You Again: Canada vs. U.S.

Photo: Contributed

Natalie Spooner thinks about it a lot, the game crosses Brianne Jenner's mind every so often, and Haley Irwin wants to move on.

Canada's dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 overtime victory against the United States in the women's gold-medal hockey game at the Sochi Olympics added another memorable moment to the rivalry between the two countries.

The stage is a smaller, but another chapter will be written on Saturday night.

Photo: Contributed

Irwin, Jennifer Wakefield and Rebecca Johnston scored for Canada on Friday in a 3-1 victory over Finland at the Four Nations Cup tournament that ensured a rematch against the U.S. in the championship game.

"It's easy to get excited for those games," said Spooner. "Those are the games we want to be in and want to play in, so I think we're all looking forward to it. They're always close games so we've got to bring our best game of the tournament."

Canada had all but mathematically clinched a spot in the final after beating the Americans in round-robin play on Thursday. Finland needed an unlikely blowout victory over Canada to advance after the U.S. guaranteed its own spot in the showcase with a 3-0 win over Sweden earlier Friday.

"It's going to be an awesome game," said Irwin. "I think you're going to see again both teams giving it their best effort. The rivalry is there and it's for a gold medal."

Anything other than a showdown between Canada (3-0) and the U.S. (2-1) at the tournament was never really in doubt as the giants of the women's game again dominated their European opponents.

"It's always an exciting game — should be a great one," said Canadian head coach Doug Derraugh. "You don't have to give them the rah-rah motivational speech for this one."

The rosters for the North American teams in Kamloops are missing a lot of the big names from that memorable game nine months ago in Russia as the U.S. and Canada continue to evaluate younger talent with an eye towards next year's world championship and the 2018 Olympics. Hayley Wickenheiser and Jayna Hefford are among the 10 veterans not taking part for Canada, while the Americans left 11 of their Olympians off the roster.

That doesn't in any way lessen the importance of Saturday.

"It's huge. Every time we have an opportunity to play against the U.S. it's a big deal," said Jenner, who scored the first goal in the Sochi comeback. "We've got a lot of young players here that are just getting their first taste of this rivalry."

For their part, the Americans are looking forward to getting another crack at Canada, especially in what will surely be a hostile environment at the Interior Savings Centre.

"Any time you get a chance to have a U.S.-Canada game it's fun," said head coach Ken Klee. "It was great for me as a player, it's great now as a coach. It will be good atmosphere."