What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

It's Rivalry Series Week! USA or Canada?

H

Hockeybuckeye

Well-known member
Thursday is the first game of the next Rivalry Series games and who will win?
Most of us have current and former players on both rosters so there's obviously mixed feelings but even though I was married to a Canadian and my son is half Canadian my loyalty is with Team USA.
 
USA unless Poulin X factor happens.

outside of the Olympics the US always just seems like the faster more skilled teams. The reliance on active WCHA Americans seems like a winning strategy.
 
Timothy A said:
The US has Abby Murphy, she'll cover that angle for the US. Maybe the Canadians can teach her a thing or 2 and make her think twice before doing what she does.
Click to expand...

LOL! I forgot about Murphy being our equilizer. I've seen how rough the USA/Canada series can be and none of us want to see our star college players injured with half the season to go. Murphy must be the toughest player in all of college hockey, with the pounding she takes I don't understand how she hasn't suffered a major injury this season!
 
Last edited:
All 3 goals in the 1st period coming from current college players: Colgate (Serdachny), Wisconsin (Simms), and Minnesota (Murphy). Exciting so far!
 
This game has a bit of a different feel compared to the earlier rivalry games with some of the families faces not present due to being in the new professional league.
 
The 2nd period brought a goal from Emily Clark for Canada on a rebound to make it 2-2, followed by matching minors on her and Abby Roque for a mostly vocal dispute after the play. The USA is on the penalty kill (with a penalty on Harvey) going into the 3rd.

I believe that mainly the roster differences from last month's Rivalry Games are because of either injuries - to Grace Zumwinkle for example, in PWHL preseason camp - or Canada switching out some relative veterans like Jessie Eldridge to try out college players like Gardiner and Cherkowski. The PWHL preseason training is in a break, though, designed so that players can play in these games or European national team trainings.
 
Knight scores early in OT on a powerplay that carried over from the 3rd. She also had an assist on Murphy's goal earlier in the game and is confident with the puck there.
 
Yeah, Hilary Knight is going to leave big shoes to fill so to speak after she hangs up her skates.

As a note on European players: I saw several NCAA players are playing for their countries in the 5 Nations Tournament (Dec 13-17). It is part of the 2023-24 Euro Hockey Tour. So in a way these seem like the European national teams' Rivalry games. It's Czechia, Sweden, Germany, Finland, and Switzerland playing in Falun, Sweden (info collected here and on the Hockey News). From the Gophers, Josefin Bouveng is on the team for Sweden, and Nelli Laitinen for Finland, among others. Czechia's been the solid bronze finisher in Worlds; so let's see if they defend that position.
 
As a huge fan of this series and its competitiveness I'm a bit concerned with what I feel is a drop off in M P Poulin's play of late. I noticed it in the last year's Worlds and preseason PWHL. She's not creating chances for herself like in the past. Hopefully that will change...
 
Oldtimer said:
As a huge fan of this series and its competitiveness I'm a bit concerned with what I feel is a drop off in M P Poulin's play of late. I noticed it in the last year's Worlds and preseason PWHL. She's not creating chances for herself like in the past. Hopefully that will change...
Click to expand...

Yes, could be a phase, could be age, could be surrounding cast. The results don’t surprise me at all.

3-2 game or looking at it another way:
4-1 WCHA players vs the rest
3-2 active college players vs the post grads

Definitely some fun players to watch. Can’t wait for PW season. Very curious to see how TO competes. Very Canadian. But it’s just a different brand of hockey from like a Heise, Murphy, Simms et al. The latter are so fun to watch.
 
USA-Canada 0-0 after 1 period. Canada came out strong with lots of shots on net, and Hensley made several big saves. Then USA started to build up offensive zone time and its own chances, Desbiens still keeping the puck out.

They are showing Hensley juggling the puck from warmups footage and saying she has tracked the puck fantastically.
 
Something about a Pannek button, or if you’re Canada, a panic button?

giving up a shorty with Canadian royalty on the ice, forwards running into each other, no one can handle the puck not even to gain the zone.

Games not over but other than getting a decent amount of shots the Canadians are just kind of meh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top