Ice hockey-Italy thrill home crowd, Sweden beat Germany as women's tournament begins

MILAN, Feb 5 : Italy made a winning start to their home Games with a 4-1 win over France and Sweden came from behind to beat Germany by the same scoreline as the women's Olympic ice hockey action got underway on Thursday.

Tournament underdogs Italy face long odds in a competitive field but earned pride in the lop-sided win in the Group B game at Santagiulia arena.

Organisers had scrambled to get the built-from-scratch arena ready in time but any remaining concerns evaporated as enthusiastic fans piled into the 14,700-capacity venue.

France's Gabrielle de Serres started the scoring with a power play goal in the 10th minute but Italy replied quickly through Kayla Tutino and forward Rebecca Roccella put them ahead with five minutes left in the second period.

The crowd at Santagiulia went wild as Matilde Fantin pounced quickly to find the back of the net 14 seconds into the third period and Kristin Della Rovere put the game completely out of reach less than five minutes later.

SWEDEN SOAR

Across town, Lina Ljungblom scored twice to get Sweden off to a perfect start at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.

The 5,800-capacity venue had plenty of empty seats, but the Swedish and German fans brought the noise and colour.

Germany, making their first appearance since 2014, more than held their own in an opening period in which they were outshot 14 to six and took the lead after eight and a half minutes with a power play goal.

Katarina Jobst-Smith sent a fierce slapshot from just inside the blue line which sailed past the Swedish goaltender and ricocheted off the post into the roof of the net.

Sweden failed to take advantage of two power plays, coming either side of Germany's goal, but equalised in the 12th minute after a scramble before Ljungblom