Canada-ROC Olympic women's hockey game in Beijing starts late, with masks

BEIJING — Canada's 6-1 win over Russia in Olympic women's hockey Monday featured the strange visual of players on both teams wearing masks under their cages after a delayed puck drop.

Sarah Fillier, Jamie Lee Rattray, Sarah Nurse, Rebecca Johnston, Erin Ambrose and captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored for Canada, which caps Pool A against the United States in a battle of 3-0 teams Tuesday.

Goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer stopped 11 of 12 shots for the win in her first start of the tournament.

Anna Shokhina scored for Russia. Starter Daria Gredzen turned away 30 shots over half a game before giving way to Maria Sorokina and her 13 saves.

Canada controlled Monday's game, but wasn't quite as dominant early as it was in 12-1 and 11-1 wins over Switzerland and Finland respectively.

The Canadians might have needed time to mentally adjust to the game's odd circumstances.

Both teams participated in warmup as per usual, but when the Russians returned to the ice for player introductions, the Canadians did not.

Head coach Troy Ryan emerged to summon on-officials to the bench for a conversation. After circling the ice and sitting on the bench for 40 minutes, the Russians returned to their dressing room.

After an hour's delay, players from both countries and the on-ice officials stepped onto the ice at Wukesong Sports Centre wearing KN95 masks under their masks.

No explanation was immediately forthcoming from the International Ice Hockey Federation.

The Russians and officials removed their masks for the third period, but the Canadians wore theirs until the final buzzer.

Russia played 17 skaters from a 23-woman roster Monday. An outbreak on the team upon arrival in Beijing had the squad isolate for two days Jan. 31 to Feb. 1.

Russia was