U.S.-Canada world championship final is no guarantee as competitive gap in women's hockey closes

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U.S.-Canada world championship final is no guarantee as competitive gap in women's hockey closes

2024-04-03 05:07 Last Updated At：05:10

Fond as Hilary Knight is of the fierce women’s hockey rivalry between the United States and Canada, the 34-year-old has watched her sport’s international growth enough to realize the decades-long era of North American dominance might finally be coming to close.

Whether that happens at this year’s 10-nation world championship, which opens in Utica, New York, on Wednesday, or at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the U.S. captain said she can envision a time when the Americans and Canadians aren’t a lock to meet with a gold medal on the line.

“It just speaks to there’s more eyes on the sport, there’s more investment. More countries are able to show up and play, and I think it’s awesome,” said Knight, a nine-time world champion who is preparing to compete in her 14th tournament. “And that’s why you really have to take this tournament one game at a time because nothing’s guaranteed.”

There’s a similar expectation — don’t call it a concern — growing in Canada, where two-time Olympic defenseman Renata Fast welcomes the challenge of nations bridging the competitive gap.

“As a high-performance athlete, you want to play the best, you want other teams to make it tough,” Fast said. “All of our goals is to grow the game. And the more challenges, the better.”

Make no mistake, the defending champion Americans and Canadians are favored to play for gold on April 14 for what would be the 22nd time in 23 tournaments. The only exception came in 2019, when host team Finland upset Canada in the semifinals before losing a shootout to the Americans.

While Finland remains a contender, fast-rising Czechia — winners of the past two bronze medals — and a young Swedish team are showing signs of being ready to mount a challenge.

“We’re not resting on our laurels by any means,” Czech coach and former Canadian Olympian Carla MacLeod said of her team that as recently as 2015 was playing in the IIHF's second division.

“The mission is clear. Everyone is doing their darndest to try to give their teams the best opportunity to win a gold medal, and we’re no different,” she added. “Is the time now, is the time later? We’ll never know. ... But I think that gap is going to close.”

The Swedes, who haven’t medaled since 2007, are brimming with confidence.

They’re buoyed by a roster that might be young — 14 players are 22 or younger — but features nine who have won silver on under-18 teams in 2018 and 2023. And Sweden returns a majority of a team that nearly toppled Canada in a 3-2 overtime loss in the world quarterfinals last year.

“We don’t respect them like maybe we did a few years ago,” 18-year-old Mira Jungaker said, referring to the U.S. and Canada. “Like, we still respect them, of course, but not on the ice (and we are) going on the confidence that we can actually beat them.”

The competitive landscape of women’s hockey is shifting with more European nations having their players develop at U.S. colleges. This year’s launch of the six-team Professional Women’s Hockey League is expected to spur the level of parity further by attracting more international players to North America.

Though a majority of PWHL players are currently Canadians and Americans, the league is eager to expand its reach. Five Czechs are competing in the PWHL, and MacLeod called it notable how much their confidence has grown in showing they can play with the best.

“They’re learning that they’re not just players in the league, they’re impact players in the league,” said MacLeod, who doubles as coach of PWHL Ottawa, which features two Czechs, including Katerina Mrazova, who is tied for third in the scoring race with 17 points (six goals, 11 assists).

Czech defenseman Aneta Tejralova, who also plays for Ottawa, is taking over as captain following the retirement of Alena Mills, while the team will be without PWHL Montreal's Dominika Laskova, who is sidelined by an injury.

The Czechs welcome back goalie Klara Peslarova, who missed last year’s world championship due to an injury. Peslarova went 2-3 while allowing just seven goals en route to a seventh-place finish in their Olympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Games.

The Americans are going younger, with third-year coach John Wroblewski interested in developing depth, while replacing the losses of forward Amanda Kessel to retirement and top defenseman Lee Stecklein, who is focusing this year on playing for PWHL Minnesota.

Forwards Kirsten Simms, who at 19 led college hockey in scoring last season, Laila Edwards, 20, and Joy Dunne, 18, and defenseman Sydney Morrow, 19, are making their national team world debuts.

“The thought process is we can wait for them to be ready or that they’re going to get there and we just work to expedite the process,” Wroblewski said.

The Americans welcome back Kendall Coyne-Schofield, who sat out 2023 to give birth to her son Drew.

Canada returns much of the experienced core of the Marie-Philip Poulin led-team that won gold at the 2022 Winter Games. And it’s a group that coach Troy Ryan expects to stay together through the 2026 Games.

“You beat them with experience and the ability to know how to win,” Ryan said of a team that also won world championships in 2021 and ’22 before settling for silver in a 6-3 loss to the Americans last year.

“I don’t think we have to redo anything. I think we’re in a good spot,” Ryan said. “It’s not like our group is just, you know, washed up by any stretch of the imagination.”

AP Women’s Hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

Pro-Palestinian banners. Blazing Olympic rings. Workers' May Day rallies confront turbulent times

2024-05-01 22:03 Last Updated At：22:10

ISTANBUL (AP) — Workers, activists and others around the world took to the streets on Wednesday to mark May Day with protests over the pressure of rising prices and calls for greater labor rights. Pro- Palestinian sentiments were also on display.

Police in Istanbul used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to disperse thousands of people who tried to break through a barricade and reach the main Taksim square in defiance of a ban on celebrating Labor Day there. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social platform X at least 210 people were detained.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has long declared Taksim off-limits for demonstrations on security grounds, but the square holds symbolic value for labor unions. In 1977, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a May Day celebration at Taksim, causing a stampede and killing 34 people.

On Wednesday, a small group of trade union representatives was permitted to enter the square to lay a wreath at a monument to the victims.

May Day, which falls on May 1, is observed to celebrate workers’ rights. It's also an opportunity to air economic grievances or political demands. “Tax the rich,” one banner in Germany read. “Don't touch the eight-hour workday!” another read in Sri Lanka.

In Athens, several thousand protesters joined marches as labor strikes disrupted public transport and national rail services across Greece. The country’s largest union demands a return to collective bargaining after labor rights were scrapped during Greece’s 2010-18 financial crisis.

Pro-Palestinian protesters joined the rallies, waving a giant Palestinian flag as they marched past the Greek parliament. Others displayed banners in support of pro-Palestinian protesting students in the United States.

“We want to express our solidarity with students in the United States, who are facing great repression of their rights and their just demands,” said Nikos Mavrokefalos at the march. “We want to send a message that workers say no to exploitation, no to poverty, no to high prices,” he added.

In Paris, thousands of protesters marched through the French capital, seeking better pay and working conditions. Pro-Palestinian groups and anti-Olympics activists joined the rally, chanting slogans in support for people in Gaza.

A group of protesters set a makeshift Olympic rings on fire to show discontent with the Summer Games that start in less than three months. France's unions have warned of a strike during the Games if the government does not adequately compensate people forced to work during summer holidays.

Government officials have failed to meet with union leaders ahead of the Olympics, said Sophie Binet, the general secretary of the CGT union, one of France's largest. “How do you expect it to go well if the authorities don’t respond to our simplest demand?” she said.

In South Africa, pro-Palestinian demonstrators joined May Day events. In Kenya, President William Ruto called for an increase in the country's minimum wage. In Iraq, protesters demanded better wages, the reopening of closed factories and the end to privatization of certain businesses.

In Lebanon, pro-Palestinian marchers mingled with workers demanding an end to a miserable economic crisis. “Politicians do not feel the pain of the worker or the economic conditions,” said one demonstrator, Abed Tabbaa.

In Indonesia, workers demanded protections for migrant workers abroad and a minimum wage raise. They gathered amid a tight police presence, chanting slogans against the new Job Creation Law and loosened outsourcing rules during a march to Jakarta’s main sports stadium.

In South Korea's capital, thousands of protesters shouted pro-labor slogans at a rally that organizers said was meant to step up criticism of what they call anti-labor policies pursued by President Yoon Suk Yeol's conservative government.

“In the past two years under the Yoon Suk Yeol government, the lives of our laborers have plunged into despair,” Yang Kyung-soo, leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, said in a speech.

Union members criticized Yoon’s December veto of a bill aimed at limiting companies’ rights to seek compensation for damages caused by union strikes. The government also has vowed to sternly deal with illegal strikes.

In Japan, more than 10,000 people gathered in Tokyo, demanding salary increases to set off price increases. Masako Obata, leader of the left-leaning National Confederation of Trade Unions, said dwindling wages have widened income disparities.

In the Philippines, hundreds of workers and left-wing activists marched to demand wage increases and job security amid soaring food and oil prices. Riot police stopped them from getting close to the presidential palace.

Kim reported from Seoul. Associated Press journalists Oleg Cetinic in Paris, Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and VJ Basilio Sepe in Manila contributed to this report.