CLEVELAND — Taylor Heise scored and set up each of Abbey Murphy’s three goals, and the United States women’s national hockey team opened the pre-Olympic Rivalry Series with a 4-1 win over Canada on Thursday night.
Laila Edwards had an assist in her Cleveland homecoming, with her shot from the right point deflected in by Heise midway through the first period. The 21-year-old Edwards is a forward-turned-defenseman from Cleveland Heights, and the first Black female player to skate for Team USA.
Projected U.S. starter Aerin Frankel stopped 26 shots, and the Americans have won three straight against their cross-border rival. The run dates to a two-game sweep of Canada at the world championships in the Czech Republic in April, including a 4-3 overtime win in the title game.
Sarah Fillier scored for Canada. Eve Gascon stopped 22 shots in her Canadian national team debut. The University of Minnesota-Duluth junior got the start with coach Troy Ryan going with a younger lineup. Canada left several veterans at home to rest, including goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens.
The teams meet again in Buffalo, N.Y., on Saturday. The four-game series between the global powers then concludes with two games in Edmonton, Alberta, next month.
While the Americans are the defending world champs, the Canadians are the defending Olympic champions, winning their fifth gold at the 2022 Beijing Games.
After Fillier and Heise traded goals 16 seconds apart, the Americans then blew the game open in the second period when Murphy one-timed in a pair of Heise passes. Murphy then completed her hat trick by tipping in Heise’s pass through the middle for a power-play goal 1:54 into the third period.
Edwards is a senior at Wisconsin and preparing to make her Olympic debut at the Milan-Cortina Games in February.
She was honored by taking the ceremonial opening faceoff against Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin, and in the lineup three weeks after being sidelined by a left knee injury.
She has already won a national championship with the Badgers, a world championship gold medal in April and was named the world championship MVP in 2024, when the U.S. lost to Canada in her tournament debut at Utica, N.Y.
Edwards was also wowed a night earlier upon seeing the NBA Cavaliers post a picture on X of former star Larry Nance arriving for their home game against Philadelphia wearing Edwards’ No. 10 USA hockey jersey. She found out about it while having dinner with family at her childhood home, and joined by U.S. and Wisconsin teammate Caroline Harvey.