U.S. routs China in women's ice hockey at Vancouver Olympics

VANCOUVER, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States trounced China 12-1 in the women's ice hockey in the second day competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games here on Sunday.

China's Zhang Ben (L) fights with Natalie Darwitz of the United States of America during the women's preliminary round Group B match of ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, on Feb. 14, 2010. (Xinhua/Wu Wei)

The United States, seeded second in the Games, opened scoring quite early at two minutes 50 seconds as defence Angela Ruggiero helped her team to take the lead.

It was too hard for the world number nine China to stop the opponents' attack when Kelli Stack, Jenny Potter and Meghan Duggan added four more goals to finish the first period at 5-0.

China tried hard to put a shot at 57:39 by forward veteran Jin Fengling, but one goal was far from enough to change the situation when the United States controlled the game since the start to the last minute, scoring seven more goals in two periods to settle the match 12-1.

"Without this game we can't learn anything and it's a good lesson for us how to learn ice hockey," said Finnish Hannu Juhani Saintula, head coach of Chinese team.

"It's a good lesson for us on how to play in our own end. We can't practise that. I'm really proud of my girls because they fought, " he added.

27-year-old Jing Fengling said:"I think the United States has a stronger team and I just wanted one goal. I was so happy and it was an honour for me."

Team captain added: "We tried our best. We tried to get a goal and we got it. It's good for us. We made some little mistakes but we wanted to gain more experience."

"We never gave up. It will be good for the next games. We tried not to pay attention to the score and just gave a good effort," she added.

It is third time that China played against the United States. In the very first Olympic match for both on February 8, 1998, the United States prevailed 5-0.

And on February 15, 2002, the United States beat China 12-1.

China will play against Finland on Tuesday, and Wang believed China would feel more relaxed againse Finland and their next opponent in Group B Russia.

"I think everything is possible. We just need to keep on going like we did. We will have a much better score next game," she said.

"(Tough it's a convincing win), obviously with the Olympic feel it's fun. It's not what we train for, but it's a hockey game nonetheless." said the forward Natalie Darwita of the United States.

Eight teams are competing in the Winter Olympic women's ice hockey tournament with Canada and the United States the clear favorites to win the gold medal.