Canada relying on experience to repeat as Olympic women’s hockey champions

Some see them as the underdogs.

The Canadian women’s hockey team has lost its last six games to the rival Americans, dating back to last year’s world championship.

That includes a four-game Rivalry Series sweep that saw Canada outscored by the U.S., 24-7.

The Canadians are heading into the Olympics as the second-ranked team in the world, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation.

There’s no getting past the fact that Canada was outplayed, badly, at the Rivalry Series. Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin described it as “a hard look in the mirror for all of us.” 

There’s also no doubt this American team is dangerous, filled with young, exciting, and talented players.

They’ll be the team to beat.

But a peek beyond the surface, and beyond those four Rivalry Series games, is more nuanced. This is largely the same Canadian team that won three of the last five world championships and Olympic gold in 2022. Even in last year’s world championship, both losses to the Americans were decided by one goal.

“I think we’re the underdogs, like you said, in some people’s eyes,” assistant captain Blayre Turnbull, who plays for the Toronto Sceptres of the PWHL, said on the day the 23-player roster was unveiled.

“I think if you look at our recent games against them, yeah, we got smoked. But I think if you look at our games against them throughout the last [four years], I don’t think that our recent games tell the whole story.”

The Canadians are hoping that veteran experience will be their superpower when they open their gold-medal defence against Finland on Thursday at 3:10 p.m. ET. Viewers can watch all the action on CBC and CBC Gem.

Sixteen of the players on this team own gold medals from the 2022 Games in Beijing. 

Ten of those players felt the pain of losing in a shootout to the Americans in 2018.

Four were part of the miraculous, third-period comeback at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, when all looked to be lost.

And one player, the captain, was around when Canada won gold on home ice in 2010. No player has scored more Olympic golden goals, male or female, than Poulin, who is looking for her fourth gold medal.

Natalie Spooner (Toronto Sceptres) was on the team in 2014 when Canada came back. She soaked up the belief of the players around her, even as precious seconds ticked off the clock.

It’s the same belief and confidence the four-time Olympian plans to bring to these Games.

“We’ve just got to believe in ourselves, and go out there and play the way we know we can play,” Spooner said.

An undefeated goaltender

Canada’s Olympic title defence starts in net with Ann-Renée Desbiens (Montreal Victoire), who won all six of the Olympic Games she started in 2018 and 2022.

That includes a dominant performance in Beijing, where she posted a save percentage of .940. 

Desbiens struggled in the two games at the Rivalry Series, allowing more than five goals on average. But the larger body of work is likely a better indicator of the goaltender you’ll see at the Olympics.

Desbien leads the PWHL in save percentage, goals against average and wins over 50 games played since the league launched in 2024. She was voted the league’s goaltender of the year last season, and hasn’t allowed more than two goals in any game she’s started this season.

Joining her will be long-time backup, Emerance Maschmeyer (Vancouver Goldeneyes), and New York Sirens’ starter Kayle Osborne.

Five returnees on defence

In front of them will be five of the seven defenders who won gold in 2022: Renata Fast (Toronto Sceptres), Jocelyne Larocque (Ottawa Charge), Ella Shelton (Toronto Sceptres), Erin Ambrose (Montreal Victoire) and Claire Thompson (Vancouver Goldeneyes).

They’re joined by two Olympic rookies who used their play in the PWHL to push for spots on this team: Vancouver’s Sophie Jaques and Montreal’s Kati Tabin.

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Larocque has been a fixture on this blue line for more than a decade. Even if she’s no longer a top-pair defender on the national team, teammates use words like consistent and reliable to describe her.

“You just know where she’s going to be,” head coach Troy Ryan said earlier this season. “Even off ice, on the bench when she comes off in a line change, you know exactly what you’re getting from her.”

Fast, meanwhile, has become one of the best defenders in the world, and will be relied on in all situations. It’s the same story with Ambrose, who can quarterback a power play or defend a lead in the waning moments.

Ryan could also turn to his No. 1 defensive pairing on the Sceptres, Fast and Shelton, to eat big minutes at five-on-five.

Ambrose and Tabin have built-in chemistry from the Victoire, and it’s the same story with Jaques and Thompson in Vancouver.

If there’s one player to watch on the blue line, it’s Jaques. Her hockey IQ and accurate shot from the point make her a threat from the power play or even strength.

She was one of the best players in Canada’s tough Rivalry Series, scoring two goals in the Americans’ 10-4 thumping of Canada in Game 3. An audition on Canada’s power play feels deserved for Jaques.

There’s certainly room for improvement on the blue line from the Rivalry Series, but some of the issues could be cleaned up with more work on the penalty kill and even better, taking fewer penalties.

