FILE PHOTO: Ice Hockey - IIHF Women's World Championships - Gold Medal Game - United States v Canada - Budvar Arena, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic - April 20, 2025 Hilary Knight of the U.S. celebrates with the trophy after winning the Gold Medal Game REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo
NEW YORK, Jan 2 (Reuters) - The United States are ravenous for revenge at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics, where one of the Winter Games' greatest rivalries renews on the ice rink as the women in red, white and blue embark on a collision course with Canada.
Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Lee Stecklein were among the 23 players named on Friday to lead the U.S. women's Olympic hockey team, four years after the Americans settled for silver against their perennial arch-rival.
Canada and the United States are the only countries to win gold since the women's tournament was introduced to the Olympic program in 1998, as Canada took the top of the podium five times and Team USA twice.
"I call it the most beautiful rivalry in sport because it is so spicy out on the ice and we're really pushing the envelope for skill, physicality, and speed," said Knight, a forward who will compete in her fifth Olympics. "We just bring out the best level of competition in one another."
The two sides have provided some of the most memorable moments of the Olympics, from Canada's dramatic overtime win in the 2014 championship match to the nerve-racking U.S. shootout triumph for gold in 2018.
"There's no letup, just the whole 60 minutes back and forth, it's physical, it's fast, it is relentless," said 23-year-old defenseman Caroline Harvey, the youngest player on the U.S. team at the Beijing Games who will return with the 2026 squad.
"It's always till the final buzzer, overtime, shootout - whatever deems the final winner - it crazy all the way up until the end,"she added.
US TURNS A CORNER
The U.S. gold medal hopes took a hit almost immediately four years ago in Beijing, when assistant captain Brianna Decker suffered a gruesome lower-body injury that left her screaming in pain minutes into their opening game.
Decker never returned to the Olympic tournament and, without their fallen star, they lost to Canada in the gold-medal game for the fourth time.
"2022 didn't feel good. We lost, we came up short," Harvey said in an interview. "But this go-around is going to be different."
The United States have turned a corner in the last two years, said Harvey, including a victory over Canada in the 2025 World Championship.
Most recently, the U.S. team dominated Canada in their two Rivalry Series games in November, winning 4-1 and 6-1, with a hat trick from Knight in the latter of the two contests.
The U.S. roster for Milano-Cortina includes 11 players with Olympic experience and 21 who were part of the victorious world championship team.
“Our staff has spent the past few months evaluating our incredible player pool, and while the depth of the group makes these decisions incredibly hard, we are so excited for this team to compete in Milan," said Katie Million, general manager of the U.S. Olympic women's ice hockey team.
“This team brings excitement, passion and pride, and will represent the United States proudly as they look to win gold come February.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery and Dan Fastenberg in New York; Additional reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
