What Do the Last Two Rivalry Series Games Tell Us About Team Canada?

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Another two games have passed in the Rivalry Series between the Canadian and American senior national teams. If you’re feeling déjà vu, that’s perfectly normal as so far this Rivalry Series is following the same script as last season’s series where Canada went down 3-0 before winning Game Four in extra time to stay alive.

While preventing the sweep is obviously important, there’s still a long road ahead for Team Canada.

With three games left (Saskatoon, SK February 7th, Regina, SK February 9th, St. Paul, MN February 11th) every game is do or die for Team Canada, who must now find a way to be nearly perfect every game. In order to do that they must continue to improve or else they’ll be watching the USA celebrating a Rivalry Series win on Canadian soil.

As mentioned above, Canada finds themselves once again on the brink of an elimination after two games in Ontario, though they could have found themselves facing three meaningless games if not for game four’s third-period heroics to come back after being down 2-0 to win 3-2 in the shootout. Just like the last two-game stanza, there are lessons Canada needs to take forward to continue their improvement.

Credit should be given to the Canadian players and coaching staff for improving their performance and while they do sit down 3-1, they gave immensely more competitive games than we saw in the first two games of the series. These are not dumb players and this isn’t a dumb leadership group. They all know work needs to be done and while they’ll talk behind closed doors, I think based on the last two games four we can have our own similar discussions about what Team Canada showed.

A Team Built to Play Great Defensively is Not

It’s clear from the way the line-up is set up and the roster is built that the Team Canada front office did not like the way Canada played defensively against the USA in either game in the 2023 World Championships. There’s been an emphasis from Team Canada that they want to focus on the defensive side of the game moving away from the fast-paced offensive style they were playing in the four previous tournaments (2021 Worlds, 2022 Olympics, 2022 Worlds, 2023 Worlds).

The adjustment has been rough to say the least as we saw the worst of it in games 1 & 2 where the Canadian offence was non-existent. While there was improvement in games three & four you’d hardly say two goals a game is a sign the offence is thriving. You wouldn’t say the defence is thriving either based on the chances the US got and the goals they scored off turnovers. Assuming your goaltending is going to carry you for the next three games is a big gamble if these defensive changes don’t take root and lead to a boost offensively.

Breathe a Sigh of Relief Canada, Ann-Renée Desbiens is Still Elite

At the 2023 World Championships I had the opportunity to chat with coach on one of the national teams attending the tournament. In our brief chat naturally the topic of goaltending came up and we both agreed that Klára Peslarová and Ann-Renée Desbiens were the elite of the position. Desbiens hasn’t played competitive games since the 2023 World Championships (depending on how competitive you think a Professional Women’s Hockey League preseason game is), and was coming into Game Three rusty. It definitely showed through the game especially on the Abbey Murphy goal where you expect a bit more from someone with Desbiens’ skillset.

After that goal Desbiens shut it down the rest of the way ensuring Canada had a chance to tie it up, which they did. She was only beaten in OT on a 4-on-3 penalty kill. Then in game four we saw vintage Desbiens where it took two great plays to beat her but she didn’t allow a third goal and completely shut it down in the shootout against some of the best goal scorers in the game. She’s back and the PWHL should be terrified.

The Future Has Arrived

In my article going over the lessons Canada was given in Game One & Two of the Rivalry Series I mentioned how Canada needed to put their youth in a position to succeed as that’s the path to success. They kind of did it which is why they went 1-1 in this two-game stanza rather than what I believe to be the very possible 2-0 result.

They did put Loren Gabel on the roster and in the top six but when it came to the five NCAA skaters (Danielle Serdachny, Julia Gosling, Nicole Gosling, Jennifer Gardner, Anne Cherkowski) they were either the 13^th forward, on the fourth forward line or on the third defensive pair. Hard to argue that’s putting players in a position to succeed when they’re barely getting any minutes. However Danielle Serdachny would not be denied recognition, as she scored a goal in each game and the fourth forward line as a whole was given more ice time in game four, especially near the end.

