HERNING, Denmark (AP) — Defending champion Canada trounced Japan 9-0 at the women’s world ice hockey championship on Sunday, with eight players contributing goals in the one-sided encounter, to top the Group A standings ahead of the United States.
The record 11-time tournament winners wasted little time in getting off the mark when Victoria Bach opened the scoring in the second minute of the game with a power-play marker. Marie-Philip Poulin and Emma Maltais also scored in the first period to open a comfortable lead.
Blayre Turnbull added a fourth early in the second before the floodgates opened. Poulin got her second of the game at 33:09 with Ella Shelton and Jamie Lee Rattray also scoring within the next five minutes.
Japan was overmatched from the start and didn’t register a shot on goal until the dying seconds of the second period when already down 7-0.
Sarah Potomak and Sarah Fillier rounded out the scoring in the third period to complete Canada’s 17th straight victory, a stretch that spans the 2021 worlds, the Winter Olympics and now three games at the current tournament.
It was the second meeting of the teams at a world championship and represents an improvement of sorts for Japan, which lost the first in 1990 18-0.
Canada is top with three wins from three games. The U.S. has won its opening two games.
Also, Denmark beat Hungary 1-0.
Julie Ostergaard scored in 43:05 of the Group B game in Frederikshavn, Denmark, following a long pass by Denmark captain Josefine Jakobsen.
Denmark goalkeeper Lisa Jensen got a shutout with 45 saves.
Hungary and Denmark both have three points. The Czechs lead the group with six points, one more than Sweden.
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