(NEXSTAR) - Team USA will face Canada for the women's hockey gold medal on Thursday after defeating Sweden in the semifinals. The matchup in Milan marks another chapter in the long-standing Olympic rivalry between the two North American teams. The United States is seeking its third gold medal in program history as it prepares to face a Canadian team that has won five. The two teams have a historic history of meeting in the finals (this will be the seventh gold medal match between them). The U.S. clinched its finals berth with a 5-0 win over Sweden in semifinal play on Monday. And the defending champion Canadians followed with team captain Marie-Philip Poulin scoring twice to set the Olympic career goal record in a too-close-for-comfort 2-1 victory over Switzerland. The rivalry between the United States and Canada has dominated women's hockey since the sport was introduced to the Olympic program. There has been only one gold medal match in history that did not feature both teams. That occurred during the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, when the U.S. fell to Sweden in the semifinals and Canada eventually defeated the Swedish team for the gold. U.S. forward Hilary Knight is looking to secure another championship for the team. Knight described the last time the United States won gold as her favorite Olympic moment. "We you know came so close so many times and it hadn't been done for 20 years and to bring and capture gold again and bring it back to the US was just so monumental for us, especially all the challenges we had off the ice, everything came together at the right moment for us and that's something we're looking to do here in 2026," Knight said. The U.S. has been the hottest team at the Olympics, going 6-0 and outscoring its opponents by a combined margin of 31-1. They've yet to trail or be tied after 0-0, and are in position to become the third women’s team to do so over the entire tournament The women's gold medal match between the United States and Canada is scheduled for Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern. The Associated Press contributed to this story. All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by Nexstar. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by Nexstar staff before being published