USA women's hockey ready to defend gold after four months in Blaine

BEIJING — The U.S. women's hockey team was headquartered in Blaine for four months. It endured a COVID-19 outbreak. Then the squad tired of facing Canada in exhibition games, and tired of practicing against each other.

During all this, Team USA has seen progression in its play, its cohesiveness and its spirit.

Now it's time to defend its gold medal.

"It's been incredible to see the way the team has grown, to see the chemistry develop with each other," said defender Lee Stecklein, from Roseville. "And just knowing our coaches had such a great plan in place to really, make sure we were learning what we needed to when we needed to.

"And so now, to be here in January, feeling like we're fully prepared is really exciting."

The journey begins on Thursday when they face Finland in a preliminary round game (7:10 a.m., USA Network). It will be the first of four games in six days for the squad, with games against the Russian Olympic Committee, Switzerland and Canada to follow.

All five teams are in Group A, where the highest seeded teams have been placed. All five will advance to the knockout stage and play the top three teams from Group B. That group consists of Japan, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Sweden.

Canada and Team USA are considered the overwhelming favorites to reach the gold medal game. But they must prove their worthiness. Team USA will be led by veteran forward Hilary Knight, who has won two silvers and a gold for Team USA.

Stecklein and forwards Kendall Coyne Schofield, Amanda Kessel and Brianna Decker each have a gold and silver in Olympic play. Goaltending is a strength. Some of their defenders are young but have bags of talent.

It's a team built for success. The 2018 team lost to Canada in the preliminary round but won the rematch, 3-2, in the gold medal game.

After COVID issues affected nearly half the team over the last couple of months, all 23 players were on the ice Wednesday for a spirited practice at the Wukesong Sports Center in Beijing. They were unable to have a full practice at times during the run up to the games but adapted when they missed players.

"We really feel good about our plan back from October," Team USA head coach Joel Johnson said. "October was one thing, January was one thing. And now, the last two weeks have been a nice progression to feel like we're ready to go."

Team Finland has some skilled players and definitely has the hunger. It's a three-time bronze medal-winning team looking to break the USA-Canada stronghold on the higher spots on the podium.

Forward Petra Nieminen and defender Jenni Hiirikoski are key players, but jaws have dropped over the omission of stalwart goaltender Noora Raty from the team by head coach Pasi Mustonen. That raises the stakes as Finland is trying to cash in on its abilities while there's still time. The USA match looms big for them as they get tested without Raty right off the bat.

And it will be a USA team finally able to play someone other than Canada. Or themselves.

"There was a lot of practice in January against each other," Stecklein said. "So, seeing a lot of your teammates over and over again.

"We're so excited to play a game."