By Trevor Stynes, Amy Tennery and Giulio Piovaccari
MILAN, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Italy made a winning start to their home Games with a 4-1 win over France and Sweden came from behind to beat Germany by the same scoreline as the women’s Olympic ice hockey action got underway on Thursday.
Tournament underdogs Italy face long odds in a competitive field but earned pride in the lop-sided win in the Group B game at Santagiulia arena.
Organisers had scrambled to get the built-from-scratch arena ready in time but any remaining concerns evaporated as enthusiastic fans piled into the 14,700-capacity venue.
France’s Gabrielle de Serres started the scoring with a power play goal in the 10th minute but Italy replied quickly through Kayla Tutino and forward Rebecca Roccella put them ahead with five minutes left in the second period.
The crowd at Santagiulia went wild as Matilde Fantin pounced quickly to find the back of the net 14 seconds into the third period and Kristin Della Rovere put the game completely out of reach less than five minutes later.
SWEDEN SOAR
Across town, Lina Ljungblom scored twice to get Sweden off to a perfect start at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.
The 5,800-capacity venue had plenty of empty seats, but the Swedish and German fans brought the noise and colour.
Germany, making their first appearance since 2014, more than held their own in an opening period in which they were outshot 14 to six and took the lead after eight and a half minutes with a power play goal.
Katarina Jobst-Smith sent a fierce slapshot from just inside the blue line which sailed past the Swedish goaltender and ricocheted off the post into the roof of the net.
Sweden failed to take advantage of two power plays, coming either side of Germany’s goal, but equalised in the 12th minute after a scramble before Ljungblom forced the puck over the line and they never looked back.
“It’s my first Olympic goal so that’s huge and my first goal for the season too,” Ljungblom told reporters. “So obviously I’m really happy about it. I almost forgot how it is to score.”
Ljungblom netted again in the eighth minute of the second period on a power play and Sweden made another power play count late when Mira Jungaker scored in the final minute.
Sweden’s Thea Johansson wrapped up the victory in the final period, getting on the end of an impressive assist by Hilda Svensson.
SWEDEN CHASING THIRD PODIUM FINISH
Sweden are seeking a third podium finish but their last medal dates back 20 years when Italy also hosted the Games and the Swedes upset the Canada-U.S. dominance of the Olympic finals by taking silver behind the Canadians.
The top three in Group B make the quarter-finals. Japan face the French on Friday.
A Group A clash between the world champion United States and the Czech Republic was underway at Milano Rho on Thursday, with all five countries in the group to advance to the last eight. Placings in the group decide their seeding for the next round.
The U.S. play the Czech Republic on Thursday but defending champions Canada’s match was postponed to February 12 due to a stomach bug in the Finland camp. The Swiss are also in Group A.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, Giulio Piovaccari and Amy Tennery; Editing by Ken Ferris and Ed Osmond)
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