criticism. Instead, the 2026 Olympics should be viewed as a win-or-go-home situation for Canada's brass.
If silver or bronze are Canada's Olympic fate, it should be Gina Kingsbury and Troy Ryan who fall on the sword for the nation, ushering in a new vision and new ideas for a program that has relied more on familiarity than performance when choosing their roster. Ultimately, Hockey Canada may see the writing on the wall and look to new leadership regardless of the outcome, as Canada can't continue to repeat their methodology and expect golden results in the future.
In terms of the current roster, compared to Canada's 16 returning players, USA is bringing back only 11 from their 2022 program. Some of those lost were players who retired prior to the launch of the PWHL like Amanda Kessel and Megan Bozek, although the bulk of their replacements are fresh young talent who have added speed, skill, and competitiveness to the program.
Alternatively, Canada only brought a handful of new faces to their 30-player camps this year, and eventually sent many of those fresh faces home. That includes Canada's only NCAA invites Chloe Primerano, Caitlin Kraemer, and Eve Gascon. Canada is also without a PWHL rookie on their roster. Nicole Gosling was the only PWHL rookie invited to participate in Canada's camps.
Conversely, USA's roster features seven NCAA players, and two PWHL rookies.
The differences between the nations span from grassroots, the U-18 program, development and collegiate rosters, to the senior national team. Currently, USA's pipeline and pathway from their regional identification camps, to their national festival, and summer series, as well as the funneling of all talent through the NCAA route is clear.
USA's ability to develop young talent and integrate them into their national team, not just as depth, but as contributors learning and developing alongside their veterans, has brought their national program to its current status as the best in the world. At both the 2023 and 2024 World Championships, USA rostered 13 NCAA players at each event. Those moments helped set the program on a course for 2026 where those players are now in key roles.
Conversely, Canada maxed out at four NCAA players in 2024, and one of those players, Danielle Serdachny, was cut from this year's team. Serdachny scored the golden goal in overtime for Canada at the 2024 World Championships, and also scored for Canada in the gold medal game at the 2025 World Championships.
Canada's brass have continued to lean on their veteran core without finding opportunities for young players to grow or develop. This includes PWHL rookies like Kendall Cooper, Anne Cherkowski, Sarah Wozniewicz, and Hannah Murphy, as well as NCAA players like Jocelyn Amos and Emma Pais, who were part of Canada's 2024 national development team. It also includes players like Abby Hustler form the PWHL and Issy Wunder at the NCAA level, who have not been part of Canada's national program at the U-18, development, or senior level at any event.
The lack of development can't be placed solely on Canada's brass, as Hockey Canada's focus on men's hockey nationally while ignoring national programming for girls and women has exacerbated the situation. Hockey Canada has relied on quantity of players and programming over quality. But the unwillingness of Canada's national team leadership to create an atmosphere of competition, or to infuse new styles, and more speed to their lineup certainly will hold the blame in the short term. Canada failed to adapt to USA's attack at the Rivalry Series, watching similar goals scored on repeat on special teams, and running the same line combinations without success.
More than half of Canada's roster are currently in their 30s led by Jocelyne Larocque (37), Natalie Spooner (35), Marie-Philip Poulin (34), Brianne Jenner (34), and Blayre Turnbull (33).
Age however, isn't the only factor. Canada's decision to leave behind defenders Micah Zandee-Hart, Ashton Bell, Kendall Cooper, Nicole Gosling, Jaime Bourbonnais, and Chloe Primerano, and not to give Bell, Cooper, or Bourbonnais any look at camp or the Rivalry Series could spell disaster. Canada's blueline has struggled in the PWHL this season.
Canada's brass was quick to point out that Canada's men's roster is actually older than their women's roster, but it's comparing groups of players with completely different development paths, resources to train, and league structures. The comparison is searching for validation where none exists. It's not about age however, as some of Canada's veterans certainly have earned their way and can help.
It's about selecting a roster that has visibly slowed, and has not been able to compete with their biggest rival in a calendar year leading up to the Olympics. And it's about not giving an opportunity to the nation's young players who could step in and provide a new element.
There is help coming, perhaps in time for 2030, in young players like Primerano, Kraemer, Gascon, Stryker Zablocki, and Sara Manness. Even then however, the need for replacement on Canada's roster will need to include other newcomers from the PWHL and NCAA ranks.
Canada's unwillingness to adapt during their four-year Olympic cycle, following the Rivalry Series sweep, or even in-game to try to find a spark is perhaps the biggest red flag. Their coaching and management look to be stuck in their ways, picking familiarity from their own PWHL teams, rather than fully examining the pool and looking for better stylistic match ups for the Americans.
Luckily for Troy Ryan and Gina Kingsbury, in a one-game winner-takes-all style tournament, their veteran lineup can still win. It would be hard to bet against any team led by Marie-Philip Poulin and company in that situation.
But should Canada fall to silver, or suffer a more dramatic upset at the hands of Finland or Czechia to settle for bronze, it should mark the end of the duo's tenure at the helm of Canada. With a new cycle set to begin that will see a significant portion of Canada's roster nearing retirement, perhaps even if the result is gold for Canada, it's time for new leadership, because on the current path, Canada's women's national team will watch a bigger gap form between their team and the United States, while the gap behind them closes with other nations.