Relations between the United States and Canada are very good in just about every area. One place where the North American neighbors can’t seem to get along, however, is women’s hockey.
Team USA and Team Canada are bitter rivals. They’re the two best women’s hockey programs in the world, and they have met on every single international stage. They also play fairly frequently in exhibition games. That combination of familiarity between two teams playing to be the best in the world is downright volatile.
We got the latest example of that Friday night when the two teams met in a pre-Olympic exhibition game in Grand Forks, N.D. In the final seconds of an eventual 4-1 win for the Americans, Team USA’s Jocelyne Lamoureux took a run at Canada’s Brianne Jenner, attempted payback for a hit Jenner delivered earlier in the game. Lamoreux’s hit, a check from behind into the boards, did not sit well with Jenner or her teammates.
Within seconds of the questionable hit, it was on. A line brawl broke out with players from both teams wrestling each other to the ice and trying their best to land punches to helmeted heads. When it was all said and done, 10 fighting majors were handed out with the penalty boxes at capacity for the final seconds of the game.
It’s not the first time these two teams have engaged in a line brawl. The two teams threw down back in October during an exhibition game at the University of Vermont.
See Friday night’s fight in the video below.
