U.S., Canadian women ready for hockey showdown

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Thursday, February 21, 2002

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah -- Defenseman Angela Ruggiero took two years off from Harvard to play on the U.S. women's hockey team.

"For one game," she said.

That game is here: The Americans face Canada for the Olympic gold medal today in a rematch of the 1998 game won by the United States.

It's a matchup that's been inevitable since they skated off the ice in Nagano, anticipated through the intervening seasons and presumed through a preliminary round in which both teams barely broke a sweat.

"The two best teams have proven they belong in this game, and I guess I'm glad that's the way it is," U.S. coach Ben Smith said. "We're both trying to occupy the same spot, and there's only room for one."

The Americans and Canadians have never lost to any team but each other.

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