Why have USA’s women surpassed Canada’s? One word: fear
Women’s hockey arrived at the Olympics beginning in 1998. The Canadian and American women have taken turns holding superpower status over that span, with the USA winning in 1998 and 2018 and the Canada taking the gold in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2022. At every one of those tournaments, however, both sides were seriously powered up. The competition was fierce. Yet it didn’t feel that way in the Milan 2026 preliminary-round meeting between the Americans and Canadians earlier this week. Team USA dominated Canada in a 5-0 beatdown, holding a 33-20 edge in shots on goal, with defender Caroline Harvey controlling the game at a superstar level. Canadian legend Marie-Philip Poulin was sidelined for that game with a lower-body injury, but her presence likely wouldn’t have mattered. The younger, faster, stronger American squad appeared to be on another level.
What is separating the U.S. and Canada into two separate tiers right now? Ahead of the quarterfinal rounds, former Canadian Olympian and 2010 Vancouver Games gold medallist Tessa Bonhomme joined Daily Faceoff Live alongside hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to discuss why the Americans have surpassed the Canadians in the women’s game.
Carter Hutton: In the last little bit, USA, they’ve been running the show a little bit. What’s changed? What do you think has pushed USA a little bit over the top lately?
Tessa Bonhomme: It’s funny, because the rosters haven’t really changed that much since the last World Championship, and that game went into overtime. It was a one-goal game, right? So what truly has changed so much? And to me it’s the respect meter. You obviously always respect your opponent and the skills and the talents that they have, but that doesn’t mean you give them all the time and space out there. If anything, it means you take more of it away. And I feel like that respect has slowly turned into a bit of fear for Team Canada where instead of going out there and playing with the will to win, you’re playing with the fear to lose, if that makes sense.
So there’s a lot of timid play. There’s a lot of questioning. There’s a lot of doubt. And I think that it takes away from these players truly realizing: you got picked to play on this team for a specific reason. So stand in front of that mirror for a hot minute, take a good hard look and tell yourself why you’re there and believe it. And if you don’t believe it, well by all means take the jersey off and pass it on to the next [person], because they’re going to need everybody bought in and a believing in this game that they’re there for a reason.
They are all fantastic players. This team didn’t get that much slower in less than a year against this American team, but you saw it at Rivalry Series, clearly there was a major adjustment that took place where I think Team Canada’s got to take a look at the way they’re approaching this game.
You can watch the full episode here…
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