Southern California women’s hockey fans won’t have to go far to see the world’s top two teams next month.
Team USA and Team Canada, which have combined to win all seven Olympic gold medals in the history of the sport, are set to face off at 1 p.m. Nov. 11 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles as part of the annual Rivalry Series between the two nations.
The series will lead up to the 2024 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship, which is set for April 3–14 in Utica, New York. The first of seven games between the United States and Canada is scheduled for Nov. 8 at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona, with the finale Feb. 11 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Four games will be played in Canada, Dec. 14 and Dec. 16 in Kitchener and Sarnia, Ontario, respectively, and then Feb. 7 and Feb. 9 in Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, respectively.
“The U.S.-Canada rivalry is one of the best rivalries in all of sports, not just hockey,” USA Hockey Manager of Communications Melissa Katz told The Epoch Times. “We’re excited for another great seven-game series. Los Angeles was such a great host last year, and we’re super excited to come back.”
While the Team USA roster is not expected to be announced until the middle of this month, it is likely to be much the same as the group that captured the gold medal at this year’s World Championship in Brampton, Ontario in April. The U.S. has won 10 gold medals, including six of the past eight, in 22 all-time World Championship tournaments, as well as two Olympic gold medals.
Four-time Olympian and 2023 IIHF female player of the year Hillary Knight, and University of Wisconsin star Caroline Harvey, the leading scorer in the 2023 World Championship, are among those likely to be on the ice in Los Angeles. So, too, are University of Minnesota standout Taylor Heise, the No. 1 overall selection in last month’s inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League draft, and Southern California native Cayla Barnes.
A member of Team USA’s gold medal-winning entry in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, Barnes was a four-time Hockey East all-star at Boston College who is currently playing her final collegiate season at Ohio State.
“There will be a lot of names that everybody knows on these rosters, but we have an evaluation camp, and we have an evaluation period, which the Rivalry Series is part of,” Ms. Katz said. “What’s great about this seven-game series is there are so many touchpoints to see a large majority of the player pool.”
USA Hockey and Team Canada introduced the Rivalry Series with a three-game matchup in 2018–19. The most recent seven-game edition featured Canada winning the final four contests, after the U.S. had captured the first three.
Among the highlights for Team USA last season was a 4–2 victory at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena that drew a record-breaking crowd of 15,551. The previous attendance mark had been set at Anaheim’s Honda Center in 2020.
“The reputation this rivalry has, whenever we come to town, people know it’s going to be a great game and it’s going to be intense,” Ms. Katz said. “It’s one of those things where you watch it once and you’re like, ‘I want to watch every single game now.’”
