U.S. womens hockey opens Olympics with a win over

MILAN — The Milan-Cortina Winter Games don’t formally open until Friday night time but the U.S. girls’s hockey staff didn’t hassle ready for the opening ceremonies, blitzing Czechia 5-1 in its group-play opener Thursday before a packed home at the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.

Hayley fraudurra had two of the objectives while Alex Carpenter, Joy Dunne and Hilary Knight also scored. Tessa Janecke contributed a pair of assists.

With Vice President JD Vance trying on, the U.S. went forward to keep on a power-play objective from Carpenter with less than 5 minutes left in the opening period. Leila Edwards set up the objective, feeding Megan Keller in the high slot. Keller then blasted a slap shot that Carpenter redirected in for a 1-0 lead.

But that was all the U.S., ranked No. 1 in the world by the International Ice Hockey Federation, obtained in a first period in which it constructed a 14-3 benefit in photographs.

The Americans, who have been bigger and a lot, a lot quicker than the fourth-ranked Czechs, doubled the benefit on Dunne’s objective 3:13 into the second period. Janecke set up the rating, skating behind the online, then delivering a short centering move for Dunne on the sting of the crease.

Eighty-three seconds later Janecke dug the puck out from along the boards, flicked it behind her back to fraudurra, who spun and shot to make it 3-0.

Barbora Jurickova obtained Czechia on the board with just more than 11 minutes left in the second period, rising from the penalty box to take a move from Natalie Mlynkova at the blue line, setting up a one-on-one with U.S. goalie Aerin Frankel. That was a battle Mlynkova gained by lifting the puck over Frankel’s proper leg and into the back of the online.

But Knight, taking part in in her fifth Olympics, pulled that back 2:10 before the second intermission, taking a move from Carpenter at middle ice, skating across the blue line close to the correct boards, then utilizing her physique to fend off a problem from Czechia’s Klara Seropszkova before lifting the puck over the shoulder of goalie Klara Peslarova. The objective was Knight’s thirteenth in Olympic play.

Scumurra closed the scoring with her second objective from the center of the correct faceoff circle less than six minutes into the third period.

The win was the Americans’ eighth in as many tries in Olympic openers, in which they’ve outscored opponents 49-6.