'I truly think we're the best team': Knight, U.S. confident ahead of hockey worlds

Hilary Knight is unaccustomed to losing, leaving the face of the U.S. national women's hockey team still feeling the sting of watching the Canadians celebrate their gold-medal victory at the Beijing Winter Games in February.

The memory following a 3-2 loss had Knight looking ahead to settling several scores before the Americans left for Denmark, where they will open the world championships with a game against Japan on Thursday.

Informed there might be 23 players north of the border who might differ with her assessment of who's best, Knight shrugged and said: "That's fine. I don't care. Cool."

There might be 10 nations competing, but as is usually the case in women's hockey, the focus revolves around the United States and Canada, who will resume the next chapter of one of sports' fiercest and longest-running rivalries.

Canada has the bragging rights. The Canadians' win at Beijing came four years after losing to the U.S. at the 2018 Games in South Korea. They're also the defending world champions after a 3-2 overtime victory a year ago to end the Americans' run of five straight titles. They handed the U.S. a 3-1 loss Tuesday in an exhibition game in Denmark, too.

Proud as he is of Canada's accomplishments, coach Troy Ryan was reserved when informed of Knight's comments.

"Any player or any coach, they have their opinions," Ryan said. "We definitely don't pay a whole lot of attention to what the opposition is saying. We focus on what makes us successful."

Driving Canada's success has been Ryan introducing a high-octane style of offence the women's game has not seen in the 24 years since it became an Olympic sport.

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Canada went 7-0 at Beijing and outscored its