Reverse Sweep Gives Canada Positive Lessons to Take Into Utica

I don’t quite believe it either but here we are again. Canada manages to pull off the unlikely back-to-back reverse sweep in the Rivalry Series vs the USA. They did it in the 2022-23 season and now once more in the 2023-24 season. It seemed extremely unlikely to begin with considering Marie-Philip Poulin didn’t end up on the scoresheet until Game Five (not counting the Game Four shootout goal), the Canadian power play was powerless through the first four games, and defensively they were giving the USA prime scoring opportunities. Come Game Five it all clicked for Team Canada. Troy Ryan’s heavy puck possession and puck pressure system saw the success Ryan has been trying to get the team to since Game One of the Rivalry Series. Things got a bit dicey for Canada in Game Six but ultimately prevailed leading to them embarrassing Team USA in Minnesota. After a shaky start and deserved criticism sent their way the Canadian coaching staff, management, and players deserve all the credit possible for finding a way to win three straight in the last three games of the Rivalry Series. With the roller coaster of a series over it’s time to reflect on the final lessons Canada has learned in preparation for the big exam, the 2024 WHC in Utica.

It’s Alive, It’s Alive!

Leading up to Game Five of the Rivalry Series, Canada had gone 0/16 on the PP. As a result, they won a single game out of the four played putting themselves in a deep hole. The loss of Erin Ambrose stung and Canada never figured out what to do in her absence. Thankfully for Canada Ambrose was back for these last three games and was an important part in seeing Canada go 4/10 on the PP as she ended up with three assists on the four PP goals. They were all important goals too: tied it up at 1-1 in Game Five, scored the game winner and first goal of Game Six, and in Game Seven they went up 2-0 on power play goals. While Ambrose being back for Canada was obviously important there was another piece that Dr. Troy Frankenstein was able to add to his power play monster to bring it to life, the underrated net front presence of Natalie Spooner. She also contributed three points on the four power play goals with two goals and a primary assist.

Canada Does Have a Goalie Problem, The Women Are Too Good at Stopping the Puck

If you follow any of the big sports media companies such as Sportsnet or TSN you’ve obviously noticed every international men’s tournament there’s a discussion about there being a lack of elite Canadian goalies. If you’re primarily a follower of women’s hockey you might be confused as to why this is a discussion until you read the article or watch the video in which Sportsnet/TSN analysts are clearly talking about Canadian men’s hockey. The women of Canada who tend the goal are on the opposite end of that discussion as there’s just too many elite Canadian goalies in women’s hockey. There’s an argument to be made that at forward and defence the USA have the edge at those positions. There’s no argument about who has the better goalies. The Rivalry Series was won on the backs of Ann-Renée Desbiens and Emerance Maschmeyer while a 0.943 SV% PWHL goalie in Corinne Schroeder eats nachos. In the four straight wins Canada put up to complete the reverse sweep Desbiens posted a 0.923 SV% and Maschmeyer posted a 27-save shutout. The strength of Canadian goaltending in women’s hockey has a strong history and looks to continually be strong moving forward as it will need to be. It’s not a monumental Canadian win without a Canadian goaltending making their presence known.

Natalie Spooner is the Best Player in 2024

It’s not a well-kept secret how good Natalie Spooner is. She was one of the last cuts for the 2010 Olympic roster and was an important part in setting the Ohio State women’s hockey program on the path to greatness. Spooner won an Olympic Gold, Clarkson Cup in 2014, and is over a point per game in both her Olympic and World Championships career. She’s always been a big personality in the sport but hasn’t been considered in the same tier as Marie-Philip Poulin, Hilary Knight, Brianna Decker, and Amanda Kessel. Always considered at best to be up for Best Supporting Actress rather than Best Leading Actress. Somehow after giving birth a little more than a year ago and turning 33 years old, Natalie Spooner is finding a new level to her game. She’s currently dragging Toronto in the PWHL back into relevancy by scoring the first goal in franchise history and following that up with leading the whole league in goals at the international break. Then Spooner finally gets into the Rivalry Series and what does she do? The barely noticeable act of putting up six points in three games, five of which were primary points. Her six points and three goals had her tied for the Rivalry Series lead in both categories with players who had played three-to-four more games than her. Obviously the question now is can Spooner continue this momentum for the rest of the 23-24 hockey season. Only time and her play will tell us that. In the meantime, we get to sit back and watch exciting hockey brought to us by Natalie Spooner.

What’s Real, the First Four Games or the Last Three Games?

