Canadian women's hockey begins Beijing 2022 prep with exhibitions against U.S.

For the first time in two decades, the Canadian women's hockey team enters the Olympic season as reigning world champion.

With its 3-2 overtime victory in August, Canada reclaimed the title that had eluded it since 2012 ― breaking a six-year streak of American dominance in tournament competition. 

Both teams resume their Olympic preparation in earnest this week, with a pair of games in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Hartford, Connecticut. These will be the first of many meetings through to late December, and a key test on the road to Beijing. While the series may officially be an exhibition, these games are high-stakes, with players battling to earn their spots and vie for gold in 2022.

"As we go through this year we want to play best-on-best competition, so the series against the U.S. are pretty vital and integral to our process," explained forward Sarah Nurse.

"The U.S. is our biggest rival so when we get the opportunity to play them and put our preparation and our practice to work, it's super important for when we get to the Olympics."

WATCH | Examining Canada's women's hockey team's impact on, off ice:

Both the Canadian and American players spend the months leading up to the Games in an extended training camp known as centralization (or residency, south of the border.)

For the remainder of the calendar year, each country's aspiring Olympians will train together and compete in a slate of exhibitions in the hopes of cracking their team's final 23-player roster.

The IIHF allowed only 25 athletes per country at that event, so the exhibition series also provides greater roster flexibility to integrate all of Canada's available players.

"We set our sights out to win two gold medals this year and we've already won one at the World Championship," Nurse said. "Now that we have our full group back together, we're back preparing and we're very confident in ourselves."

The Americans, for their part, took a break after the tournament before regrouping in Blaine, Minnesota in early October. Along with regular training and skills work, they've scrimmaged against boys' teams and played a three-game series against an all-star roster from the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association.

"Obviously Worlds didn't go the way we wanted," said U.S. defender Lee Stecklein.

"So [we're] really figuring out what we can work on immediately to improve for these upcoming games and then, over the long stretch, figuring out what our team needs to do and how we need to come together to find a way to be ready to go for the Olympics."

Though everyone will have to earn their place, this series will be a particularly valuable showcase for the young players who didn't compete at Worlds.