Women expecting all-out hockey war

Web posted February 16, 1998

By Dennis Sodomka
Executive Editor

NAGANO, Japan - The battle for the first Olympic gold medal in women's hockey will be like Ali-Frazier, the Klingons vs. the Borg, Godzilla vs. Mothra.

You name the fight, real or imagined, and the United States-Canada brawl for the gold on Tuesday will match it in intensity and emotion. Neither team will leave anything in the locker room.

Tempers were short in the most physical of 14 games between the two, Saturday's 7-4 victory for the United States. Twenty penalties were handed out, leading Canadian coach Shannon Miller to say the game was ``out of control.''

Coming into the tournament everyone knew it would come down to the United States and Canada in a rivalry that has grown more intense and physical as the two teams have gotten to know each other well. They split the 14 games they have played since October, but the only one that matters is the next one.

Dorothy, right, the mother of CBS-TV entertainer David Letterman, talks with U.S. Olympic women's hockey team captain Cammie Granato, of Downer's Grove, Ill., in the team's lockerroom during a taping for the show Sunday, Feb. 15, 1998 IN Nagano, Japan. The U.S. women are undefeated in Olympic play and are in line for a possible gold-medal matchup against the Canadian team which they defeated Saturday night. AP Photo/Tony Esparza

``I expect that the intensity will fire up again,'' said U.S. coach Ben Smith. ``They're the world champions. They want to protect that and we want to take it away. There's a turf war going on out there.''

``It's a perfect scenario, rolling into the gold medal game with the series tied 7-7,'' said Miller, who heads the Canadian contingent.

Although both teams will try to cut down on the 20 penalties handed out in Saturday's game, neither one wants to relax and let the other gain an advantage.

``Any time you play Canada, you're going to have a physical game,'' said Karyn Bye, one of the stars of the U.S. team. ``I'm not tired of playing them.''

``When these two teams meet, something happens,'' said Colleen Coyne, a U.S. defenseman. ``Someone feels they got tripped or slashed and then it all breaks loose.''