Who Will Start In Net for the Big Round Robin Matchup Between Canada and the USA?
Through Two Games
Team Canada is currently one of four teams in the Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey round robin to be undefeated throughout the first two games. The others being Switzerland, Sweden and fellow Group A competitors, The USA. Tomorrow, Feb 14 at 10:10 pm EST the two will clash in which could very likely be a preview of the gold medal game. So far in their 2 games each, the scores have pretty much been identical with very little pressure being placed on either team defensively. Canada defeated Finland 4–1, while USA beat the Fins 3–1 respectively. Team Canada and Team USA would both gut the seemingly unmotivated Olympic Athletes of Russia 5–0 each. So with offence coming relatively easily for both teams, this could be a match where the game really come down to goaltending.
Team Canada
So far through two games, we have seen two different netminders start for the Canadian national team. The first game against OAR, Ann-Renée Desbiens started and faced only 18 shots for a shut out victory. The majority of this game was played in the Russian teams end with Canada managing to get over 48 shots against Morozova and Alkesandrova. It seemed like the Russian athletes were maybe a little less motivated than prior Olympics and were definitely caught flat footed against a very talented Team Canada. The second game against a really good Finnish team, veteran Shannon Szabados would get the start. Once again the Canadian defence was not pressured as much as they probably will be in the next game, but Szabados still made 22 saves on 23 shot attempts. The experience of Szabados would allow her to regain some composure after a quick stumble that took the breath away from Canadian fans for a split second. The Fins finally netted one against Szabados in the third period, which at that point both teams seemed to be playing pretty loose.
So the question is, who is a better start for the upcoming United States game? The 31 year old veteran Shannon Szabados, who has been part of team Canada since 2006. The youngster with plenty of international experience, 23 year old Ann-Renée Desbiens. Or possibly could the coaches may complete the goalie carousel inserting Geneviéve Lacasse, who was on the gold medal team in Sochi. This seems unlikely as she would be coming into a game against team Canada’s biggest rival, without a warm up game. I think the nod will ultimately be given to Szabados, who was in net during their last Olympic victory over the American’s in the 2014 Sochi gold medal game.
Team USA
In almost an identical manner, Team USA has easily held their opponents offence to very little success. They also started two different and very young goalies thus far. Maddie Rooney of Univerisity of Minnesota- Duluth, at just 20 years of age had a strong performance in the opening match against Finland allowing just one goal on 24 shot attempts. The following Team USA game saw 23 year old Nicole Hensley record a shutout for the Red, White and Blue against OAR. Nicole similar to Desbiens only faced very few attempts, with the Russian athletes only able to record 13 shots.
Unlike Team Canada who will probably be choosing between a vet and a young experienced goalie. Team USA will have to decide between two still relatively young players in Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley. Neither of the goalies really had to have an outstanding performance to see their team win. The final goalie on the Roster is Alex Rigsby, who dressed for both games thus far. She is the eldest of the goalies, at 26 years of age but once again it would be surprising to see her start without playing in the last week. None of these goalies were on Team USA’s roster during the Sochi Olympics. It is hard to say who will get the nod but I am going to guess Maddie Rooney who had a higher workload against a better team. She is the youngest of the three and a bit smaller in stature but that could be irrelevant in the eyes of the Team USA coaches.
