Ep #529: Heated rivalry: It’s time for Canada vs. the U.S. in Olympic women’s hockey

·33 min·3 clips

Team Canada versus Team USA women's hockey, the best rivalry in sports, goes down this afternoon.

The episode begins with hosts Steph Roth and Lauren Tuscola introducing the topic: the Olympic women's hockey game between Canada and the USA, scheduled for 2:10 PM Eastern time. They frame it as a premier rivalry in sports, with Steph, a Canadian, and Lauren, an American, offering balanced perspectives. The hosts explain the tournament format, noting that women's hockey has two pools (Group A and B), with top teams like Canada and USA in Group A, all advancing to the knockout round. They contrast this with the men's tournament, which has three groups. A significant portion of the episode covers the political context of the Olympics, including Trump's criticism of skier Hunter Hess for expressing difficulty representing the U.S., and responses from athletes like Eileen Gu and Chloe Kim, who emphasize unity and compassion. The hosts then dive into the hockey rivalry, detailing its history: since 1998, Canada and USA have met in all but one Olympic final, with games often decided by one goal, overtime, or shootouts. They discuss recent form, noting the USA swept Canada in a pre-Olympic rivalry series, but caution that past success doesn't guarantee Olympic victory. Player highlights include USA's Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Heise, and Hillary Knight, who is chasing the U.S. Olympic goal record, and Canada's Marie-Philip Poulin, who is injured and may miss the game. The episode also touches on the growth of women's hockey through leagues like the PWHL, increasing parity among nations. It concludes with a call for listener submissions for future segments and promotional content for sponsors like Shopify and Penguin Random House Audio.

As heard by us

A clean, context-rich read on why Canada-US women's hockey keeps pointing toward the Olympic final.

The GIST of It frames Canada-US women's hockey as the rivalry that gives the Olympic tournament its charge, while also making the bracket mechanics easy to follow.

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Why you'd press play

Want the Canada-US Olympic women's hockey rivalry explained before puck drop? This is your quick route in.

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