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Hayley Wickenheiser gets fired up thinking back on Canada-U.S. rivalry

There might not be a more natural rivalry in hockey than the one between the Canadian women and their neighbours to the south.

Since the onset of the women’s game, the two super powers have slugged it out for the right to hockey supremacy. No other team is close in terms of talent or success. It’s a rivalry that’s only gotten more bitter with each passing year. And nobody has experienced the intensity of it more than Hayley Wickenheiser.

The Canadian legend was there from Day 1 at the 1998 Nagano Games, where the U.S. upset Canada in the first-ever women’s hockey Olympic final. Since then, it’s been all Canada. The Red and White have won 23 straight against the U.S. at the Olympics, including the last four gold-medal games and a feisty 2-1 win in their first meeting at PyeongChang on Thursday.

The pendulum has swung the other way at the World Championships of late, with the U.S. winning seven of the last eight. Between the two premiere tournaments, Canada and the U.S. have faced off in 22 of the 23 championship games with another chapter all but certain to be written this year.

It’s no secret these two teams don’t like each other. Even in retirement, Wickenheiser still gets fired up thinking back to all those heated, emotionally charged run-ins with the Americans.

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