Pokecheque wrote:
They did those "rivalry series" so many times now, especially after the CWHL collapsed, that I just can't really tell anymore if this tournament is the real deal or just an exhibition. I just can't get excited about these the way I used to.
I feel the rivalry is somewhat deadened now because the players are so well mixed on the PWHL teams. The first few games of this year's rivalry series were nasty, physical games. After the PWHL had started up, the games were very friendly, slower paced. You could see US players joking around with Canadian players during games. That hadn't really happened before.
Maybe with this being the Worlds it will be more bitterly contested? Yesterday's game was good, but not great for a US-Canada game.