After Team USA dominated Russia 13-0 at the 2010 Olympics, the optimisim for Russia to be able to skate with the American squad at the 2011 Worlds was no higher. And again the USA dominated the Russians from the start boosting their stats and frustrating a team that was clearly out of their league once more.
After controlling play from the opening faceoff Hilary Knight gave the USA a 1-0 lead midway through their first power play of the game with a slap shot from the left point. Less than two minutes later Anne Schleper picked up her first national team goal beating Russian netminder Valentina Ostrovlyanchik to give her team a 2-0 lead. Feeding on the scoring vibes Julie Chu put the US up 3-0 as she one-timed a pass from Jenny Potter. Angela Ruggiero got into the scoring action finishing off a pretty series of skills by Brianna Decker. The four USA goals came in a span of 5:11 and gave the Americans a commanding edge hard for a team like Russia to overcome. After Molly Engstrom was whistled for Checking it appears that the Russians get there chance to get back in the game. However just 20 seconds into the power play, Meghan Duggan made a break for the Russian net and scored to give the USA a 5-0 lead. Russia would get a second power play chance but was unable to convert ending the frame with a 5-0 deficit and a 16-5 deficit in shots.
As the second period opened Russia got a break from the persistent USA offense as Jenny Potter and Brianna Decker were whistled for penalties 1:03 apart. However the US regrouped and worked rather easily to kill the penalties showing the separation in skill level amongst the squads. Following an Alex Vafina penalty for holding at the 5:20 mark Caitlin Cahow restarted the USA Offensive. Cahow scored from the doorstep off a nice pass from Hilary Knight to make it 6-0. With the Russians wore down from back to back penalties Hilary Knight struck again giving the US a 7-0 lead. Knight's goal was assisted by UW teammate Meghan Duggan and veteran Julie Chu. 23 seconds later Brianna Decker added to her tournament take giving the US an 8-0 lead. As the second half of the period wore on the Russians picked up a little momentum when Josephine Pucci was called for Holding the Stick. The Russians were unable to score on the Power Play but did managed to get on the board 51 seconds later with one second left in the period to cut the US lead to seven. Yekaterina Lebedeva got credit for the first Russian goal of the game. The period ended with the USA dominating in the shots category once more 25-7 for a two period total of 41-12.
The third period began in a similar fashion to the second as the US took two penalties followed by a Russian trip to the box. Hilary Knight took advantage completing the hat trick 6:41 into the period giving her team a 9-1 edge. The goal was another from the point for Knight who was virtually automatic when fed in that spot of the ice. The lead was pushed to 10-1 moments later when Kelli Stack used her speed to score a wrap around goal. After an interesting call to Brianna Decker that USA officials deemed High Sticking but announced as Abuse of Official by Players/Team Officials in the box score, and a Holding call 22 seconds later on Ia Gavrilova the USA took advantage of the open ice. Kendall Coyne struck just a minute into the 4x4 stretch as to make it 11-1. 33 seconds later Kacey Bellamy made it 12-1 and sapped the last bit of energy from the Russian foe. With the game taking a physical nature Kelli Stack went to the box for Boarding and was joined in the adjacent box near the end of her punishment as the Russians took back to back calls less than 10 sec apart for High Sticking and Boarding. Angela Ruggiero wasted little time taking advantage of the 4x3 giving the USA their thirteenth goal of the contest and leaving the Russians rather frustrated again with another poor showing. In the contest the Americans tallied five goals via the power play and one short handed as well as out shooting the Russians 57-20 in the game.
Truly this shows that there is lots of work to do prior to Sochi if the Russians hope to avoid home ice embarrassment at the 2014 Olympic Games.
Box Score (IIHF)
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