USA National Women’s Hockey Team – Page 3

A devastating attacking display from Team USA secured the Americans’ biggest victory at these Games to date. After blasting five unanswered goals in the first period, this was a case of ‘how many?’ for the defending champion as Switzerland struggled to come up with any answers to the speed and accuracy of the U.S. forwards.

There were two goals apiece for Hilary Knight, Jesse Compher and Kelly Pannek, with Amanda Kessel and Dani Cameranesi also on the scoresheet in an emphatic 8-0 victory.

Both teams handed first starts to their goalies today. For Team USA, Alex Cavallini got the nod. The 30-year-old was on the golden roster in PyeongChang but did not play in the 2018 Games. Today she made her Olympic debut, following Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley onto the ice in Beijing. Switzerland, meanwhile, rotated Andrea Brandli out of the firing line after allowing 17 goals in the first two games. Saskia Maurer, a 20-year-old who plays for University of St. Thomas in the NCAA, stepped in for her first taste of Olympic action – and endured a baptism of fire at the hands of a rampant American offence.

The first power play of the game saw Knight open the scoring. Her net drive saw Maurer block the initial shot but the rebound went back to the experienced forward, who switched from backhand to forehand before finding the top shelf. The pressure on the Swiss net was constant and by the end of the first period the floodgates were open. On 14:04, Compher potted her second goal in two days, rifling home a one-timer from between the hash marks. Nine seconds later Knight got her second of the game, catching Maurer unawares with an instinctive snipe from out on the left-hand boards.

And the goals kept coming. Team USA was circling the Swiss zone at will and Pannek stepped in from the right-hand boards to shoot home before the dot. Late in the frame, another power play saw Kessel squeeze the puck past Maurer from a tight angle.

After facing 22 shots in that opening frame, Maurer was retired from the game and Brandli returned to action in the second period. Initially, this offered little change in the game, with Pannek grabbing her second of the night just two minutes into the session. However, Switzerland began to put some obstacles in the way of the American offence and even created a good chance of its own. Lara Stadler, the Swiss attacking spark so far in Beijing, released Phoebe Staenz with a long pass. Staenz executed a neat interchange with Alina Muller but her shot found Cavallini’s pads. There was a further opportunity for Switzerland when Abby Roque took a penalty – a call that drew vehement protests from the American forward – but the PK was resolute.

At the other end, though, Brandli was performing wonders to keep the scoreline down. She stopped 22 shots in the middle session but had no answer when Compher decided to go it alone late in the frame to add a seventh.

Knight was close to a hat-trick early in the third after strong play from Kendall Coyne Schofield, but Brandli’s pad denied the U.S. alternate captain on that occasion. The Swiss goalie continued to impress in the closing stages, notably with a triple save to deny Abbey Murphy, but even she had no answer when Pannek’s pass picked out Cameranesi all alone in front of the net to complete the scoring late on.

Switzerland will look to find positives in the way it slowed the American scoring late in the game. The next action for Colin Muller’s team is against Finland in its final group game. For Team USA, meanwhile, the next game renews its rivalry with Team Canada in a clash that will decide the battle for top spot in Group A.

Source: iihf.com

The Americans didn’t have Brianna Decker in the lineup, but no matter. They skated their way to an impressive and one-sided 5-0 win over ROC to keep pace with Canada atop the Group A standings. The only reason the score didn’t reach double digits was the play of ROC goalie Maria Sorokina, who was nothing short of sensational.

The win was the third in a row at the Olympics against Russian-based teams for the U.S., who, oddly, had defeated Russia (2010) and OAR (2018) previously, both by shutouts, in their only other meetings. And to add to the trivia, today’s shutout was recorded by Nicole Hensley, who had to stop only 12 shots. She was also the goalie in that 2018 victory, also by a 5-0 score, in what was her only other Olympics game to date. In fact, ROC/OAR/Russia has yet to score a single goal against the Americans in Olympics play (the 2010 game ended 13-0).

The Americans are now 2-0 in the standings so far while ROC drops to 1-1 after a 5-2 win over the Swiss yesterday. They got goals from five players, while Sorokina and Daria Gredzen faced a combined 62 shots. Gredzen came into the game in the third period, and the 17-year-old, making her debut with the senior team, stopped all 14 saves to make for a memorable debut. Uniquely, both goalies are right catching.

Right from the opening puck drop it was clear the Americans were the superior team. Sorokina made an early and excellent save on captain Kendall Coyne Schofield who skated her way in on goal and made a nice deke, only to be stopped by the goalie. But the U.S. was relentless, and kept the puck in the ROC zone for extended periods, generating plenty of scoring chances.

It wasn’t until 12:29 that they finally scored. The goal came on a power play when Hilary Knight made a nice back pass across the crease to Savannah Harmon, who was stationed on the back side for the easy tap-in. It was her first goal in a Team USA sweater, having gone without one in her only previous appearance with the national team, that at last year’s Women’s Worlds.

ROC managed only two shots in the opening 20 minutes, but their best chance wasn’t one of those. Valeria Pavlova blocked a shot at her blue line and raced up the ice, but before she could let off a shot defender Cayla Barnes rushed back to take the puck away from her.

The second period was more of the same, although ROC did manage to create a bit more offence. Coyne Schofield was again stoned early on a deke, but Harmon was in the middle of the team’s second goal. This time her point shot was tipped in front by Knight, beating Sorokina up high at 8:51. Knight has now scored in all four Olympics appearances.

At the other end, Hensley was there when she needed to be. She made a nice left-pad save off a shot from the slot by Polina Luchnikova, and late in the period the U.S. got caught up ice, giving ROC a two-on-one. The nicely-executed play saw Viktoria Kulishova with a one-timer, but Hensley came across to make the save.

ROC started the third on a power play, but again Hensley was there when needed, and although ROC had some decent puck movement they also failed to convert a couple of other good chances. The Americans then made it 3-0 after ROC failed to clear the zone. Dani Cameranesi chased down the puck in the corner and fired a quick pass to the front where Grace Zumwinkle eluded her check and tipped the puck in at 3:57.

Two minutes later, Jesse Compher added another goal off the rush, using a defender as a screen and beating the right-catching Sorokina low to the stick side. And then, less than three minutes later, Sorokina stopped an Amanda Kessel slot shot only to see Alex Carpenter knock in the rebound.

Coach Yevgeni Bobariko mercifully made a goalie change, probably to give Sorokina a bit more rest in preparation for the team’s next game against Canada, so Gredzen skated into the blue ice and almost immediately had to make a sensational save on Knight. In all, she was perfect, but by then the game was well out of reach.

Source: iihf.com