Nicole Gosling was even put on the point of the first power play unit in the third period of game four. Frankly I could do a whole other paragraph on just how important Ella Shelton is becoming to Team Canada. Hopefully this is all a sign that Troy Ryan and his coaching staff are realizing that youth provides a much needed injection to any team.

Power Play or Power Outage?

Canada has some of the best players in the world and their medals prove it. So why has Canada gone 0/16 on the power play in this Rivalry Series? Their penalty kill has more goals than their power play, which would be a fun weird fact in a two-game sample size. We’re at four games now and that still holds true. Canada had 10 power plays alone games three and four. The USA had six power plays in those same two games. The difference? The USA has a goal, which was the decider in Game Three. Losing Erin Ambrose who has been playing the point on PP1 for a long time now hurts. You’re Team Canada though and you have the talent to put together a dangerous PP1. They’ve handled Ambrose’s loss poorly and the results speak for themselves. For whatever reason they stuck with the same players on PP1 going into Game Four and it cost them a goal against.

Canada has a little over a month to figure out the best PP1 configuration or that’ll be it for the Rivalry series. I’ll even give them a freebie bit of advice: Sophie Jaques scored +20 goals in her last two NCAA seasons as a defender running the point on Ohio State’s first power play unit. You know, only one of the best NCAA programs around run by one of the best coaches in women’s hockey today.

Missing in Action: Canada’s First Line

I made this observation in Games One & Two which should tell you it’s not good that this is continuing to happen: Canada isn’t giving Marie-Philip Poulin the linemates she needs to succeed.

Canada sits at 3-1 in the Rivalry Series because at best the first forward line have been ghosts, while at worst they’ve been responsible for goals against. They tried to fix Marie-Philip Poulin’s line by inserting a very skilled player in Brianne Jenner. It’s still not working and it’s not the fault of Blayre Turnbull or Brianne Jenner. They just aren’t what Poulin needs to compete with the best that the USA is throwing against her. The Turnbull on the first line experiment should be over and Kristin O’Neill or Jessie Eldridge should be taking her spot.

It’s clear what the coaching staff is trying to do with the top line. They want a defensively responsible, hard forechecker on the wing. It’s the top line though, and that player needs to be also skilled enough to handle creating offence against the best the USA will throw at it. If they want to swap out Turnbull but keep Jenner with Poulin that’d be an understandable move as the skill Jenner injects is positive. You do wonder though if getting Serdachny to the top forward line wouldn’t make even more of a difference considering how defensively responsible Poulin is plus whoever is put beside them.

Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

By Grabthar’s Hammer what a mentally strong showing Canada had. They got knocked around in Arizona and California; the games never looked particularly competitive. Back home in Canada we see them go down 2-1 in the 1^st period off two bad turnovers and it’s looking like a repeat of Games One & Two. They kept pushing until eventually the Grit Line of Emily Clark, Laura Stacey, and Kristin O’Neill crashes the net to tie the game up. Then of course comes that hard to swallow ending on a penalty call Canada wasn’t particularly happy with. Wherever you sat on that penalty call didn’t matter as the reality is the USA was up in the series 3-0 looking to sweep in Sarnia.

Canada’s worst nightmare then occurs as the USA heads into the third period of game four up 1-0 and extends their lead less than five minutes in. Serdachny responds with a gritty effort of her own, making something out of nothing. Riding that momentum Canada comes down on a great rush opportunity but Renata Fast fumbles the puck, still makes a play to keep the puck in Canadian hands. The puck then ends up out front on O’Neill’s stick who also fumbles it but makes her own play which sets up Ella Shelton for the game tying goal.

With the series on the line it was the best players on Team Canada that finished off the game with Ann-Renée Desbiens being perfect in the shootout while Marie-Philip Poulin scored the only shootout goal. Both of them just have ice in their veins and gave Canada the ending they deserved. Canadian fans can always be rest assured these players are giving it their all and don’t know the meaning of quit. Can only hope they carry this through to the future games to keep this series entertaining.