The Canadian Women’s Hockey Team is the favorite to win the Gold Medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. In fact, ever since the team formed in 1990, Canada has always been the favorite to win every hockey game they’ve ever played. They’ve only lost to two other countries – USA and Sweden. So that may leave you asking: Why is Team Canada so good?
Hayley Wickenheiser
Canada’s top player is Hayley Wickenheiser, who is so good she’s the only woman to have ever played on a professional men’s hockey team, HC Salamat in Finland. She has played on every Canadian Olympic Women’s Hockey Team since it became an event at in 1998 at Nagano, Japan, and has earned two Gold Medals and one Silver Medal since then.
Marie-Philip Poulin
This year, Marie-Philip Poulin is the 18-year-old prospect all the top scouts are watching at the Canadian games. And if you don’t know what a scout does, they come from American and Canadian universities to contact the best players and offer them scholarships to play for their school’s team. Marie-Philip has told reporters that she had to buy a new phone because her old phone would not stop ringing with offers!
Golden Goals
So far Canada is dominating every game they have played at the 2010 Olympics. They have won 18-0 over Slovakia and 10-1 over Switzerland, but these lopsided victories are not uncommon in women’s hockey. During qualifications for these Olympics, Slovakia beat Bulgaria 83-0.
Hockey Country
The reason why other countries are not competitive like Canada is because of their cultures. Hockey is so popular in Canada, both boys and girls can play competitively at young ages. There are many hockey schools, professional coaches and leagues where kids of all ages can practice and play competitively all year long. In other countries around the world, it’s not that popular. There’s not enough interest to start businesses that teach children how to play at a competitive level. So it will be very difficult for Canada to ever see more competition at the Olympic Games. In fact, the scores are so uncompetitive that Women’s Ice Hockey is in danger of being banned at the Winter Olympics like Women’s Softball was banned for the Summer Olympics.
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