The Americans had 17 power plays over those four games. The two American power-play units, which kept the same personnel over the Rivalry Series, capitalized on six opportunities.

Finding the right mix

The Rivalry Series didn’t answer one of the biggest questions on this team: who should play on the top line beside Montreal’s Poulin and Laura Stacey?

Daryl Watts (Toronto Sceptres) and Poulin looked dangerous together at training camp, but for some reason, it didn’t translate in game. The coaching staff also tried Emma Maltais (Toronto Sceptres) in that spot.

The team could go back to Maltais again, and hope that her tenacious style of play creates more space for someone like Poulin to work.

Or they could reunite Poulin and Sarah Nurse (Vancouver Goldeneyes), who played so well together in 2022, when Nurse broke the single-tournament points and assists records.

Nurse, who didn’t play in the Rivalry Series, has been on fire in the PWHL since returning from injury. She’s racked up five points in her last four games.

Canada can always count on Poulin to come up big when it’s needed most. She’s just two goals away from surpassing the all-time goals record at the Olympics, which is held by Canadian Hayley Wickenheiser (18 goals over 26 games).

But they’ll also need to find scoring beyond the captain.

Watts, who will be competing in her first Olympics, could help with that. Though she went scoreless at the Rivalry Series, only Poulin and American Kendall Coyne Schofield have scored more since the PWHL launched in 2024. She had five points over seven games in her first world championship last year.

For Watts, it will be about playing with confidence, according to her Sceptres teammate, Spooner.

“If she can just play the game that she’s able to play in the PWHL, take those shots when she has them, I think she’s going to have a big Olympics here and have a huge impact for our team,” she said.

Canada will also look to Sarah Fillier, who took women’s hockey by storm at her first Olympics in 2022, to carry the load offensively. Then only 21, she left Beijing with 11 points.

Fillier has continued to grow her game since then. She tied Hilary Knight for the PWHL’s points lead in her rookie season, and was Canada’s leading scorer at the last Rivalry Series.

She’s poised to be the face of this team for years to come.

“The belief in our group never wavered,” Fillier said about how the Canadians regrouped after the Rivalry Series. “The group that’s heading over there, we’re going over there trying to win a gold medal, and that hasn’t changed since the last Olympics and the beginning of this quad.”

A second line of Watts, Fillier and Julia Gosling (Seattle Torrent) that Canada tried in Game 4 of the Rivalry Series could be the recipe to unlocking more offence.

Gosling, who’s got both size and a fantastic shot, goes into the Olympics as the top scorer on a star-studded Torrent team (12 points in 14 games).

Embracing any role

When Canada needs to defend a lead, head coach Troy Ryan is likely to send forwards Emily Clark (Ottawa Charge) and Blayre Turnbull (Toronto Sceptres) over the boards.

They’re two of this team’s most trusted penalty killers. Few players compete harder than Turnbull, who is the PWHL’s leader in hits, while Clark has the speed to turn a shorthanded scenario into a break.

Kristin O’Neill (New York Sirens) has become Canada’s go-to, fourth-line centre. She’s one of the hardest players to face in the PWHL and an ace in the faceoff circle, which makes her an easy choice for the coaching staff to roll out against the opponent’s top lines.

Only Poulin and American Alex Carpenter have won more faceoffs than O’Neill has this season.

“She comes to the rink, she gets the work done, she never lets anybody down,” Poulin said about O’Neill. “She knows her role. She has an impact in every sense of the word.”

Spooner and Brianne Jenner (Ottawa Charge) are back for their fourth Olympic Games, and will bring veteran poise in whatever roles they play.

Jenner’s on track for her best PWHL season yet with 15 points in 16 games, just one point behind the league lead.

Spooner has played just about every role for the national team over the last four years, from top six to extra forward. She’s always a threat in front of the net, where her size and strength make her difficult to move.

“I’m kind of just willing to take on whatever role they need me to be and make sure that I’m making the best of that role, having the most impact I can with whatever role I’m in,” Spooner said.

Different preparation

For years, the Canadian team was built from months of “centralization.” Players would live together in one central location, where they’d train and compete for roster spots over several months. It was always an advantage for Canada, but it’s no longer possible with the PWHL.

It meant Hockey Canada had to re-think how it built this team, and time will tell whether Canada’s new formula yields gold.

Without being together as a group, Poulin said players have had to hold themselves accountable on their PWHL teams and find ways to stay connected. She didn’t want to use not having centralization as an excuse.

“It’s the new way now,” Poulin said. “It’s just a matter of how we’re going to execute and who’s going to be ready to elevate when it’s time for the tournament to start.”