Olympic Hockey 2018 Schedule, Live Stream for Sunday's Women's Games
Rarely do you see the best teams in an Olympic sport play each other from the start.
That's the case in women's hockey, as the United States, Canada, Olympic Athletes from Russia and Finland start round-robin play in Group A Sunday.
In the unusual eight-team Olympic format, all four teams from Group A will advance to the elimination round, with the two best teams from Group A earning positions in the semifinals.
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The nations that finish third and fourth in Group A are slotted into quarterfinal matchups with the winner and runner-up from Group B.
What we will witness Sunday, and throughout most of Group A, are competitive games between nations that have plenty of history with each other and are expected to play again in the medal round.
Sunday Women's Ice Hockey Schedule
All events will be live-streamed on NBCOlympics.com
Group A: Finland vs. United States (2:40 a.m. ET)
Group A: Canada vs. Olympic Athletes from Russia (7:10 a.m. ET)
Canada Hoping Experience Guides Younger Roster
The four-time defending women's hockey gold medalists experienced a notable turnover between Sochi and Pyeongchang.
Gone are the three Canadians with the most games played for the national team in Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford and Caroline Ouellette, as well as Gillian Epps and Catherine Ward.
If any other nation lost that much experience in a short span, it would be seen as a deathblow to its chances of contending for the gold medal, but Canada just reloads with a wealth of talent at its disposal.
Seven players on the 23-woman roster are 25 years old or younger, including forward Sarah Nurse, who is the cousin of Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse, while nine players overall will be making their Olympic debuts.
The young group will rely on the Olympic experience of captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who has scored the gold-medal clinching goal in the past two Olympics, 33-year-old defender Meaghan Mikkelson and goalie Shannon Szabados to get them used to the nature of the tournament, starting Sunday against the Olympic Athletes from Russia.
Poulin talked to Dan Barnes of the National Post about how the retired group of players set her up to fill the leadership position.
"We had the chance to learn from the girls before us," Poulin said. "Those girls have been an amazing part of the team. Those are big shoes to fill, but we have that core group here."
The first two games will be key for the Canadians to develop chemistry before the big-time clash with the United States.
United States Gets 1st Test from Medal Contender
The United States' top target on its way to a potential gold is Canada, but first it has to get past Finland Sunday.
Finland is a two-time bronze medalist at the Olympics, and it has earned third place at two of the past three World Championships.
The United States defeated Finland 5-3 in group play at the 2017 IIHF World Championship in Michigan, two days after Finland knocked off Canada by a goal.
The American defensive strategy should focus on limiting the impact of Finland captain Jenni Hiirikoski, who has won the best defender title at the past three World Championships.
Hiirikoski specializes at being involved in the attack, which is something she will try to do from the outset Sunday.
Expect Hilary Knight, Meghan Duggan and Amanda Kessel to counteract any Finnish attack with an offensive outburst of their own.
Even though Finland has improved since Sochi, the United States is still seen as the favorite to pick up a victory, leaving the Finns with a fight to get into the top two in Group A.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
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