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With the official USA women’s 2018 Olympic hockey roster being announced, the 23 named players are ready to provide the answer to the big question: Why hasn’t the team managed to gain a gold medal since 1998?
Meghan Duggan, the captain for the American squad, acknowledged that this was an oft-repeated question that they have heard many times. It becomes even more relevant now, because since the 2014 Sochi debacle, the US team has won a gold medal in 7 out of the last 8 World Championships!
They are determined to avoid a recurrence of that match up, when they lost to Canada in the overtime minutes of the final game, and have been training hard to ensure that they can go the distance this time.
The USA Has What it Takes
In the same way that professional gamblers know the rules of blackjack inside and out, the American women’s hockey team very clearly understand what they need to do to beat Canada, and this makes it even stranger that their arch-rival has won the last 4 Olympic gold medals!
After emerging victorious from the inaugural women’s hockey game in 1998, the US has lost out to Canada over and over again: in 2002, 2010, and 2014, to be specific. In Sochi, the squad shockingly lost their 2 - 0 lead and the game went to Canada, with a final score of 3 - 2. The Americans had to settle for bronze after an upset by Sweden in 2006, too.
The Team Made a Commitment to Improve
Instead of dodging the question about their woeful Olympic performances, the US team has addressed it with candour, stating that they made a decision to improve, becoming even better than they were last spring, when they outplayed the Canadians and took the World Championship gold. Unlike in golf, hockey games can change at the last minute, and the team recognises this and knows where they went wrong.
Duggan said that they paid attention to where their weaknesses lay, and have worked specifically on those aspects of their play in order to ensure success.
A Team Experienced with the Olympics
The current roster has 10 players on it with experience of the Olympic games -which means that more than half the players know only defeat when it comes to facing their northern rivals. Duggan has stated that it is the right mix, however, with these players more ready than ever to change the tide.
All the Current Players are Excited to Make a New Ending
In November last year, Sidney Morin, defender, and Haley Skarupa, forward, were added to the roster for the training camp, and both subsequently managed to make it onto the team. Skarupa has been on the Americans’ last 3 World Championship teams, and Morin has been playing very well in the Swedish women’s league.
Robb Stauber, the coach for the team, had nothing but praise for Morin and Skarupa, saying that both women had done an excellent job of taking advantage of their chance to play. He added that the team was working excellently together, and that the gold medal could well be theirs for the taking.
He ended off by saying that the mantra for the team was their hunger for a different result at these Olympics!
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URL: http://www.whockey.com/news/2018/NoRepeatForThisYear.html