Canada–United States women's national ice hockey rivalry

Canada and the United States have faced each other in the gold medal game of seven of eight Olympics, 23 of 24 IIHF Women's World Championships and 21 of 23 4 Nations Cups since the beginning of international play. Only a few of Canada's and the U.S.'s losses have been to teams outside their rivalry.

Canada currently leads with 106 wins against 88 American wins.

History After a U.S. victory over Canada at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, Canada won the next three gold medal games over the U.S. in 2002, 2010, and 2014 (the exception being 2006 where Canada defeated Sweden for gold and U.S. defeated Finland for bronze). In 2018, the U.S. ended a 20-year gold medal drought and denied Canada's bid for a fifth straight gold medal by defeating Canada in a shootout. Canada once again claimed gold over the U.S. at the 2022 Olympics, while U.S. won gold over Canada in 2026 Olympics in overtime.

However, at the World Championships, Canada won the first 8 straight gold medals from 1990 to 2004. From 2005 to 2019 the U.S. has dominated winning 9 of the 11 World Championships, defeating Canada eight times (the exception being 2019 where the U.S. won gold defeating Finland, who upset Canada in their semi-final match). Since 2020, Canada has won 3 of the last 4.

At the 4 Nations Cup, Canada and the U.S. have faced each other in every gold medal game (except 2001 when the U.S. withdrew due to the September 11 attacks and 2013 where Canada won gold defeating Finland and the U.S. won bronze defeating Sweden). Between 1996 and 2010, Canada won 12 of 15 and from 2011 to 2018, the U.S. won 6 of the 8. The tournament has not been played since the 2018 edition.

The longest Gold medal streak is tied at 9. The Canadian streak lasting from 1998 to 2002, was broken by U.S.'s Gold at the 2003 4 Nations Cup. The American streak lasting from 2015 to 2019, was broken by Canada's Gold at the 2021 World Championship. The longest win streak, eight games, by the Americans was broken by Canada's win in the gold medal game of the 2002 Olympics.

Game results

Head to head record Accurate as of February 19, 2026.

1 Tie

Canada Regulation Wins — 80

Overtime Wins — 16

Shootout Wins — 10

Total — 106

United States Regulation Wins — 65

Overtime Wins — 12

Shootout Wins — 11

Total — 88

Results of tournaments Year Tournament Canadian Results U.S. Result Other Team Host 1987 Worlds Gold Bronze — Silver (North York/Toronto) 1990 IIHF Gold Silver (Ottawa) 1992 IIHF Gold Silver (Tampere) 1994 IIHF Gold Silver (Lake Placid) 1995 Pacific Rim Gold Silver (San Jose) 1996 Pacific Rim Gold Silver (Richmond) 1996 Nations Cup Gold Silver (Ottawa) 1997 IIHF Gold Silver (Kitchener) 1997 Nations CupSilver Gold (Lake Placid) 1998 OlympicsSilver Gold (Nagano) 1998 Nations CupGold Silver (Kuortane) 1999 IIHFGold Silver (Espoo/Vantaa) 1999 Nations CupGold Silver (Montréal) 2000 IIHFGold Silver (Mississauga) 2000 Nations CupGold Silver (Provo) 2001 IIHFGold Silver (Minneapolis) 2001 Nations CupGold Did Not Participate — Silver (various locations) 2002 OlympicsGold Silver (Salt Lake City/West Valley City) 2002 Nations CupGold Silver (Kitchener) 2003 IIHF Cancelled due to SARS outbreak in China (Beijing) 2003 Nations CupSilver Gold (Skövde) 2004 IIHFGold Silver (Halifax/Dartmouth) 2004 Nations CupGold Silver (Burlington) 2005 IIHFSilver Gold (Linköping/Norrköping) 2005 Nations CupGold Silver (Hämeenlinna) 2005 Torino Ice Tournament Gold Silver (Turin) 2006 OlympicsGold Bronze — Silver (Turin) 2006 Nations CupGold Silver (Kitchener) 2007 IIHFGold Silver (Winnipeg/Selkirk) 2007 Nations CupGold Silver (Leksand) 2008 IIHFSilver Gold (Harbin) 2008 Nations CupSilver Gold (Leksand) 2009 IIHFSilver Gold (Hämeenlinna) 2009 Hockey Canada Cup Silver Gold (Vancouver) 2009 Nations CupGold Silver (Tikkurila) 2010 OlympicsGold Silver (Vancouver) 2010 Nations CupGold Silver (St. John's) 2011 IIHFSilver Gold (Zürich/Winterthur) 2011 Nations CupSilver Gold (Nyköping) 2012 IIHFGold Silver (Burlington) 2012 Nations CupSilver Gold (Tikkurila) 2013 IIHFSilver Gold (Ottawa) 2013 Nations CupGold Bronze — Silver (Lake Placid) 2014 OlympicsGold Silver (Sochi) 2014 Nations CupGold Silver (Kamloops) 2015 IIHFSilver Gold (Malmö) 2015 Nations CupSilver Gold (Kovland) 2016 IIHFSilver Gold (Kamloops) 2016 Nations CupSilver Gold (Järvenpää) 2017 IIHFSilver Gold (Plymouth) 2017 Nations CupSilver Gold (Tampa) 2018 OlympicsSilver Gold (Gangneung) 2018 Nations CupSilver Gold (Saskatoon) 2019 IIHFBronze Gold — Silver (Espoo) 2019 Nations Cup Cancelled due to contract disputes between Swedish Ice Hockey Association and Swedish Women's Team (Luleå) 2020 IIHF Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic (Halifax/Truro) 2020 Nations Cup Not scheduled due to COVID-19 pandemic / 2021 IIHF Gold Silver (Calgary) 2022 Olympics Gold Silver (Beijing) 2022 IIHF Gold Silver (Herning/Frederikshavn) 2023 IIHF SilverGold (Brampton) 2024 IIHF GoldSilver (Utica) 2025 IIHF SilverGold (České Budějovice) 2026 Olympics SilverGold (Milan) 2026 IIHF TBDTBD (Herning/TBA)

Medal tables Overall Accurate as of 2026 Winter Olympics.

Winter Olympics Accurate as of 2026 Winter Olympics.

IIHF Women's World Championship Accurate as of 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship.

Four Nations Cup Accurate as of 2018 4 Nations Cup.

References