Canada downs Germany in men's Olympic hockey opener

BEIJING — Ben Street had a goal and an assist as Canada's Olympic men's hockey team stormed out of the gate early before cruising to a 5-1 victory over Germany on Thursday at the Beijing Games.

Alex Grant, Daniel Winnik, Maxim Noreau and Jordan Weal also scored in both countries' tournament opener, while Eric O'Dell and Kent Johnson added two assists each. Edward Pasquale made 23 saves.

Tobias Rieder replied for Germany, which upset another group of Canadian non-NHLers in the semifinals of the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang. Mathias Niederberger stopped 22 shots.

In a surprising twist, Hockey Canada announced moments before warmup that Claude Julien, who had been tabbed to coach the team before breaking his ribs during training camp in Switzerland, had joined the group and would resume his duties following the game.

Jeremy Colliton, who stepped in to fill Julien's void, will now revert back to an assistant's role.

The United States thumped China 8-0 in Group A's other game. Canada will face its North American rival Saturday before wrapping up round-robin action Sunday against the tournament hosts.

The game at Wukesong Sports Centre, which hosted basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics, didn't feature the star power hockey fans envisioned just two months ago after the NHL withdrew from the event because of COVID-19 concerns.

And while the likes of Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Leon Draisaitl and Tim Stutzle were thousands of kilometres away for the 9:10 p.m. local start in front of a few hundred flag-waving Chinese spectators, the game still had name recognition from a Canadian perspective.

Eric Staal, who won gold in 2010 and is looking for another NHL shot, is the captain, while Owen Power and Mason McTavish, the