CALGARY - The momentum is swinging back to the Canadian women's hockey team in its rivalry with the U.S., but Canada's head coach Melody Davidson doesn't see it that way.
"I've been around this rivalry long enough to know that every day is a new day and both teams are so close," she said Monday.
Canada was on a 2-6 slump versus the U.S., including losses in the last two world championship finals, after September's Hockey Canada Cup in Vancouver.
Since then, the Canadians have won four of their last five against the Americans heading into Tuesday's game in Calgary (TSN, 10 p.m. ET).
The game is the fourth of a six-game travelling exhibition series that both countries are using to prepare for the Winter Olympics starting Feb. 12 in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C.
According to Hockey Canada, about 8,000 tickets had been sold as of Monday for the game at Pengrowth Saddledome, which seats 19,289.
The Canadians are coming off a 4-2 win over the U.S. on Saturday in Denver to improve to 3-0 in the series, but they are 1-3 against the Americans in international tournaments this winter.
The U.S. beat Canada twice at the Hockey Canada Cup, which was an Olympic test event, in September. They split two games at the annual Four Nations Cup in November with Canada winning the final 5-1 in Finland.
The exhibition series concludes with games Dec. 30 in St. Paul, Minn., and Jan. 1 in Ottawa.
Canada opens the Olympic hockey tournament Feb. 13 against Slovakia.
Davidson was an assistant coach of the 2002 Olympic team that won gold in Salt Lake City and head coach of the 2006 squad that repeated in Turin, Italy.
She says while Canada's games against the U.S. leading up to the Olympics are important preparation for both sides, they are no indicator of what the result will be if Canada and the U.S. meet for gold Feb. 25 in Vancouver.
"It was shown in 2002 they didn't mean a whole lot," she said, referring to Canada's 0-8 record versus the U.S. before winning the gold-medal game.
"It came down to the one game and we won. One game, anything can happen. You've got officiating, you've got health, you've got good-day, bad-day. There's so many factors that are involved."
Canada went 8-2 versus the U.S. leading into Turin, but ended up meeting the Swedes in the final after they upset the Americans in the semifinal.
While Davidson views exhibition games against the U.S. as great preparation and a chance to evaluate who on her team is playing well, she admits her players take a different view.
"It seems like every time you play there is a gold medal on the line," she said. "There's pride on the line, there's bragging rights. It's still just a game in the big picture, where the big picture for both teams, and us especially, is we want to be in the gold-medal game."
There's more at stake than a win Tuesday for players on both teams. Canada and the U.S. will each release two players before naming their 21-woman Olympic rosters.
The Americans plan to announce their team Thursday in Minneapolis, while Davidson hasn't yet said when she'll name her final lineup. She may keep two players as alternates. They would continue training with the Canadian team as insurance against a major injury.
Canada travels to Medicine Hat on Thursday and Lethbridge on Friday to continue its schedule against men's midget triple-A teams in the Alberta Midget Hockey League. Davidson indicated she wouldn't make her decision before that road trip.
"We'll just survive this week here," she said. "We hit the road for Medicine Hat on Wednesday and get through all of that. We'll meet as coaches and see where we think we are."
Canada is averaging about 29 shots against per game and Davidson would like to get that number down to 25 on Tuesday.
Marie-Philip Poulin of Beauceville, Que., and Montreal's Caroline Ouellette scored within a minute of each other early in the second period Saturday to help give the visitors a 3-0 lead going into the third period. The U.S. responded with a pair of goals and Canada scored again in the last period.
"We were real patient and stuck to our game plan," Davidson said. "We got the one goal in the first period, which gave us good confidence going into the second and we scored those two quick goals.
"In the third, full credit to the U.S., there was no quit in them. They came back hard and we really had to battle hard. That was real important for us to stand up to that type of battle mentality and be able to come out with the win."
The women are 11-5 in the AMHL. Those games are largely responsible for Canada's recent upswing in confidence against the U.S. as the women are regularly tested by strong and fast opposition.
NOTES: Canada is 52-35-1 all-time versus the U.S. . . Canadian forward Cherie Piper is one point away from a career 100. . . Megan Agosta of Ruthven, Ont., is Canada's leading scorer against the U.S. this season as seven of her eight goals are against the Americans.
