Rivalry another romp for U.S.

Women's hockey team easily beats Canada 5-0 and runs shutout streak to 151 minutes.

- KEVIN BAXTER

GOALIE Ann-Renee Desbiens gives up a goal by the U.S., which won its seventh straight against No. 2 Canada.

The hockey group-play game between the U.S. and Canada at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games on Tuesday was both meaningless and vitally important.

For the record, the U.S. breezed to a 5-0 win behind two goals from Hannah Bilka, a goal and two assists from Carolina Harvey and three assists from Abbey Murphy. It was another complete, methodical performance, one that saw the U.S. score in every period for a fourth straight game while shutting out an opponent for a third straight time, running its shutout streak to 151 minutes.

But because both teams had already qualified for the next round, the only thing the result determined was positioning for the quarterfinals, with the U.S. (4-0) earning the top seed out of Group A.

Yet the game was also important because it was the U.S. and Canada, a rivalry that once stood alongside Coke-Pepsi, Dodgers-Giants and paper vs. plastic as one of the greatest ever. But is it waning?

The U.S. entered the Games ranked first in the world, Canada is second. Canada has won five of the seven previous Olympic tournaments, the U.S. won the other two.