KIDWCKED
02-25-2010, 11:30 PM
The Canadian Press, The Canadian Press Posted Wednesday, February 24, 2010 11:06
VANCOUVER -- The Canadian women's hockey team feels they could not be more prepared for what is setting up to be the best women's hockey game in history.
Canada pushed the envelope as much as they could the last six months, so they would be ready to beat the U.S. for the Olympic women's hockey gold Thursday at Canada Olympic Place.
They played 55 games, including 30 against midget triple-A boys' teams, who provided a level of competition comparable to the American women.
"The game play and playing 50-plus games leading into this has been huge for us," forward Jayna Hefford of Kingston, Ont., said Wednesday. "That's where we've seen our real development I think.
"It's a huge edge for us. I like our team in a lot of ways. But our preparation, I can't say there's anything I would have wanted to do differently, better or more of."
Captain Hayley Wickenheiser feels the games in the Alberta Midget Hockey League gives her team the edge against the U.S., who didn't play as many games, nor as many against male competition.
"That's been the key for us," she said. "It gives us the confidence to know we can play opponents who are bigger, stronger and faster in some cases and play a team game and have success, getting pressure in our own end, being down a goal or up a goal, last-minute situations. We played through all those situations this year.
"We're confident no matter how the game is going, we can stay with it."
The Canadian women played games against AMJHL team before the 2006 Olympics and their record was about .500. They were 20-10 against AMJHL competition this time. Games against the Canadian women counted for points in the league standings for the midget teams.
The challenge for both the Canadian and Americans women is finding enough competition to prepare to meet each other because of the gap between them and the rest of the world.
Canada's defence gets little sustained pressure in international tournaments, so their games have been mostly in the offensive end of the ice until they face the U.S. Then, they're suddenly under pressure, rusty at working the puck out of their end and occasionally coughing up the puck with disastrous outcomes.
The midget games gave the Canadian women enough time in front of their own net to work on defence.
"They were tough in that area all year," Calgary Royals coach Ryan Hilderman said. "You could certainly tell that was a focus. They blocked shots, collapsed to the net and they definitely did what was necessary to keep pucks out of their own net.
"All of our games with them were very close. We had three opportunities to pull our goalies and really throw everything in the kitchen sink at them. They just did an outstanding job to doing whatever it took to keep the puck out of their own net."
Preparation is one thing, execution is another.
If the Canadians feel confident so do the U.S. because they've beaten Canada in the last two games that really mattered in their sport, which is the 2008 and 2009 world championship finals.
VANCOUVER -- The Canadian women's hockey team feels they could not be more prepared for what is setting up to be the best women's hockey game in history.
Canada pushed the envelope as much as they could the last six months, so they would be ready to beat the U.S. for the Olympic women's hockey gold Thursday at Canada Olympic Place.
They played 55 games, including 30 against midget triple-A boys' teams, who provided a level of competition comparable to the American women.
"The game play and playing 50-plus games leading into this has been huge for us," forward Jayna Hefford of Kingston, Ont., said Wednesday. "That's where we've seen our real development I think.
"It's a huge edge for us. I like our team in a lot of ways. But our preparation, I can't say there's anything I would have wanted to do differently, better or more of."
Captain Hayley Wickenheiser feels the games in the Alberta Midget Hockey League gives her team the edge against the U.S., who didn't play as many games, nor as many against male competition.
"That's been the key for us," she said. "It gives us the confidence to know we can play opponents who are bigger, stronger and faster in some cases and play a team game and have success, getting pressure in our own end, being down a goal or up a goal, last-minute situations. We played through all those situations this year.
"We're confident no matter how the game is going, we can stay with it."
The Canadian women played games against AMJHL team before the 2006 Olympics and their record was about .500. They were 20-10 against AMJHL competition this time. Games against the Canadian women counted for points in the league standings for the midget teams.
The challenge for both the Canadian and Americans women is finding enough competition to prepare to meet each other because of the gap between them and the rest of the world.
Canada's defence gets little sustained pressure in international tournaments, so their games have been mostly in the offensive end of the ice until they face the U.S. Then, they're suddenly under pressure, rusty at working the puck out of their end and occasionally coughing up the puck with disastrous outcomes.
The midget games gave the Canadian women enough time in front of their own net to work on defence.
"They were tough in that area all year," Calgary Royals coach Ryan Hilderman said. "You could certainly tell that was a focus. They blocked shots, collapsed to the net and they definitely did what was necessary to keep pucks out of their own net.
"All of our games with them were very close. We had three opportunities to pull our goalies and really throw everything in the kitchen sink at them. They just did an outstanding job to doing whatever it took to keep the puck out of their own net."
Preparation is one thing, execution is another.
If the Canadians feel confident so do the U.S. because they've beaten Canada in the last two games that really mattered in their sport, which is the 2008 and 2009 world championship finals.