Hayley Scamurra, U.S. rout Czechia in Olympic women's hockey - ESPN

MILAN — Hayley Scamurra scored twice, and the United States opened the Milan Cortina Games women's hockey tournament with a 5-1 win over Czechia on Thursday.

Alex Carpenter had a goal and assist, while captain Hilary Knight and Joy Dunne also scored for the Americans, who improved to 8-0 over the Czechs in international play. Aerin Frankel, making her Olympic debut in net, stopped 13 shots.

Laila Edwards had an assist while becoming the first Black female to represent America in hockey at the Olympics.

Barbora Jurickova scored Czechia's lone goal. She was set up on a breakaway as she exited the penalty box to cut the Americans lead to 3-1 midway through the second period. Klara Peslarova finished with 37 saves in an outing Czechia was out-shot 31-9 through two periods.

The Czechs are making just their second Olympic appearance, and they lost to the Americans in quarterfinal round of the 2022 Beijing Games. They are 0-6 against the U.S. in world championship play, including a 2-1 loss in the semifinals in April.

The day's only other scheduled Group A game between defending Olympic champion Canada and Finland was postponed to Feb. 12. The Finns' roster was down to eight skaters and two goalies, with the remaining 13 players dealing with a stomach virus that hit the team on Tuesday.

The Americans were greeted a loud cheer and a «U-S-A!» chant began at puck drop.

Among those on hand in a nearly packed 5,000-plus seat Rho Ice Hockey Arena, were U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who arrived about 12 minutes in, and departed with just over six minutes remaining. The large delegation that included USA Hockey officials and a security detail, filled a section of seats directly behind the penalty box