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Brianne Jenner heaved a deep sigh when she was asked about American forward Abbey Murphy after her team’s 5-0 loss to the Americans.
Murphy drew four penalties and added three assists in her team’s win, the seventh straight time the Americans have defeated the Canadians dating back to last spring’s world championship.
“I think she’s a good player,” Jenner said.
The Canadians couldn’t solve Murphy in the Rivalry Series, where she put up eight points in four games, and they couldn’t solve her on Tuesday night inside the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
She’s part of an American attack that had too much real estate in front of Canada’s net.
On the other side, Canada failed to generate much meaningful activity beyond the perimeter. The Americans smothered nearly everything that came their way, and often transitioned the puck quickly back in the other direction.
“We just got down early and didn’t find ways to make little plays,” Canadian forward Sarah Nurse said. “I think we were really sloppy [with] our lines. I think that this ice surface here in Milan, we have to eliminate the neutral zone. I don’t think we did that today. We need to be better in our D-zone, be more creative and that will allow us to be more creative in the O-zone.”
You can point to the absence of Canada’s captain and best player, Marie-Philip Poulin, who’s sidelined with a lower-body injury. You can point to the different ice dimensions, with a smaller neutral zone to navigate.
Hannah Bilka had a pair of goals leading the Americans to a 5-0 shutout of Canada, on Tuesday at Milano-Cortina 2026.
You can even blame Murphy and her propensity to embellish, which Canadian gold medallist Cassie Campbell-Pascall described as “atrocious” on the CBC broadcast.
Whatever the answer is, the Canadians only have a few days to find it against an American team that’s been learning and building since losing to Canada four years ago.
“You’ve got to either have success in those games or you’ve got to learn,” head coach Troy Ryan said. “When you learn, you learn a little bit about yourself, you learn about the opposition. But there’s no time for dropping the shoulders and hanging your heads. How you handle the end of that game is going to determine how things go in the Finland game. You’ve just got to be better in those situations as a group.”
U.S. piled on early
American defender Caroline Harvey opened the scoring less than four minutes into the game.
Four years ago, she mostly sat on the bench at the Olympics. Now, the talented defender — who will be a star in the PWHL soon — is one of the most important players on this team.
Hannah Bilka added two goals, while Kirsten Simms and Laila Edwards each scored one. Edwards made history as the first Black woman to score a goal for the U.S. at the Olympics.
All four of the players who scored for the Americans are under 25, and three of them are still playing in college.
Aerin Frankel earned the shutout. She’s only allowed one goal over four games at this tournament.
“My team made my life super easy tonight with how they were playing, how they were blocking shots and keeping things predictable for me,” Frankel told reporter Claire Hanna. “It was easy for me to focus on my job and play my game.”
Canadian goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens was chased from the net late in the third after allowing five goals.
The Americans outshot the Canadians, 33-20.
Difficult questions to answer
If the Americans win this tournament, there will be questions about how the Canadian team was constructed. Should Canada have brought more young players to this tournament and if not, why weren’t they ready to be here?
But it’s not time for those questions yet. Canada’s tournament continues with the rescheduled game against Finland on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. You can watch the action on CBC and CBC Gem.
And then, it’s on to the quarterfinals, since every team in Group A advances. The loss to the Americans likely means Canada will finish second in the group. That would set Canada up for a quarterfinal game against eighth-ranked Germany.
Odds are good that Canada and the United States will meet again in the final.
It’s possible Canada will also have Poulin back by then. Ryan said on Tuesday that he’s optimistic Poulin will return at some point in the tournament, but perhaps not for Thursday’s game against Finland.
Canada’s captain was ruled out of the game due to a lower body injury sustained against Czechia.
Before and if these teams meet again, Canada has a lot to figure out. For one, how can they limit the American attack? Desbiens hasn’t allowed more than two goals in a PWHL game since March 2025. Her performance against the Americans doesn’t rest solely on her. She faced too many dangerous shots.
How do the Canadian forwards get deeper into the Americans’ zone? They figured it out against Switzerland and Czechia, teams they outscored 9-1. The Americans, who boast size and skill, were a harder test.
How can they avoid playing into Murphy’s playbook?
Team Canada fell to the United States in the women’s hockey preliminary round at Milano Cortina 2026, playing without captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who remains sidelined with an injury. Former pro hockey player and CBC Sports analyst Saroya Tinker breaks down what went wrong for Canada.
“We don’t expect any of this to be easy, but we’ve just got make sure we’re much better than we were tonight,” Ryan said.
If it’s confidence, how can the Canadians get back the swagger they had in 2022, when they set records en route to Olympic gold? This is a country that’s only ever lost three games at the Olympics, and had never been shut out, until Tuesday.
“I think we’re as hungry as it gets,” said Jenner, who wore the C for Canada in Poulin’s absence. “We’re going to do everything we can to learn from this.”
Time is running out to learn.
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