“It doesn’t matter when we play or who we play; we’re going to play with every inch of our being,” U.S. defenseman Gigi Marvin said. “We’re so fired up every time we put that U.S. jersey on so we don’t take any of these games lightly.”

After winning three of the first four games against its border rival, the U.S. has fallen in two straight to Canada including the most recent Tour meeting, a 2-1 overtime loss on Dec. 3 in St. Paul. Marvin said the loss only adds fuel to the fire that burns inside U.S. players each time they face Canada.

“It’s super disappointing that we lost because you want to win every time you put that USA sweater on, especially against Canada,” Marvin said after the loss in Minnesota. ”But there’s great things we can take from this and we know that this isn’t the end point.”

Following the loss in St. Paul, U.S. coach Robb Stauber praised his players for their ability to control their emotions in that the team’s bench demeanor is in no way indicative of the game score.

“At the end of the day, the players just have to be dialed in and focused on the next shift, the next shift, the next shift,” Stauber said. “When players start to show that, you see it on the bench. There are not a lot of highs and not a lot of lows, which is really what you’re hoping for. You want them to be focused on the job at hand.”

That could be put to the test, however, both in San Jose as well as the final pre-Olympic meeting between the archrivals on Dec. 17 in Edmonton, Alberta.

The U.S. has won six of seven international events and 11 of 16 games overall against Canada since the Canadians defeated Team USA, 3-2, in overtime to capture the gold medal at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. That gives Canada four straight Olympic gold medals in women’s ice hockey since the U.S. won the inaugural gold at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan.

The significance of that streak and the impending anniversary has not been lost on the current crop of players and coaches.

“We know it’s been 20 years, we don’t have to be geniuses to do that math,” Stauber said. “I think, for us, it’s not necessarily about the 20 years, but more about it’s time; we’ve got to bring home a gold medal. But you do it one game at a time.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.