Eight straight losses to the Americans.
That’s where the Canadian women’s hockey team stood back in 2002, when the two teams met in the Olympic gold medal final.
The Canadians had never won Olympic gold in women’s hockey. They were the favourites at the first tournament in 1998, but fell to the Americans.
Four years later in Salt Lake City, with those eight losses on the books, the Canadians were underdogs.
It didn’t matter. None of it counted in the most important 60 minutes. When the buzzer sounded, it was the Canadians who defeated the Americans 3-2 for the country’s first women’s hockey Olympic gold medal.
It’s a moment that changed the trajectory of women’s hockey in this country. It sparked the dreams of plenty of women who’d later wear the maple leaf, including a young girl in Beauceville, Que.
That girl, Marie-Philip Poulin, would go on to write Olympic history of her own. No one has scored more golden goals at the Olympics than Poulin, who will compete in her fifth Olympics this February in Milan, Italy.
Hockey Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee announce the 23-player roster that will head to Italy for this year’s Winter Games.
Twenty-four years after that game in Salt Lake City, the Canadians may be underdogs again. They enter the Olympics having lost six straight games to the Americans, dating back to last year’s world championship.
At a four-game Rivalry Series against the United States at the end of last year, Canada was outscored 24-7.
But to the 23 women named to the roster on Friday, just as it didn’t matter in 2002, it doesn’t matter in 2026.
“I think we’re the underdogs, like you said, in some people’s eyes,” assistant captain Blayre Turnbull told CBC’s Jamie Strashin. “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 through the last [four years], I don’t think that our recent games tell the whole story. For me, yes, we’ve lost to them, but our confidence has never wavered. We believe in ourselves and we believe in our group.”
The American team is stacked with speed and skill, the product of a retooling that came after several losses to the Canadians. They boast several talented NCAA players who will be stars in the PWHL soon. In other words, they’re very good.
But so are the Canadians, and if this team has an X factor, it might be the experience, culture and connection so much of the roster has built over the last several years.
“Unfortunately the results weren’t maybe in our favour, but the lessons we learned and the opportunity to grow, I believe, will have prepared us for these Olympic Games,” Canadian GM Gina Kingsbury said on Friday, as she unveiled the team.
Sixteen players return from the team that won gold in Beijing in 2022. Ten of those players competed for Canada at the 2018 Olympics, when the Americans won gold.
After putting on her Olympic jacket on Friday, assistant captain Renata Fast pointed to the “amount of trust, belief and love” the team has for one another.
“It’s something that doesn’t happen overnight,” said Fast, who will play in her third Olympic Games. “It’s something that we’ve been working on for multiple quads, and for our new players, they’ve been working on it this last fall during our training blocks. In a short-term competition like the Olympics, having that foundation is so, so important.”
Team led again by Poulin
Up front, as always, Canada will look to its captain, Poulin, who has a track record of coming up big when it matters most. No one has scored more golden goals at the Olympics than her.
But they’ll also need production from reigning PWHL rookie of the year Sarah Fillier, first-time Olympian Daryl Watts and veteran Sarah Nurse, three of the most talented players in the PWHL. In the case of Watts, only Poulin has scored more points since the PWHL’s creation.
Once a fourth-line player on the national team, Laura Stacey has become one of the best power forwards in the game. Both her and Emma Maltais should play a bigger role this time around.
Host Karissa Donkin and women’s hockey analysts Tessa Bonhomme break down the selections, snubs and surprises of who made Team Canada for the women’s hockey team.
Then there’s the hard-to-play against third line, with players like Turnbull and Emily Clark. They’re relied on to kill penalties and in the tough moments of big games, but they’re also prone to pounce on a puck when shorthanded.
Brianne Jenner and Natalie Spooner add more leadership. Italy will be their fourth Olympics.
Rounding out the forwards are Jennifer Gardiner, Julia Gosling, and Kristin O’Neill, who could be part of a fourth line that does a bit of everything. Or they could move higher in the lineup. Gosling has been one of the best options for the Canadians on the powerplay during the team’s recent games.
Both Gosling and O’Neill were two of the final cuts in 2022 and went to Beijing as part of the COVID-19 taxi squad. They could have been called to play if someone got sick, which didn’t happen. This time, they’ll get to compete.
On defence, five of the seven defenders who competed in Beijing are back. There’s lots of familiarity here. Head coach Troy Ryan and his staff could throw together three pairs of defenders who compete together on their PWHL teams: Fast and Ella Shelton (Toronto Sceptres), Erin Ambrose and Kati Tabin (Montreal Victoire), and Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson (Vancouver Goldeneyes).
Larocque is the steady veteran that ties it all together. It will be her fourth Olympics. She’s no longer the defender who was a staple on the top pairing beside Fast for so long, but she has the trust of this team.
“We’re hungry, we’re prepared and we’re excited to make Canada proud,” Fast said.
In net, Canada will again look to Ann-Renée Desbiens, who has never lost a game at the two Olympics (2018, 2022) she has competed in.
She’ll be backed up by Emerance Maschmeyer, who won with this team in 2022, and newcomer Kayle Osborne, who’s been strong under a big workload as the starter with the New York Sirens.
The team left home some talented young players, including 19-year-old Chloe Primerano, Canada’s most promising prospect on defence, and 19-year-old forward Caitlin Kraemer, who performed well in the time she had with Canada’s national team.
That could come back to haunt them in the future, when some of this team’s veterans have hung up their skates. But Canada is all in on a core it’s built over the last few years.
Tough competition ahead
The Americans are on the horizon — they’ll meet in the tournament’s preliminary round on Feb. 12 — but they’re far from the Canadians’ only competition in Milan.
The Czech Republic has plenty of talent, including last year’s first overall pick, Kristýna Kaltounková. Finland has won back-to-back world championship bronze medals, led by stars like Petra Nieminen and Ronja Savolainen.
After Canada announced their 23-player Olympic women’s roster today in Toronto, CBC News’ Jamie Strashin reports that the defending Olympic champions are not willing to relinquish their status as favourites, despite being swept by the world champion Americans in the Rivalry Series.
A lot has changed in the women’s hockey world over the last four years. The PWHL has made the game faster and more physical. Other countries are catching up to North America, and their most talented players are competing with the best every day. More people are paying attention to the game.
And on the biggest stage of all, Canada is betting its group that’s been there and done it all has what it takes to come out on top once more.
“I would say the one thing that has never changed within our group is our passion, our connection, the heart that we all have and our commitment to doing whatever it takes to win,” Turnbull said. “Those are all things that I believe will help us win a gold medal.”
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