Between the North American rivals, they have won all seven gold medals since women's ice hockey was added to the Olympic programme at Nagano 1998.

The US won that first title, as well as the most recent one at Pyeongchang 2018.

A shoot-out victory gave the Americans their second gold medal in the event, stopping Canada from claiming a sixth-straight title in the process.

A reverse result occurred at the 2021 World Championship when Canada defeated their opponents 3-2 in overtime, with the winner coming from captain Marie-Philip Poulin.

Alex Carpenter, who is one of the two Americans playing in China at club level, scored the US' two goals in the first period in that final and will be pivotal to her side's success.

Finland are the defending bronze medallists after beating the Olympic Athletes of Russia (OAR), who are now known as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) for Beijing 2022 due to the sanctions implemented by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

It was the Russian team's best result to date four years ago, with other contenders for the podium being 2014 medallists Switzerland and Sweden.

Canada, the US, ROC, Finland and Switzerland are all in Group A, with all guaranteed a spot in the quarter-finals.

Their matches are to determine the seeding.

Group B has Japan, Sweden, Czech Republic, Denmark and China, with the bottom two teams being eliminated.

OAR won the men's tournament in 2018, making it the first time a Russian team won gold since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Also competing under the ROC banner this year, they will be considered the favourites to retain their title, considering the National Hockey League (NHL) withdrew its players from the Games after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted its season.

The most depleted teams will be the US and Canada, who were seventh and third at Pyeongchang 2018 respectively and are in Group A with Germany, who are the defending silver medallists, with it being their first Olympic medal in men's ice hockey since 1932.

Hosts China are set to make their debut too in the group.

Czech Republic are another contender for a medal and are situated in Group B with the ROC, Switzerland and Denmark.

Finland and Sweden will be favourites to progress from Group C, which also has Slovakia and Latvia.

Competition is scheduled to take place at the Wukesong Arena and the Beijing National Indoor Stadium.

The women's final is set to take place on February 17 and the men's gold medal game on February 20, with the opener starting on February 9.