Get ready for another Canada-U.S. hockey showdown

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Last year's women's hockey world championship ended the way pretty much all of them do, with another thrilling Canada-U.S. final. This time, unlikely hero Danielle Serdachny's overtime goal gave the Canadians a dramatic 6-5 win in Utica, N.Y, avenging the Americans' victory in 2023 in Brampton, Ont.

Since the United States' run of five straight world titles from 2013 to 2019 (the worlds are not held in Olympic years), Canada has captured three of the last four while also reclaiming the Olympic gold medal in 2022. The Canadians have also won four consecutive Rivalry Series, taking the deciding Game 5 this February in Summerside, P.E.I.

So, Canada clearly has the edge right now in this battle of women's hockey superpowers. But it's a thin one: six of the last seven world-title games have been decided by a goal (five of them in overtime or a shootout) along with three straight Olympic gold-medal games (two in OT or a shootout).

Here's what else to know ahead of the 2025 women's world championship, which opens Wednesday in the Czech Republic.

Canada and the U.S. will almost certainly meet in the final again.

We like to think that anything can happen in sports, but that's not really true for international women's hockey. Canada and the U.S. have now played each other in 22 of the 23 women's world championship finals (host Finland upset the Canadians in the 2019 semis) and no other country has ever won one. The cross-border archrivals have owned the Olympics too, meeting in six of the seven women's finals (Sweden shocked the Americans in the 2006 semis) and winning every