Men's ice hockey Day 2 Round Up: USA brush aside China, Canada power past Germany

Canada, the United States, and Finland flexed their muscles on the second day of action in the men's ice hockey tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.

The rematch of the PyeongChang 2018 semi-final between Canada and Germany had the makings of a close game, but three first-period goals put the North Americans in charge as they ran out 5-1 winners.

Their captain, Vancouver 2010 gold medallist Eric Staal thinks there may be more to come, telling Olympics.com, "It was tight, it was competitive, a good start for our guys. Hopefully we'll get better as the tournament goes on."

Their neighbours USA cruised to an 8-0 victory against hosts China with Sean Farrell scoring a hat-trick, while Sweden defeated Latvia 3-2, and Finland sounded a warning shot by beating Slovakia 6-2.

Action continues on Friday with four match-ups: Denmark play ROC, the Czech Republic meet Switzerland, Sweden face Slovakia, and Latvia take on Finland.

Canada put the rest of the field on notice with a 5-1 win over PyeongChang silver medallists.

The champions from Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 were at full tilt from the start with Alex Grant, Ben Street and Daniel Winnik finding the net in the first period.

Tobias Rieder pulled one back in the second but that was quickly cancelled out by Maxim Noreau's strike before Jordan Weal completed the scoring.

Captain Staal thought the scoreline may not have quite reflected the intensity of the clash, saying, "I thought both teams came out pretty physical, some good chances for us early, and we were able to capitalise. As the game wore on, we got better, a little bit more zone time, hold the play a little bit more."

The United States asserted their dominance with an 8-0 shutout victory over China in