The benefit of the Rivalry Series is that you can try different roster combinations to get a better idea of what players you want to take with you to the World Championships. The downside is that because the Series takes place over months and no roster is set you’re not quite sure what results are real. By real I mean what will translate to the WHC’s and what only works in the Rivalry Series. Are we going to see two points per game Natalie Spooner or a Canadian PP that operates at 40% efficiency? Or maybe we’re going to see a Marie-Philip Poulin that struggles to get on the scoresheet and a Canadian PP that is completely ineffective. The biggest differences between the first four games of the series and the last three is: the inclusion of NCAA players and PWHL players didn’t get into game action until the first four games were over. Tessa Bonhomme on the Jocks in Jills podcast pointed out that the USA was missing a lot of its elite talent in the last three games such as Abbey Murphy, Hannah Bilka, Britta Curl, Cayla Barnes, and Caroline Harvey. That’s fair as that’s quite a bit of elite talent including two top pairing blueliners. With a heavy PWHL roster though through the first four games Canada had a roster with players that hadn’t seen regular game action since April 2023 and once they’d seen regular game action they won three straight games against a roster in the same situation. This was a unique Rivalry Series situation that we’ll need to wait till April for the answers to these questions.

2024 World Championships Roster Projection

Going to take a gander here at what roster Canada will be walking into Utica with. I’m basing this off of what I’m guessing Troy Ryan and Gina Kingsbury will be thinking about in terms of roster construction.

Forwards

Danielle Serdachny – Marie-Philip Poulin – Brianne Jenner
Emma Maltais – Sarah Nurse – Natalie Spooner
Jessie Eldridge – Blayre Turnbull – Sarah Fillier
Jamie Lee Rattray – Emily Clark – Laura Stacey
Julia Gosling

It’s hard not to look at that forward line-up and realize how much firepower Canada will be bringing. As mentioned above the USA is going to be bringing some heavy hitting forwards but Canada is not bringing any slouches. We’re currently watching the Toronto line of Maltais/Nurse/Spooner start to dominate the PWHL and they really came together in the Rivalry Series. Poulin and Jenner need someone to create space for them in the offensive zone which Serdachny excels at. The bottom six is a good mix of defensively responsible, hard forechecking, and has a scoring touch. The great part about this forward line-up is players in the bottom six can be moved up into the top six and not look out of place.

Defence

Ella Shelton – Renata Fast
Micah Zandee-Hart – Erin Ambrose
Jocelyne Larocque – Jaime Bourbonnais
Ashton Bell

I know I said I’d pick the roster based on who I think Ryan/Kingsbury would choose but I didn’t say I’d stick to what I think they’d choose the lines to be. These pairings are definitely personal preference in what I think would work best for Canada. That top four defence is exactly what Canada needs to provide Ryan with the play he wants from his blueline. The top pair has two very strong two-way defenders with Ella Shelton providing the potential of a high scoring touch. The second pair sees Ambrose allowed to be more free roaming knowing she has the very solid presence of Zandee-Hart behind her. The third pair is essentially the second pairing with less potential. Then of course you have Ashton Bell who you can insert anywhere if you need more puck moving ability. The top six feels pretty locked in for me unless one of those four get injured or their game really falls off a cliff. There’s a chance we see Sophie Jaques or Nicole Gosling make the roster but they’d need strong finishes to their seasons for that to be a consideration.

Goalies

Ann-Renée Desbiens
Emerance Maschmeyer
Corinne Schroeder

The options Canada has in net are bountiful. To start off unless Ann-Renée Desbiens physically cannot play she’s going to be the 1G headed into the WHC for Canada. There’s no question through the start of the PWHL season and in the Rivalry Series that there’s only one maybe two more goalies out there on her level. I know there’s some out there looking at Emerance Maschmeyer in the 2G spot thinking it’s time for a change and I can’t get on board with that yet. She’s been such a steady presence for an Ottawa team that’s been living on the edge and her Game Six performance where she stole the game ensuring a meaningful Game Seven shows that she still deserves that spot. Last but not least at 3G is Corinne Schroeder. You could have Schroeder there or Campbell or any one of the handful of Canadian goalies dominating the NCAA and be fine. Going with Schroeder here to reward her play this season and because she was brought to the last three games of the Rivalry Series. To me that shows she’s earned the attention of Ryan/Kingsbury.

Overall, this is an extremely talented roster and will benefit from regular play as well as regular practice leading into Utica. Just like with the 2024 U18 WJC team, the final piece for victory will be the coaching. It’s up to the coaches to put this team in the best position to win and get revenge for losing on home ice in Brampton for the Gold Medal.