By Amy Tennery
MILAN, Feb 10 (Reuters) – The U.S. and Canada will be “out for blood” as they renew their rivalry at the Milano Cortina Games, U.S. veteran Alex Carpenter told reporters on Monday, with an upcoming group stage game that has the feel of a championship contest.
The only teams to take the top of the podium since the women’s ice hockey tournament joined the Olympic programme 28 years ago, the arch-rivals meet at Santagiulia arena on Tuesday in what is expected to be a preview of the gold medal game.
“As soon as we get on the ice here or any other international event, we’re all out for blood,” said the alternate captain Carpenter, who helped the United States past Switzerland on Monday 5-0 with one goal and one assist.
The prolific scorer has recorded a goal in all of the United States’ Group A games so far in Milan and is part of a team hungry for revenge after Canada denied them the gold in Beijing four years ago.
Buoyed by a group of young talent, including defensive stand out Laila Edwards, the Americans have only had one goal scored on them since they arrived in Milan, as they previously beat Czech Republic and Finland in the tournament.
They expect a tougher fight against Canada, whose 5-1 win over Czech Republic on Monday was overshadowed by injury concerns for their “Captain Clutch” Marie-Philip Poulin.
The game against Canada will be the last for the United States in the group stage, while Canada are set to play Finland on Thursday.
All five teams from Group A will advance, with their seeding in the last eight depending on placings in the preliminary standings.
“The stakes are higher, the intensity is higher. But we’ve just got to remind ourselves it’s still hockey and we do pretty good at hockey,” said Edwards.
“I think when we just stick to our brand, we’re intimidating.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in MilanEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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