URL:http://www.canoe.ca/HockeyWomen/mar31_nor_usa.html

Monday, March 31, 1997

U.S.A. 7, NORWAY 0
  
U.S. WOMEN BLANK NORWAY
                                 
 KITCHENER, Ontario (AP) -- As expected, the Americans got off to a
dominating start Monday in the Women's World Ice Hockey Championship.
 Shelley Looney scored twice and was named the United States' player
of the game Monday in a 7-0 romp over Norway to open the tournament.
The Americans and Canada, which has won the last three events, are the
favorites.
 They played like one, outshooting Norway 52-10. The shots disparity
is indicative of the difference in talent level between the two
natons.
 "The grass roots of players growing up is big in Canada, it's big in
the U.S., it may not be as large in some of the foreign countries,"
said goalie Erin Whitten, who had an easy day before yielding in the
third period to backup Sarah Tueting to share the shutout. "It's one
of these things where the talent pool has just grown and grown and
grown in these countries, and in the other one you just kind of pick
from who you can get at the time."
 Stephanie O'Sullivan, Laurie Baker, Cammi Granato, Kelly O'Leary and
Gretchen Ulion also scored for the United States.
 The Americans made sure they would not get lazy against an
overwhelmed opponent.
 "That's something we worked on a lot this year, taking shift by shift
and period by period," Ulion said. "So no, it wasn't really this
tough. We worked all year for this tournament, so now that we're here,
we're ready for these games."
 Erika Wagner, Norway's goaltender, was named her country's player of
the game and received a rousing ovation from the 3,000 spectators for
keeping the U.S. total to single digits.
 "They were always there," she said in admiration of the Americans.
 "The American players were allowed to continue after a shot and they
were the first ones there instead of our defensemen," added coach
Torbjorn Orskaug.
 The Americans play Finland on Tuesday in Brantford, Ont.
 Five of the eight countries competing at the worlds will earn trips
to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

_________________________________________________________________


CANOE home
Copyright (c) 1997, Canoe Limited Partnership.
All rights reserved.