There's the United States and there's Canada.
One has the 1998 Olympic gold medal, the other has seven consecutive World Championships.
In women's ice hockey, it's all about these two archrivals. The neighboring countries have dominated the sport since the first world title was awarded in 1990.
"This U.S. and Canada rivalry has made women's hockey what it is today," said veteran Canadian forward Cassie Campbell. "You know you have to battle hard, because if you don't you know they're going to beat you, it's as simple as that."
Barring a Finnish, Swedish or Russian miracle on ice, the other teams in the 2002 Winter Games tournament, Feb. 11-21, are simply playing for third place.
In the sport's 12-year history, the Americans' only losses have come against the Canadians. And Team Canada's only setbacks have been at the hands of Team USA.
"I love being on the ice playing them because every time we play I know it's going to be a great game," said U.S. forward Karyn Bye, who led the Americans with five goals in the 1998 Games.
"Both teams are extremely talented, both teams are very well-coached; they know a lot of our players and we know a lot of their players. It's a matter of going out there and making the fewest mistakes."
Competition between the two has been well-balanced over the years, although Canada seems to come through in big games.
In the 2000 Four Nations Cup, played in Provo, the U.S. beat Canada 4-1 in the preliminary round but lost 2-0 to the Canadians in the finals. Last April, the U.S. looked like the best team in the 2001 World Championships until it fell 3-2 to Canada in the gold-medal game.
Team Canada earned the top seed in the Olympics by virtue of its first-place finish in the 2000 World Championships. The Americans were the runner-ups and thus will be seeded second when the eight-team Olympic tournament begins Monday.
But during the recent pre-Olympic tour, the U.S. went undefeated in 31 games and beat Canada eight times. The Canadians enter the tournament as the underdogs.
"We really have nothing to lose," said high-scoring Canadian forward Hayley Wickenheiser. "I don't think anybody thinks we're going to win."
Four years ago, Canada won seven of the 13 pre-Olympic games between the two, but the U.S. still managed to win the first-ever Olympic women's hockey tournament.
Canadian Coach Daniele Sauvageau said the big difference between Salt Lake City and Nagano is that her team has played in the E Center before, is familiar with the building and the community, and is less likely to be distracted by the environment. Pressure, she said, is not something the Canadians are concerning themselves with.
"Right now, the team is very positive," she said Thursday after her squad's first Olympic practice.
If there is one other nation that could surprise, it's Finland. The Finns placed third in the '98 Games as well as in six of the seven world tournaments. They have played close games against both the United States and Canada and nearly upset the Americans ? the Finns held a 3-1 lead with 10 minutes left ? in the 2000 World Championships.
U.S. Coach Ben Smith is the first to remind his players and the media of Finland's capability.
"Finland is definitely a threat, and I think Russia, on any given night," said U.S. forward Tricia Dunn. "But we're not looking outside to what anybody else is doing, whether it's Canada, Finland or Russia. We're focused on our team and getting better every day.
"If we just go out there and focus on what our task is and our team as a unit, then I think we're going to be successful."
The United States begins its quest to defend gold on Tuesday, 11 a.m. at the E Center, in a pool-play match against seventh-seeded Germany. Team USA will play sixth-seeded China on Thursday, 4 p.m. at the Peaks Ice Arena in Provo. Both should be easy wins for the United States.
The best game of the preliminary round could be the U.S.-Finland game next Saturday, 11 a.m. at the E Center. Regardless of the outcome, the Americans and Finns should advance to the medals' round, while China and Germany could end up playing each other for fifth place, as they did in last year's World Championships.
Canada will be grouped with fourth-seeded Sweden, fifth-seeded Russia and eighth-seeded Kazakhstan for opening week, round-robin play.
The Swedes, the fourth-best team in the World for most of the '90s, have fallen on hard times of late ? so much so that Sweden's Olympic Committee almost decided not to enter a team in the 2002 Games. But the Swedes looked sharp in downing China 4-1 and shutting out Germany 5-0 in a pair of practice games in Utah this week.
The Russians were the surprise of the 2001 World Championships, beating Finland for the bronze medal and playing relatively close games against Canada (a 5-1 loss) and the United States (a 6-1 loss).
The Russia-Sweden game, 2 p.m. Monday at the Peaks Ice Arena, likely will determine which one of those squads will advance to the medal round along with Canada.
Canada opens with Kazakhstan, 11 a.m. Monday at the E Center, then meets Russia at the same time and place on Wednesday.
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