Steve Futterman

rules Olympic women's ice hockey.

For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Milan.

This will be the seventh time the U.S.

and Canada have faced off in the gold medal match for women's ice hockey.

Between them, the two countries have won every gold medal since it became an Olympic sport in 1998.

This year, the U.S.

is the clear favorite, having soundly beaten the Canadians last week 5-0 in the preliminary round game.

Taylor Heisey of the U.S.

team says the previous contest means very little.

The U.S.

has won two gold medals in women's ice hockey.

The Canadians have won five, including 2022.

For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Milan.

The dream gold medal match of the U.S.

versus Canada was on the brink twice on Wednesday.

In the end, both the Americans and Canadians survived, but each had to do it in overtime.

In the U.S.-Sweden game, the Americans were 91 seconds away from victory when Sweden tied the game 1-1.

In the overtime, Quinn Hughes, who plays for the Minnesota Wild, was able to get the winning goal to keep the Americans alive.

The Canada-Czechia game was even more dramatic.

The Czechs took a 3-2 lead with less than eight minutes left in regulation.