Team USA forward Meghan Duggan has said that she and her teammates "don't like" their Canadian counterparts.
The sides have an historic rivalry in ice hockey, and the two sets of players fought with each other in two matches in the run-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
"We don't like them, plain and simple," the 26-year-old told Cosmopolitan. "None of us condone fighting - it's not a part of the women's game - but we won't be pushed around."
Canada have won gold in each of the last three Olympics.