The U.S. Women’s National Team made history this weekend.
For the first time, the U.S. swept Canada in a Rivalry Series, capping the 2025 edition with a 4-1 win at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, on Saturday night.
Despite the successful series, the Americans aren’t ready to celebrate anything with the 2026 Winter Olympic Games quickly approaching.
“This definitely gives us confidence,” said U.S. defender Laila Edwards, who scored on Saturday night. “But I wouldn’t mistake it with satisfaction. We know nothing is going to be easy come February.”
The U.S. hosted the first two games of the Rivalry Series in Cleveland and Buffalo, New York, last month, while the final two games of the series took place in Edmonton.
The Americans won the Rivalry Series for the first time since the 2019-2020 season and earned the first sweep on either side since the competition began in the 2018-19 season.
“It’s an important year,” U.S. forward Taylor Heise said. “We knew momentum was the biggest key to this Rivalry Series and I think we took it.”
The U.S. grabbed that momentum in dominant fashion, outscoring Canada by a 24-7 margin across the four games.
The highlight of the series came on Dec. 10, as the U.S. cruised to a 10-4 victory in Edmonton. In the win, Team USA scored 10 goals for the first time against Canada and posted the largest offensive output since putting up nine goals in a preliminary-round win at the 2012 IIHF Women’s World Championship.
It was the second-largest margin of victory for the U.S. all-time against Canada, as eight different players scored and at least 16 recorded a point.
Still, U.S. captain Hilary Knight doesn’t feel like the Americans have the advantage against Canada heading into the Olympics, despite the significant offensive burst.
“I always feel like we’re the underdogs in everything,” Knight said. “I feel like you get back to the United States and we’re still trying to grow the game and we’re in a very niche sport. But it’s an awesome lead-up for an amazing stage and we’re going to see unbelievable international play.”
John Wroblewski, head coach of the U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team, also doesn’t feel like his team has the upper hand entering the Olympics.
“If the shoe were on the other foot, it would be a rallying cry,” Wroblewski said. “There’s always the thought process that something is going to flip and all they need is one. It’s only about how do we continuously find ways to have the puck on our stick more.”
Wroblewski expected a bounce-back effort from Canada following the 10-4 U.S. rout in the previous game. The Canadians responded by outshooting the Americans 12-6 in the first period on Saturday.
“Common hockey knowledge said that we were going to get [Canada’s] best effort in the first period,” Wroblewski said. “We knew we were going to have to play big-time defense. I was happy that we got out of the first period with a tie score. It’s a different style of win and much more like we’re going to see once we get to Italy.”
Edwards gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead just 1:16 after Canada tied it in the second period. Knight then closed out the game — and the series sweep — with a pair of third-period goals.
“They came out hard, but it’s nothing that we didn’t expect,” Edwards said. “We were on our heels a bit, but good teams respond and that’s what we did.”
Since women’s hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998, the U.S. and Canada have played for the gold medal in women’s hockey in every Olympic Games except 2006 in Torino, Italy. The Americans won gold in 1998 and 2018.
Saturday’s win against Canada was the final game before the U.S. team announces its Olympic roster. The final 23-player roster will be revealed in early January alongside the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team and the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team.
“I’m happy for the women who get to represent their country,” Wroblewski said. “It’s going to be too bad that we can’t bring everybody and that there’s no alternates. It’s really a shame because there are going to be some fine women that get left behind here for the United States, unfortunately.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
