US women's hockey opens with dominant win over Czechia

Hayley Scamurra scored two goals and captain Hilary Knight also tallied to begin her last Olympics, fueling the United States a 5-1 victory over Czechia on Thursday in a Group A preliminary-round game at the Milano Cortina Games in Milano, Italy.

Alex Carpenter collected a goal and an assist and Joy Dunne also tallied for the Americans, who are scheduled to face Finland on Saturday. The Finns' game versus Canada earlier on Thursday was postponed until Feb. 12 after Finland's roster was depleted by a stomach virus.

Tessa Janecke notched two assists and defenseman Laila Edwards added one on Carpenter's opening goal. Edwards made history by becoming the first Black woman to compete for the U.S. women's hockey team at the Olympics Games.

Aerin Frankel made 13 saves for the United States.

Barbora Jurickova scored in the second period and Klara Peslarova turned aside 37 shots for Czechia, which appeared in the Olympic women's hockey tournament for the first time in 2022.

Megan Keller's blast from above the circles was deflected deftly in the slot by Carpenter and past Peslarova to open the scoring with 4:05 remaining in the first period.

Dunne's tap-in doubled the advantage at 3:13 of the second period, and Scamurra tallied 83 seconds later to give the Americans a 3-0 advantage.

Jurickova put Czechia on the scoreboard at 8:37, however Knight used her speed to skate up the right wing and beat Peslarova on a partial breakaway with 2:10 remaining in the second period.

Scamurra benefited from a turnover by Czechia and capped the scoring with 4:22 gone in the third period.

--Field Level Media