Canada, U.S. to play exhibition series

Canada's national women's hockey team will take on the United States twice in the next three days at the world championships, but there will be several more clashes in 2009, Hockey Canada announced on Thursday.

The two dominant women's hockey nations will play a series of six exhibition games later in the year on the road to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Each country will host three games, with the final contest taking place at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa on Jan. 1, 2010.

The series will begin on Oct. 5 with a game at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria. The next game at a Canadian site is on Dec. 15 at Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome.

The teams will also play in Denver; Spokane, Wash.; and St. Paul, Minn.

Canada (3-0) has yet to be threatened at the women's championships in Hämeenlinna, Finland. The team has beaten China, Sweden and Finland by a combined scored of 28-1.

Coach Melody Davidson's squad is looking to regain the world title after losing to the U.S. last year in China.

Not only do the Canadians and Americans face each other in the playoff round on Friday, but they also cannot be caught by other teams in the playoff round, ensuring that they'll meet in the gold medal game on Sunday.

The U.S. pounded Finland 7-0 in Thursday afternoon action. Hilary Knight and Natalie Darwitz each scored three goals, while Gigi Marvin added a short-handed goal.

Jessie Vetter made 16 saves for the shutout.