The first Olympics I covered were in 2010 in Vancouver. So many great things stood out about those Olympics and of course it's the Crosby Golden goal that gets all the hype…..and it should it was unbelievable…. As was the bus ride back to the place I was staying with everybody on the bus singing in Oh Canada over and over and over again. Pure joy.
But the one thing I remember most about those Olympics wasn't that game.. it was walking through the halls of the arena not too far from the rooms where team, Canada's women and team, USA's women were just minutes away from taking the ice for their gold medal final…the language that I heard would make a sailor blush. I'm telling you. It was intense and it was real. the yelling back-and-forth was funny and there was laughter going on, but it was also intense….
That was the moment that I was introduced to what this rivalry really is about. Dominance and superiority.
And here we go again! The puck drops today in Milan around 1pm ET. United States. Canada. Olympic gold.
Best rivalry in all of sports.
And before anyone reaches for Yankees–Red Sox, Lakers–Celtics, or any other comfortable, nostalgia-soaked answer…
Let’s be honest.
The greatest rivalry in sports is USA vs. Canada in women’s hockey.
This is Chapter 195.
Since 1987, these two programs have met 194 times. Canada holds a 106–87 edge. At the Olympics, they’ve faced each other 12 times. Seven gold medal games. Five Canadian golds. Two American.
But here’s what separates this rivalry from the Yankees and Red Sox of the world:
Those rivalries share space.
This one owns it. This one IS the Space. You could even argue that without this rivalry there is no space.
When New York and Boston play, there are 28 other MLB teams. When the Lakers and Celtics clash, the NBA still runs through multiple power centers.
When the United States and Canada meet in women’s hockey?
That’s the sport’s summit.
They’ve played in 23 of 24 World Championship finals. Outside of each other, losses are rare enough to feel like upsets of historic proportion. When they meet for gold, it isn’t just a final… it’s the two best teams on Earth, every time, no debate.
There’s no dilution of talent
No cyclical dominance.
No “down decade.”
Just four decades of sustained excellence, trading blows at the absolute highest level.
It started in 1987. It exploded in Nagano in 1998, when the United States stunned Canada to win the first Olympic gold in women’s hockey. That moment created two superpowers.
Canada answered with four straight Olympic gold medals from 2002 through 2014. Salt Lake. Vancouver on home ice. Sochi, where the best women’s hockey player on earth, Marie-Philip Poulin, scored in overtime and etched her name into rivalry folklore.
The U.S. didn’t fade. They built. From 2005 through 2019, America won nine of eleven World Championships, often at Canada’s expense. It became a perfect competitive equilibrium: Canada ruled the Olympics. The U.S. ruled the Worlds. Neither could claim permanent superiority.
Then came PyeongChang 2018 — a shootout, a breakthrough, twenty years of Olympic frustration finally shattered by the United States.
Canada responded in Beijing in 2022. Poulin again. Gold again. Balance restored.
And now Milan.
Earlier in this tournament, the U.S. delivered a stunning 5–0 statement in the preliminary round — rare air in a rivalry usually decided by inches. The Americans have been suffocating defensively, explosive offensively, conceding almost nothing.
Canada arrives with pedigree, pride, and the knowledge that in this rivalry, humiliation doesn’t linger. It fuels.
This is what makes it the greatest rivalry in sports:
It’s not regional hatred.
It’s not market size.
It’s not media mythology.
It’s sustained, generational parity at the absolute peak of a sport.
Nearly 200 games. Four decades. Multiple generations of icons — Poulin, Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield — all carrying the same torch.
And not once has the rivalry lost relevance.
That’s the difference.
Yankees–Red Sox had an 86-year drought. Lakers–Celtics went cold for stretches. Most “great rivalries” ebb and fade.
USA vs. Canada in women’s hockey never has.
Every era matters.
Every gold medal game feels inevitable.
Every meeting feels consequential.
And beyond the medals, this rivalry built women’s hockey. When they first met, the sport was fighting for legitimacy. Today, it’s a global centerpiece of the Winter Olympics. The speed, skill, and tactical sophistication are world-class — because these two nations forced each other to evolve.
They didn’t just compete. They elevated the sport.
