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Ali Domenico and fellow Canadian national women's hockey team assistant coach Kori Cheverie, both 34, are set to make their Olympic debuts in Beijing, having forged an uncommon route to the esteemed national team.

Canada's women's hockey team won't play any more games before the Winter Olympics and will enter a bubble to ensure players can board a plane to Beijing in less than a month.

Those who love the frozen game can be forgiven for wistfully wondering what might have been in a best-on-best Olympic showcase, especially given the NHL also skipped the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang South Korea.

After the league skipped the sporting showcase four years ago, it's a chance for some of the game's current stars to compete under a unique, global spotlight. NHLers started to learn over the last number of days what a positive COVID-19 test could mean while they're away chasing gold in China. And it isn't pretty.

Zach Benson scored 11 seconds into three-on-three overtime to lift Canada Black to a 4-3 win over the national women's team on Tuesday in the Capital City Challenge.

The Canadian women's hockey team lost 2-0 to the AJHL's Camrose Kodiaks on Wednesday.

Three-time Canadian Olympic medallist Meaghan Mikkelson is focused on recovery, hoping to make the 2022 Olympic squad when the roster drops in about 10 weeks.

Haley Irwin won Olympic gold in 2010, 2014 and silver in 2018 with the Canadian national team. Irwin also represented Canada in five world championships winning one gold and four silver.

On Feb. 20, 2014, in Bolshoy Ice Dome in Sochi, Russia, the Canadian women's team had the hockey gods smiling down on them.

Blayre Turnbull was 10 years old when she saw the first women's world hockey championship played in her home province.