UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — Laila Edwards became the first Black player to score for the United States women’s hockey team with two goals, Alex Carpenter scored three times and the Americans routed Czechia 6-0 on Friday night at the Women’s World Championship.
Edwards and Carpenter each scored 59 seconds apart to make it 3-0 with 2:31 left in the second period.
When Carpenter scored her third goal for a 6-0 lead, Czechia had just nine shots at the halfway point of the third.
Klára Peslarová faced 48 shots on goal.
Carpenter opened the scoring just seven minutes into the game after finding her own rebound out front and finishing with a backhand.
Edwards added a shorthanded goal early in the third for a 4-0 lead and Taylor Heise, the first overall pick in the PWHL draft, scored her first goal of the tournament 45 seconds later.
The United States plays again on Saturday against Finland. Czechia, more widely known in English as the Czech Republic, faces another tough challenge on Sunday against Canada.
CANADA 3, SWITZERLAND 0
Canada secured its second-straight shutout of the tournament, and Switzerland went scoreless for a second consecutive game.
Canada improved to 13-0 in the series with the Swiss, including 10 shutouts and a goal differential of 89-3.
Emma Maltais scored her second goal of the tournament to open the scoring 79 seconds into the game with a rebound at the back door. Her PWHL teammate in Toronto, Sarah Nurse, made it 2-0 after just eight minutes.
Sarah Fillier added an empty-netter with 19.1 seconds left in the third.
Andrea Brändli was excellent in goal for the Swiss team with 42 saves, including 23 in the second when Canada did not score. Emerance Maschmeyer got the win in net for Canada by blocking 17 shots, getting her sixth career blank sheet in 13 tournament games.
Switzerland is off until Monday for a game against Finland.
SWEDEN 8, CHINA 1
Hilda Svensson had two goals — 58 seconds apart — and an assist, defender Paula Bergstrom notched three assists and Sweden scored seven consecutive goals.
Sweden outshot China 56-6.
Lina Ljungblom and Felizia Wikner-Zienkiewicz each added a first-period goal. Sweden continued to score goals in the second period — against a different goaltender as China pulled Jiahui Zhan for Yuging Wang.
Sofie Lundin scored 49 seconds into the second and Josefin Bouveng followed with a goal 17 seconds later. Then Hanna Olsson launched the puck past Wang 1:44 later for a 7-0 lead.
China got on the board at 3:46 of the second when Minghui Kong scored on a breakaway.
Sweden looks to stay unbeaten on Sunday when it battles Japan. China, which had a 3-2 shootout win over Japan on Thursday, is off until Sunday when it battles Denmark.
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