Rivalry Series Serves as Another Step Towards Shaping The Women’s Worlds Roster

Though its purpose has shifted over the years since it started in 2018, the Rivalry Series, which renewed last week in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada, continues to be an important part of the U.S. Women’s National Team growth and development. 

With less than three months until the start of the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship in České Budějovice, Czechia, the time together at the 2024-25 Rivalry Series, presented by Discover, is crucial to evaluating where the players are individually and as a squad and identifying what they need to work on before they head to Czechia for the tournament. 

Being able to reliably play games at the highest level in the world is an invaluable resource. There is simply no way to simulate the feeling of wearing a Team USA jersey and facing off with Canada. No matter how high a level the women are playing at throughout the year, international competition — and specifically, the intensity of a USA vs. Canada game — cannot be replicated. 

Hannah Bilka said that every time she gets to play against Canada, it makes her a little more comfortable and takes a little bit of pressure off when the two teams are meeting with a medal on the line. 

“There are only a few times of the year where you can kind of treat it like a gold-medal game,” Bilka said. “You're not playing for a gold medal in the Rivalry Series, but the intensity is there. You train yourself to play like everything is on the line now so that when you're in that position, you're able to treat it like another game.”

Since the college season is nearing the start of its postseason, collegiate players do not join the the teams for the February swing. The American roster in the November Rivalry Series games had 10 collegians on it, but not having those players, who have been a key part of Team USA, recently offers its own kind of insight and allows an opportunity to evaluate additional talent at the highest level. 

Though it might seem counterintuitive, John Wroblewski, U.S. Women’s National Team head coach, said he and his staff have learned to value what can be learned about a player and the team when that player is not in the lineup. 

“We get to see how the team shapes up when we don't have certain ingredients, and it also allows us to appreciate different player's worth,” Wroblewski said. “You might not even notice all they actually bring and how valuable what they bring is. It allows you to have some perspective. It's a great opportunity for a lot of different reasons as we’re trying to sort through a lot of the gray areas as you're constructing the final roster.”

The February international break opens the door for players to make their senior national team debuts or get more ice time. There is always an opportunity for players new to the player pool to make an impression and play their way onto a tournament roster, but Wroblewski said he doesn’t go into these camps with a list of things a player can or should do to impress the staff or earn a roster spot. Instead, Wroblewski wants players to let their performances speak for themselves. 

“We challenge the players to say, through their game, ‘This is why you should take me.’ Instead of us giving a list of things that we're looking for, we look for the player to provide us with answers, as opposed to questions,” Wroblewski explained.

Though the American roster has some of the best players in the world, those players perform in different roles with their home clubs than they do when they come together to represent their country. The team comes together for a short amount of time at different points during the year and the players have to immediately adapt to the scheme Team USA needs from them. 

With a team focus on cohesion and predictability, Bilka said it's important that the February window gives her an opportunity to spend time on and off the ice with players she may not have played with in the past. 

“There are only a few times during the year where you can actually play with certain players,” she said. “I really try to make the most of this time with each of the players on the team because that translates on the ice to having good chemistry.”

For the coaching staff, no amount of watching video or practicing can come close to teaching a player what they need to know about their role like time actually playing it in a game. Learning their role and being comfortable in it comes through repetition, said Wroblewski. That starts in practice, but being able to understand how they’ll be utilized and understand the nuances can only come through game play. 

The coaching staff is challenged in February to create fluidity and cohesion and form a team from a group of players that haven’t played together before. 

With so many new faces, Wroblewski said this time becomes a reminder to keep things simple and not get too in the weeds on items from previous camps. Instead, they refocus on the team’s core systems and principles. 

It’s a team-first mentality, said Bilka, where everyone is working to play their best and anticipate one another. It’s unselfish, and in order to win, everyone has to learn to lean on one another, regardless of which players are on the roster.

While the role of the Rivalry Series may have shifted, it’s clear these games and the ability for Team USA to gather for a few days in February are crucial to future international tournament success. 

“Every time we get the players together, it's an evaluation of where we stand, how the players stack up against their peers and how our players stack up against Canada's players,” Wroblewski said. “This serves as a basis point for what we'll try to accomplish, systems-wise and culture-wise, when we get to Czechia.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

Source: usahockey.com