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WNY native Hayley Scamurra and Team USA face Canada again in women's hockey for Olympic gold

One of sports' fiercest and longest-running grudge-matches will resume Thursday when the American and Canadian women's hockey teams faceoff in Beijing.
Credit: AP
United States' Hayley Scamurra (16) is congratulated after scoring a goal against Finland during a women's semifinal hockey game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

BEIJING, China — One of sports' fiercest and longest-running grudge-matches will resume Thursday when the American and Canadian women's hockey teams faceoff at the Beijing Games with an Olympic gold medal on the line. 

The game will mark the sixth time out of seven Olympics the cross-border rivals will play for the title. Canada has won four times. 

The United States is the defending champion after a thrilling 3-2 shootout victory in 2018 in Pyeongchang. The test for the U.S. is finding a way to contain Canada's dynamic offense.

The Canadians are 6-0 and have outscored opponents by a margin of 54-8. Canada defeated the U.S. 4-2 in the preliminary round.

WNY native Hayley Scamurra plays for Team USA and scored a goal against Finland during the women's semifinal hockey game earlier this week. 

Scamurra told 2 On Your Side that she's excited for the opportunity to play in the Olympics and the support she has received. She spoke with 2 On Your Side's Julianne Pelusi just before the Olympics began.

"It's just so cool. All the love and support I've received just from Buffalo. It's meant the world to me, and I feel like we do have that special community where we really embrace each other. We're rooting for each other," Scamurra said.

"I can feel the rallying people behind me, so I'm excited to represent them and bring a gold medal back there."

The game against Canada begins at 11:10 p.m. EST time Wednesday. You can watch it LIVE here: https://stream.nbcolympics.com/beijing-olympics-hockey-womens-gold-medal-game?chrcontext=wgrz 

The U.S. have one of the most stacked depth charts in the tournament. When speaking with The Instigators this week, Hayley was asked about making the most of her lines ice time. Hayley said she doesn't really think about it, "I'm just there and I am ready when they call me and we will go out and do our job." said Scamurra. 

Well, coming off a game where she gave the U.S. a goal to seal the win and punch their ticket to the gold medal game, it seems her words have been proven true.

Team USA's only loss came to the hands of Canada in the preliminary round, Hayley says that loss served as a lesson for the team heading in the knockout round and expressed confidence in being able to defeat the Canadians.

"We just got to put in those second and third chances more often, we couldn't quite get there, and we need to sharpen up defensively, but I think we learned a lot from it and I think we will come back from it. I don't have a doubt in my mind that we can beat them."

You can find the latest Olympic coverage on our website at: wgrz.com/olympics

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