Canada, USA to clash in latest Rivalry Series on TSN
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Canada and the United States are back with the latest edition of the Rivalry Series starting Wednesday night in San Jose.
The last two editions of the Rivalry Series have seen Canada pull the reverse sweep on the U.S., erasing 3-0 series deficits before taking Game 7.
Watch Game 1 of the Rivalry Series LIVE at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on TSN1/5 and streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Last year, Canada dominated the U.S. in Game 7 with Natalie Spooner and Emma Maltais scoring twice each to lead Canada to a 6-1 victory.
The 2024-25 edition of the Rivalry Series will be five games. Game 1 (San Jose), Game 2 (West City Valley, Utah) and Game 3 (Boise, Idaho) are all in November before switching to Canada in February with Game 4 in Halifax and Game 5 in Summerside, PEI.
The two countries last faced off at the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championships in Utica, N.Y. in a back-and-forth gold-medal game that ended with Canada winning 6-5 in overtime on a goal from Danielle Serdachny.
Canada will have two players making their senior team debuts in Toronto Sceptres forward Daryl Watts and teenage phenom Chloe Primerano.
Primerano will become the second-youngest defender to play for Canada’s national women’s senior team, only two weeks older than Cheryl Pounder was when she debuted at the 1994 Women’s Worlds.
She passed current Canada defender Erin Ambrose as the highest-scoring blueliner in Canadian U18 history earlier this year. She helped lead Canada to bronze at the 2024 U18s, collecting MVP and best defender honours while leading the tournament in scoring.
Currently skating in the NCAA at the University of Minnesota, Primerano has one goal and five assists in 10 games this season. She is the only player on the Canadian Rivalry Series roster playing college hockey.
She is also the first female skater to be drafted by a Canadian Hockey League franchise, going in the 13th round (268th overall) to the Vancouver Giants.
Watts will be playing for the senior team for the first time at age 25. In her first PWHL season with Ottawa, Watts scored 10 goals with seven assists in 24 games before signing with Toronto in the off-season.
She previously suited up for Canada at the U18s twice, earning silver both times.
Watts played five seasons in the NCAA, playing at Boston College her first two years before transferring to Wisconsin for the final three, winning a national championship in 2021. She also played in the final Premier Hockey Federation season with the Toronto Six, winning an Isobel Cup as league champions.
On the other side, the Americans are bringing a young and high-scoring roster to the Rivalry Series. With 10 of their 27 players playing college hockey this season, the United States has the three top scorers in the NCAA with the Wisconsin trio of Casey O’Brien (26 points), Caroline Harvey (23) and Laila Edwards (22).