Yes, this game is big — but it’s not Canada.

That is the unspoken sentiment in the U.S locker room any time we’re not playing our biggest rival.

Every game for Team USA is important, and we don’t take anyone lightly, but our games against Canada are just on a different level. And they’re even more intense when we’re at the Olympics.

Women’s hockey is dominated by two nations, the U.S. and Canada. It’s always a heated matchup and no other nation has ever won a world championship or Olympic gold medal. At the beginning of a tournament the first thing we do is check our schedule, the second is check Canada’s.

Losing the Olympic gold medal game in Vancouver in 2010 was a blow to our confidence, but we still believed in ourselves. At the Sochi Games in 2014, we were so focused on winning, and seemingly in control of our destiny….

The record books show that the U.S. has won seven of the last 10 world championships. But Canada has won Olympic gold every year since 2002.

Why?