By Amy Tennery and Trevor Stynes
MILAN, Feb 5 (Reuters) – The United States’ top-ranked women’s ice hockey team got off to a winning start to their Milano Cortina Olympic campaign with U.S. Vice President JD Vance looking on, as they overwhelmed the Czech Republic 5-1 at Milano Rho arena on Thursday.
Captain Hilary Knight scored in her fifth Olympics, while Joy Dunne netted the game winner in the second period. Hayley Scamurra added two goals for the U.S. while alternate captain Alex Carpenter started the goal feast for the American side.
“Game one under the belt, everyone did extremely well,” Knight told reporters after the Group A win. “For us, it’s just (about) simplifying the game. And, you know, everyone’s played hockey for decades. So at this point, everyone’s battle-tested.”
The United States, which outshot the fourth-ranked Czechs 42-14, next play Finland on Saturday, with a Tuesday meeting with arch-rivals and defending champions Canada looming large on the calendar.
The reigning world champions peppered Czech goaltender Klara Peslarova with 14 shots in the opening period and Carpenter tipped the puck in off a point shot from Megan Keller in the 16th minute.
The heavily American crowd cheered wildly as their team scored twice in the span of 90 seconds. Dunne whipped the puck into the net a little more than three minutes into the second period and Scamurra added a bit of insurance to make it 3-0.
Barbora Jurickova’s skates had scarcely touched the ice as she leapt out of the penalty box midway through the second period and got the Czech Republic on the board, beating the U.S. goalie off a long pass from Natalie Mlynkova.
U.S. goaltender Aerin Frankel fended off a series of precision shots a minute later from a Czech offence that had promised to “create some chaos” and put up a good fight in only their second Olympic appearance.
But Knight put the one-sided contest completely out of reach as she sprinted down the ice with age-defying speed before sending a wrist shot in with little more than two minutes left in the second period, and Scamurra scored again less than five minutes into the third.
VANCE AND RUBIO ATTEND
U.S. political unrest spilled into the run-up to the Games, but ticketholders on Thursday had little reaction when Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio slipped into the stands late in the first period. Vance was seen quietly chanting “USA! USA! USA!” with the crowd.
Knight insisted that she and her team mates did not notice Vance’s arrival, keeping focused on winning their eighth successive Olympic opener.
“We’re dialed in on the game,” said Knight. “The first one’s always the hardest.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Milan; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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