Crimson Gold: U.S., Canada in Title Game

One of the most anticipated days in the history of women’s hockey is finally here.

The U.S. and Canadian Olympic teams, which between them feature five players and one coach with Harvard hockey ties, will play for the Olympic gold medal tonight at 7 p.m. at the E Center in West Valley City, Utah.

The game will be broadcast live in its entirety on CNBC.

Both teams have put in years of training and made personal sacrifices to prepare for the Olympics, both knew that the difference between golden glory and silver sadness would likely come down to one U.S.-Canada game, and both are thrilled that game has at last arrived.

“It’s been sort of a collision course all year,” said Canadian defenseman Therese Brisson. “We knew this was coming. This was what we prepared for. This is what we’ve been waiting for all year.”

The incentive to win the Olympic championship in front of North American fans is what drove U.S. defenseman Angela Ruggiero ’02-’04 to take not just one, but two years off from Harvard—a move that meant most of her classmates will have graduated when she returns.

One classmate that will be back next year, however, is Canadian forward Jennifer Botterill ’02-’03. While the United States’ master plan called for a full season of centralized training last year, Canada only trained together for a week prior to the World Championships. That allowed Botterill and Canadian linemate Tammy Shewchuk ’00-’01 to stay at Harvard and propel the Crimson to the inaugural NCAA Frozen Four.

And when the U.S. and Canada met for the 2001 World Championship, Botterill and Shewchuk each scored goals in a 3-2 victory over the United States. A.J. Mleczko ’97-’99 scored the second U.S. goal.

Since that day, the U.S. has beaten Canada eight straight times in exhibition games, though all involved promptly discount their importance. Botterill, for one, said that the Canadian training is targeted to peak for the gold medal game. Shewchuk dismissed them as “prep games.” The U.S. isn’t declaring itself the overwhelming favorite either.

“Everything up to now is in the past,” U.S. forward Tricia Dunn said. “If we think because we’re 8-0 and going to walk all over them, that would be foolish of us. We’ve got to play our best game.”

Canada has never lost in seven World Championships to the U.S., but Canada still faces the sting of having lost the only previously contested gold medal in Nagano four years ago. Both teams have much to prove.

“We’ve won everything except for the Olympics,” said Canadan leading scorer Hayley Wickenheiser said. “That’s the missing piece.”

As in any big game, starting goaltending is among the most important pending coaching decisions.

U.S. Coach Ben Smith ’68 said he will continue alternating goalies and give the gold medal start to former Providence standout Sara DeCosta. In Nagano, Smith had broken the rotation between DeCosta and Dartmouth graduate Sarah Tueting by starting Tueting in both the semifinals and the gold medal game.

Canadian Coach Daniele Sauvageau was still trying to decide yesterday which goaltender to start in the final. She broke her regular rotation by giving McGill’s Kim St.-Pierre the semifinal start against Finland over Winnipeg’s Sami Jo Small. St. Pierre made over 30 saves in Canada’s World Championship victory over the U.S. last April

“Goaltending is our strength,” Wickenheiser said. “[St. Pierre] has kept us in a lot of games this year.”

But St. Pierre she was hardly dominant in giving up three goals against the Finns on Tuesday.

Neither the U.S. nor Canada is coming in off its best hockey. The Canadians gave up their first lead of the tournament when they fell behind 3-2 in the second period against Finland. The United States took nearly the whole first period to get on the board against Sweden.

“It was one of those hard-going games,” said U.S. forward Julie Chu ’06, who intends to be a freshman at Harvard next year. “There wasn’t a lot of finesse out there except for our last goal. Sweden played their hearts out. We tried to be patient.”

Although several U.S. players, inlcuding Ruggiero, had sufered from the flu this past week, U.S. defenseman Karen Bye said yesterday that the illness was no longer a factor.

The combination of the Scandinavians’ desperation combined with the North American’s anxiety made the semifinal games closer than anticipated. But when it was all over, those emotions were released.

“It really hit me when the buzzer sounded—that’s it—we just made the gold medal game,” Chu said. “There wasn’t anything guaranteed up to that point.”

Now that the gold medal game is here, both teams are eager to set aside past records and create some new history.

“I love playing Canada. It’s my favorite game of the year,” Ruggiero said.

“We can see everything in front of us,” Shewchuk said. “And we’re ready for it.”

—Material from the Associated Press was used in the reporting of this article.