As the puck drops in Milan, one team will leave with gold.
But the rivalry wins again.
Because the greatest rivalry in sports isn’t defined by nostalgia or marketing slogans. It’s defined by sustained excellence, equal dominance, and the electric certainty that when these two meet, the best in the world are about to collide.
USA vs. Canada.
Chapter 195.
Still the summit.
The puck drops today in Milan.
United States. Canada. Olympic gold.
And before anyone reaches for Yankees–Red Sox, Lakers–Celtics, or any other comfortable, nostalgia-soaked answer…
Let’s be honest.
The greatest rivalry in sports — full stop — is USA vs. Canada in women’s hockey.
This is Chapter 195.
Since 1987, these two programs have met 194 times. Canada holds a narrow 106–87 edge. At the Olympics, they’ve faced each other 12 times. Seven gold medal games. Five Canadian golds. Two American.
But here’s what separates this rivalry from the Yankees and Red Sox of the world:
Those rivalries share space.
This one owns it.
When New York and Boston play, there are 28 other MLB teams. When the Lakers and Celtics clash, the NBA still runs through multiple power centers.
When the United States and Canada meet in women’s hockey?
That’s the sport’s summit.
They’ve played in 23 of 24 World Championship finals. Outside of each other, losses are rare enough to feel like upsets of historic proportion. When they meet for gold, it isn’t just a final — it’s the two best teams on Earth, every time, no debate.
There’s no dilution.
No cyclical dominance.
No “down decade.”
Just four decades of sustained excellence, trading blows at the absolute highest level.
It started in 1987. It exploded in Nagano in 1998, when the United States stunned Canada to win the first Olympic gold in women’s hockey. That moment created two superpowers.
Canada answered with four straight Olympic gold medals from 2002 through 2014. Salt Lake. Vancouver on home ice. Sochi, where Marie-Philip Poulin scored in overtime and etched her name into rivalry folklore.
The U.S. didn’t fade. They built. From 2005 through 2019, America won nine of eleven World Championships, often at Canada’s expense. It became a perfect competitive equilibrium: Canada ruled the Olympics. The U.S. ruled the Worlds. Neither could claim permanent superiority.
Then came PyeongChang 2018 — a shootout, a breakthrough, twenty years of Olympic frustration finally shattered by the United States.
Canada responded in Beijing in 2022. Poulin again. Gold again. Balance restored.
And now Milan.
Earlier in this tournament, the U.S. delivered a stunning 5–0 statement in the preliminary round — rare air in a rivalry usually decided by inches. The Americans have been suffocating defensively, explosive offensively, conceding almost nothing.
Canada arrives with pedigree, pride, and the knowledge that in this rivalry, humiliation doesn’t linger. It fuels.
This is what makes it the greatest rivalry in sports:
It’s not regional hatred.
It’s not market size.
It’s not media mythology.
It’s sustained, generational parity at the absolute peak of a sport.
Nearly 200 games. Four decades. Multiple generations of icons — Poulin, Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield — all carrying the same torch.
And not once has the rivalry lost relevance.
That’s the difference.
Yankees–Red Sox had an 86-year drought. Lakers–Celtics went cold for stretches. Most “great rivalries” ebb and fade.
USA vs. Canada in women’s hockey never has.
Every era matters.
Every gold medal game feels inevitable.
Every meeting feels consequential.
And beyond the medals, this rivalry built women’s hockey. When they first met, the sport was fighting for legitimacy. Today, it’s a global centerpiece of the Winter Olympics. The speed, skill, and tactical sophistication are world-class — because these two nations forced each other to evolve.
Per USA Hockey registration numbers there are 93,000 girls under 18 playing organized hockey today. 40 years ago there were less than 5,000. 20 years ago 47,000. Now….93k.
The women don’t just compete. They elevate the sport.
As the puck drops in Milan, one team will leave with gold.
But the rivalry wins again.
Because the greatest rivalry in sports isn’t defined by nostalgia or marketing slogans. It’s defined by sustained excellence, equal dominance, and the electric certainty that when these two meet, the best in the world are about to collide.
USA vs. Canada.
Chapter 195.
Still the summit.