UTICA, N.Y. (AP) 鈥 Not knowing her next opponent yet, Taylor Heise took the diplomatic approach in saying she didn鈥檛 have a preference who the United States would face in the women鈥檚 world hockey championship gold-medal game.
And yet, when offered the chance to say anything derogatory about Canada, Heise laughed and said, 鈥渘ope鈥 three times on Saturday before adding: 鈥淲e鈥檒l keep that to the ice if we need to.鈥
And it鈥檚 on the ice where one of global sports鈥 and women鈥檚 hockey鈥檚 fiercest and longest-running rivalries 鈥 U.S. versus Canada 鈥 will be settled yet again on Sunday, when the bordering nations meet for gold for the 22nd time in 23 tournaments since the championships were established in 1990.
The 春色直播s were far more vocal in looking forward to a rematch, especially a year after the at the tournament held outside of Toronto. It鈥檚 not lost on the 春色直播s having a chance to return the favor with the championships being held in central New York.
鈥淚 think it would feel a little bit special considering they beat us last year on home soil,鈥 春色直播 assistant captain Blayre Turnbull said. 鈥淪o yeah, I think, it鈥檚 a big game and it鈥檚 one that we鈥檙e ready for and one that we can鈥檛 wait to get started.鈥
The Americans advanced on Saturday with a 5-0 win over Finland, in an outing Laila Edwards scored a natural hat trick and Aerin Frankel stopped 15 shots to set a single-tournament record with her fourth shutout.
The 春色直播s followed with 4-0 win over Czechia, more widely known in English as the Czech Republic. Emily Clark and Jocelyne Larocque had a goal and assist each, and Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped nine shots for her second shutout of the tournament.
Desbiens, for one, hasn鈥檛 forgotten the 6-3 loss in last year鈥檚 final.
鈥淵ou always want to beat them. Whether it鈥檚 a Rivalry Series, world championship, it doesn鈥檛 change,鈥 Desbiens said. 鈥淥bviously, I remember last year, I remember what happened. And, we want this story to be different this year.鈥
In the meantime, Czech coach and former 春色直播 national team player Carla MacLeod made a point to emphasize how much between the rest of the world and the sport鈥檚 two dominant North American teams.
鈥淭here was some animosity out there, and I take that as a compliment to Czech,鈥 MacLeod said of an outing that featured several big hits and a shoving match that resulted in roughing penalties issued to Canada鈥檚 Marie-Philip Poulin and Czechia鈥檚 Noemi Neubauerova in the third period. 鈥淚f the 春色直播s and Americans are getting frustrated playing against us, we鈥檙e doing something right.鈥
In a tournament where the Czechs, Finns and Germany displayed signs of beginning to close the competitive gap, the one marquee matchup remains U.S.-Canada.
The final will be a rematch of a physical, fast-paced, end-to-end preliminary round outing on Monday, which the on Kirsten Simms鈥 overtime goal.
Edwards joins Simms in being among the four U.S. players making their tournament debuts.
鈥淪he stepped up in a way that not a lot of people can. And I鈥檓 very proud of her,鈥 said Heise, who set up Edwards鈥 final two goals. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad that she could prove that to herself. Because sometimes when you鈥檙e young and you get picked to a team like this, sometimes it takes a goal like that to prove to yourself that you鈥檙e here for a reason. But we all knew that before.鈥
The 6-foot-1 Edwards is from Cleveland and the first Black hockey player to make the U.S. national team roster. Coming off her sophomore season at Wisconsin, she is one of four Americans making their tournament debuts and now has five goals to share the tournament lead with teammate Alex Carpenter.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty good, I鈥檇 say,鈥 Edwards said of her growing confidence. 鈥淛ust confident in the team. So that always helps with my individual confidence. When our team鈥檚 rolling and everyone鈥檚 playing at their best and sharing the puck and just doing all sorts of things really helps with my confidence.鈥
Hannah Bilka and Savannah Harmon also scored for the Americans, who kept their perfect run intact in having appeared in every world championship final since the tournament was established in 1990.
The two women鈥檚 hockey global powers have met in 21 of 22 world tournament finals, with the only exception 2019, when host Finland beat Canada in the semis before losing to the U.S. in a 2-1 shootout.
The Americans have won 10 world gold medals to Canada鈥檚 12. The U.S. is 18-17 overall against Canada in tournament play, with both teams scoring 98 goals against. Canada, meantime, has the edge in Olympic play in having won five gold medals to the Americans鈥 two.
___
AP Women鈥檚 Hockey:
