As USA, Canada ready for rivalry bout, a hockey gold medalist reaches out

HOUSTON -- Members of the United States’ World Baseball Classic team were still in their Spring Training camps when Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal in overtime versus Canada to capture the country’s first men’s hockey Olympic gold since 1980.

“I was actually doing an interview with some Japanese media on the bench, and they had the game on the big board,” Kyle Schwarber recalled. “They scored the goal, and I’m jumping up and down while still answering questions. You could relate to how much it meant to them, how much work they put in for that moment.”

Now, it’s the baseball team’s turn to try to take down their neighbors to the north.

When Team USA and Team Canada take the field Friday night at Daikin Park (8 p.m. ET, FOX) in the quarterfinals of the Classic, it will be an extension, of sorts, of the great rivalry we watched in both the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey finals, in which the U.S. was twice victorious in Milan last month.

Hughes, the center for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, himself contributed to the cause of an American team trying to take the next step in this tournament. He shares an agent with USA center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and sent the team a video pump-up speech that was making the rounds in the baseball club’s group chat.

What’s more, the men’s hockey team was working on sending a shipment of game-worn jerseys to their compatriots, with members of Team USA planning to wear them on the bus to Friday’s game.

“This is my first time playing for a national team, for a country,” USA starter Logan Webb said. “You have rivals during the season, but I don't think it matches up to anything like this. It’s going to be crazy [Friday].”

As for the Canadians, they’ve got those gold medal losses to avenge.

“We all took a lot [of grief] in the clubhouses during that game, the day after especially,” starter Michael Soroka said. “It would be nice [to get revenge]. But we’re not chasing results, we’re not chasing a story. We’re just going to go out there and play our brand of baseball and let everything fall as they may.”

This whole U.S. vs. Canada rivalry is having a bit of a sports moment, what with one of the most enthralling World Series of all time between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays having a little bit of that dynamic to it.

But as Webb said, there’s nothing quite like a matchup of two national teams to really get the emotions stirring.

The Americans have won their past four meetings against Canada in the WBC, including a 12-1 drubbing in 2023. They would obviously like to continue that streak and follow the standard that has been set by their hockey compatriots.

“I just remember when the puck dropped and then seeing all those guys skating, it looked like they were skating for their lives, not just the USA and Canada,” Schwarber said. “Now it’s time for us to go.”