PLYMOUTH, Mich. — In the end, there were no surprises.
There never really is when these two countries face each other. Canada and the United States have played each in the final of every world championship since the tournament began. That wasn’t including the five times they also met in the gold medal game of the Olympics.
As Canadian head coach Laura Schuler said of the familiarity between the two countries, “I think they could probably write out our game plan and we could write out their game plan.”
It was another way of saying this was going to be a close game.