OLYMPICS: Ice hockey: USA-Canada women's rivalry heats up

Vancouver (AFP) - Two-time defending Olympic champion Canada and two-time reigning world champion United States are raring to renew their rivalry for women's hockey supremacy at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Sweden, Finland, China, Russia, Slovakia and the Swiss are also in the field but except for the Torino 2006 Winter Games, when the US team lost a semi-final shocker to the Swedes, major championship matches have been strictly US-Canada affairs. "Playing Canada is like Christmas for me," four-time US Olympian Angie Ruggiero said ahead of the competition starting on Saturday. "One of the exciting things about the sport is how close this rivalry is when it comes to talent. "It's all about who can pull it together for one game. I feel like we're in a really good position." The Canadians lead the Americans 12-7 in world and Olympic play since the women's game joined the Olympic line-up in 1998 at Nagano, where the US squad beat Canada for gold. Canada won Olympic titles in 2002, spoiling US dreams in the final on home ice at Salt Lake City, and 2006. Asked if the US women were anxious to give their Canadian rivals a taste of their own medicine by denying them gold on home ice, US coach Mark Johnson quipped, "I'm certainly not a doctor." The Americans beat Canada in the 2009 and 2008 world championship finals after Canada won the 2007 world crown on home ice. That adds to the pressure on Canada to win Olympic gold for a third time in a row, and on home ice no less. "In Canada you are expected to win," said Canada coach Melody Davidson, the only woman among the Olympic coaches. "It doesn't matter if you are male or female. It's just Canada." Two world titles have given the Americans high expectations as well. "The players understand what they are going to have to do to meet those high expectations," Johnson said. "The challenge is difficult but the expectations have been high since day one." And they know the Canadian supporters are expecting gold as well. "There is the weight of a nation on them," Ruggiero said. "There's no pressure on our shoulders. We know what we have to do to win." Canadian captain Hayley Wickenheiser will spark the hosts, who have special hats and shirts for their team bearing the words "luctor" and "emergo" - Latin for struggle and emerge. "It's something the leadership group within the team came up with," said Wickenheiser. "It's what we want to do every game."

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