ST. PAUL, Minn. - United States women's hockey coach Mark Johnson isn't a big believer in momentum carrying from the exhibition season into the Vancouver Games.
If he was, he'd think his team was in pretty big trouble right now.
Charline Labonte made 40 saves and Canada continued its recent dominance over the United States with a 2-1 exhibition victory Wednesday night at Xcel Energy Center.
"History tells us when these two teams have met in previous (exhibition seasons), the most important game is yet to be determined," Johnson said, referring to a potential gold medal matchup with the Canadians in Vancouver.
Colleen Sostorics had a goal and an assist, and Haley Irwin also scored for Canada, which has beaten the United States five times in a row and in six of the past seven exhibitions.
"You build up off of these games," Labonte said. "We're trying not to look past it though because in '01 and '02 we lost a lot of these games and came back and won the gold. So it really doesn't matter once you get to the Olympics."
Karen Thatcher scored for the Americans, and Molly Schaus made 25 saves. The U.S. was 0 for 5 on the power play, the final one coming with 1:15 to play.
The Americans peppered Labonte with 18 shots in the final period, including a handful in the closing seconds. But Labonte came up huge every time.
"I was loving it," Labonte said. "My team really played well in front of me and they were blocking a lot of shots so that really helped me."
The sterling performance could help earn her more playing time in the Olympics. She is currently competing with Shannon Szabados and Kim St.-Pierre for the No. 1 job.
"We're real fortunate. We've got three starters," coach Melody Davidson said. "It's a good problem to have, but it makes for a difficult decision."
The teams will meet one final time before the Vancouver Games, on Friday in Ottawa.
Playing about a 20-minute car ride from where the Americans train, Canada struck first when Sostorics fluttered a wrist shot from the point that Irwin deflected through Schaus' pads just over two minutes into the game.
After failing to register a shot on goal in the first 10 minutes of the second period, the Americans tied it up when Labonte kicked a shot by Erika Lawler into the slot, where Thatcher tipped in the rebound.
The goal seemed to shift the momentum, and the U.S. was on the power play when Angela Ruggiero made a mistake uncharacteristic of one of the team's veteran leaders.
During a scrum near the Canada goal, Ruggiero decked Catherine Ward, who tumbled over a sprawling Labonte. Ruggiero went to the penalty box for the body check and it took the Canadians just 14 seconds to take advantage during 4-on-4 play.
Sostorics unleashed a blast from the point that beat Schaus high on the glove side and caught the corner for a 2-1 lead.
It was one of three penalties in the period for the rugged Ruggiero, who perhaps was trying to send a message to the Canadians that the United States was finished being pushed around.
"We realized that if we want to win we've got to work," Lawler said. "We've lost the last however many games against Canada and we're not going to win it being laid back and nonchalant. We have to go in there and grind and get dirty."
The Canadians have dominated play between the only two superpowers in women's hockey in the last few months. In the previous seven meetings games, Canada has outscored the United States 27-12, including a 6-2 drubbing in Calgary on Dec. 15.
"It's a process," U.S. forward Natalie Darwitz said. "We don't want to be playing our best hockey now anyway. We want to peak in February."
The Canadians will be the defending champions, having won gold at the Turin Games in 2006 when the United States finished an embarrassing third.
The U.S. righted itself with back-to-back world championships in 2008 and '09 and also won the Hockey Canada Cup in September before the Canadians responded, starting with a 3-1 victory on Oct. 5. Canada's only loss to the United States in the past three months came in round-robin play at the Four Nations Cup in November.
A day later, Canada beat the Americans 5-1 to take home the title.
"I think every win we have, whether it's against the U.S., Finland, Sweden or the guys we play up in Canada, they're stepping stones for us," Davidson said. "You win in different ways and lose in different ways. As long as you learn from it, that's what you want."
