Canada & The US Will Play For Women's Hockey Gold After Both Men's Teams Were Sent Home

Would it be a Winter Olympics if Canada and the U.S. didn't meet in the women's hockey final?

The two rivals will play for each country's only chance at a gold medal in hockey, after the men's teams were both knocked out of their tournament.

The game will happen on Thursday in Beijing, but the time will be 8:10 p.m. PT or 11:10 p.m. EST in North America.

The women's hockey teams for Canada and USA have faced each other in 6 games during the Olympics, and so far, Canada has won four of those games, bringing home a gold medal for each, reported ESPN.

But Team USA is the reigning champion from the last Olympics, and you know they won't want to give that up.

The U.S. defeated Finland in the semifinals with a 4-1 win on February 14th, landing it the match against Canada, an age-old opponent.

Meanwhile, Canada beat Switzerland with a whopping 10-3 score during the semifinals.

Women's hockey was introduced to the Olympics in 1998, and since then, the two countries have faced each other at almost every final. They're also the only two countries ever to win a gold in the discipline, reported NPR.

This year's Canadian women's hockey team has proven to be very high-scoring and is being hailed as the most talented group of Canadian women for the Olympics.

According to the National Post, for the first time, Canada's current women's hockey team is highly favoured for the match against their rivalling neighbours.

American forward Hilary Knight told reporters that the sport "gets the best and the worst out of both of us at the same time," adding that "it's just a wonderful game."

"You know, I think it's wonderful hockey. It's the most beautiful rivalry in sports."

The women's hockey teams are carrying their entire country on their backs as both the Canadian and the U.S. men's hockey teams were eliminated on Wednesday in Beijing.

The U.S. men's hockey team lost to Slovakia while Sweden defeated Team Canada later in the day.

This would make it the first time in 16 years that Canada's men's hockey team will be returning home without a medal, reported CBC.

There were no current NHL players in this year's men's tournament, so Canada and the U.S. didn't necessarily bring their best to Beijing.

But that won't make it easier for either side to watch another country win gold this weekend.