Despite suffering a 4-1 loss in the opening game of the 2025 Rivalry Series, Team Canada is unfazed by the strength of Team USA and is ready to return to action.
According to Team Canada, the opening loss to Team USA on Thursday in Cleveland was not indicative of their team. Instead, Canada stated that they weren't focused on line matching, and wanted to give their young players more opportunities.
“We didn’t get too caught up in line matchups or anything like that," said head coach Troy Ryan.
"Part of my plan was to let some of the younger players and newer players actually play some tough minutes against some good lines. That’s just part of it at this time of year; obviously you would probably shorten things up and maybe go with fewer players at certain times, but I don’t think at this time of year it’s necessary. You want to put people in different situations to see how they respond, and it’s important to try things out in different situations.”
Canada allowed a pair of power play goals against, both off the stick of Abbey Murphy, who had a hat trick in the win. Taylor Heise had USA's other goal in a performance USA coach John Wroblewski was pleased with.
“Tonight was a great start to the Rivalry Series,” said Wroblewski “Between Abbey Murphy’s hat trick, Taylor Heise’s game, and Laila Edwards playing at home, it was a special evening. Cleveland was a great host and we are looking forward to Saturday’s game in Buffalo.”
Canada and USA will be back in action Saturday night in Buffalo for the second and final game in the United States as part of the 2025 Rivalry Series, which will shift to Edmonton, Alberta in December.
While Canada was not happy with the loss, the veterans on their roster including Sarah Fillier, the reigning PWHL Rookie of the Year, acknowledged it was a learning experience and that more members of Team USA are already in game shape due to the NCAA season starting in September. The PWHL season, which is where the bulk of Team Canada comes from, does not start until November 21.
“We are all so competitive, so as a group we hate to lose, but it was cool to lean on our youth a little bit this week," said Fillier. "They’ve played some games (in the NCAA) and are game ready, so it was great to lean on Ève (Gascon) and she stood strong, made some big saves and kept us in the game. It’s great seeing our young rookies play with some confidence, but in a short series we’re always trying to learn as much as we can from this game and be ready for the next one.”