Two goals apiece from Jesse Compher (Boston University), Hilary Knight (Wisconsin) and Kelly Pannek (Minnesota) helped the U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team defeat Switzerland 8-0 in its third preliminary round matchup of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games Sunday at the Wukesong Sports Center in Beijing.
Pannek was named the U.S. player of the game.
“This was one of those games where before the game our whole coaching staff looked at each other and said, ‘I think we are ready to go,’” said Team USA coach Joel Johnson (St. Thomas) in a statement. “It had nothing to do with the opponent. It had everything to do with us. We just felt we were really ready to play well, and we certainly did that. We generated a lot of offense, kept a lot of puck possession and, more importantly, created some really good scoring chances that were tough to defend.”
Amanda Kessel (Minnesota) and Dani Cameranesi (Minnesota) also scored, and Alex Cavallini (Wisconsin) made 12 saves for the shutout as the Americans outshot Switzerland 66-12.
Team USA will close out the preliminary round play Tuesday against Canada. Puck drop is slated for 12:10 p.m. local time, 11:10 p.m. ET (Monday, Feb. 7).
