Olympic Hockey Results 2022: USA, Canada Advance to Women's Gold-Medal Game

The stage is set for the final of the women's ice hockey tournament in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Canada hammered Switzerland 10-3 in the first semifinal, and the United States followed with a 4-1 victory over Finland. The teams will meet Thursday in a rematch from the 2018 Winter Olympics final.

Canada lost out on a gold medal to the U.S. four years ago in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but headed to Beijing as the clear favorite. The Canadians reasserted themselves as the best in the world with an overtime win over Team USA at the 2021 Women's World Championship. 

Troy Ryan's squad has shown no mercy in Beijing.

Canada beat the United States 4-2 to close out the preliminary round. The team won its other five games by a combined score of 50-6.

Eight of the top 10 players in points are Canadians. The pair of Brianne Jenner and Sarah Fillier have scored 17 goals between them.

The United States won't be overawed by its opponent in the final. Head coach Joel Johnson has some notable holdovers from the 2018 roster. Kendall Coyne Schofield, Brianna Decker, Amanda Kessel and Lee Stecklein are all competing in their third Olympics, while Hilary Knight is in her fourth Winter Games.

But there's no question Canada has had Team USA's number of late.

In the Women's Worlds, the Canadians cruised past the U.S. 5-1 in the preliminary round before winning the final rematch. In the preliminary round of this tournament, Canada won again even though the United States nearly doubled Canada's shot total, finishing with 53 to 27.

The U.S. briefly led in the second period after Dani Cameranesi and Alex Carpenter scored, but the trio of Jenner, Jamie Lee Rattray and Marie-Philip Poulin found the net over a six-minute span to put Canada back in the driver's seat.

In a good way, Johnson will have a dilemma on his hands in terms of who starts at goaltender for the United States.

Maddie Rooney, the primary netminder in 2018, and Nicole Hensley have each started one game in Beijing, and Rooney got the nod against Canada the first time around. But Alex Cavallini added to a strong showing in the tournament with 25 saves against Finland on Monday.

Cavallini has the hot hand, but Rooney has the edge in Olympic experience.

Granted, the Canadian attack is so potent that it may not matter who's standing between the pipes for the United States.