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2022 Olympics: Feb. 3 recap

USA tops Finland, and Japan shuts down Sweden

USA beats Finland, 5-2
Group A

Goal Scorers

USA: Amanda Kessel, Alex Carpenter (2), Kendall Coyne-Schofield (2)
Finland: Susanna Tapani (2)

The beginning of this matchup started off relatively quiet, as no score happened until after the halfway point of the first period. Brianna Decker was taken out of the game due to a collision with Ronja Savolainen. Her leg and ankle bent very awkwardly.

She was later seen rink-side in a boot, and it has been announced she will not return for the remainder of the tournament. While that is a devastating blow that certainly halted momentum in the game, Amanda Kessel was able to pick up the scoring. Assisted by Savannah Harmon, the USA took massive pressure off here.

Following that, Jincy Dunne connected with Alex Carpenter for another goal soon after. This marks Dunne’s first Olympic point, and much relief for Carpenter who was not at the 2018 Olympics, making her comeback here. After a few penalties, the first period ended with a score of 2-0 USA.

It didn’t take too long into the second period for Kendall ‘Captain America’ Coyne-Schofield to tack on two goals and increase the lead to 4-0.

Susanna Tapani was able to get Finland on the board with a power play goal to make it 4-1. Assisted by Laitinen and Nieminen, they started some momentum for the Fins.

Both teams definitely settled down a bit more for the third period. Alex Carpenter was still able to tack on one more goal to make it 5-1 which is how the game would end...the first time. In a weird turn of events, after the final buzzer, the clock was set back to 2:20 after the review of another goal by Tapani for Team Finland was good.

Finland had a few more chances, including some power play opportunities but ultimately still fell to Team USA.

Japan beats Sweden, 3-1
Group B

Goal Scorers

Japan:  Shiori Koike, Rui Ukita, Haruna Yoneyama
Sweden: Maja Nylen-Persson

China beats Denmark, 3-1

Group B

Goal Scorers

Denmark: Malene Frandsen
China: Qiqi Lin (2), Ni Lin

Frandsen’s goal made history as Denmark’s first ever Olympic goal!

ROC wins against Switzerland, 5-2

Group A

Goal Scorers

ROC: Yekaterina Dobrodeyeva, Polina Bolgareva (3), Anna Shibanova
Switzerland: Lara Stalder, Alina Muller

Yekaterina Dobrodeyeva opened the scoring for Team ROC. It did need to be reviewed but remained a good goal. That goal was assisted by Vafina and Pavlova.

After a handful of penalties, Lara Stalder was able to tie it up for the Swiss but less than thirty seconds later, ROC went up again with a goal by Polina Bolgareva. This is how the second period would end.

Alina Muller got on the board first in the second period with a shorthanded goal about halfway through to tie up the game again for Switzerland. Anna Shibanova picked it up for the Russians yet again to go up 3-2 just a few minutes later.

Polina Bolgareva gave ROC their first multi-goal lead late in the second period with her second goal of the game. She also opened the third period with another goal, effectively getting the hat trick! Considering it’s her first Olympics, she is certainly making a statement.

There were quite a few penalties before the time would expire for a final score of 5-2 win for ROC.

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