NORRKOPING, Sweden -- Sarah Parsons scored two goals and
added an assist to lead the United States over China 8-2 Sunday in
its opening game at the women's world hockey championship.
Finland beat Germany 5-1 in the other Group B game. In the only
Group A game, defending champion Canada routed Kazakhstan 13-0 at
Linkoping.
Parsons scored her first goal on a power play to make it 4-1
late in the first period. She ended the scoring late in the third
period.
Julie Chu had one goal and two assists, and Angela Ruggiero,
Jenny Potter, Krissy Wendell, Natalie Darwitz and Courtney Kennedy
also scored for the Americans.
Jin Fengling and Sun Ri scored for China, which was outshot
69-14.
Hayley Wickenheiser, who played men's third-division hockey in
Finland last season, had two goals and three assists for Canada.
The Olympic champion Canadians have won all eight previous world
championships over the last 14 years, beating the United States in
every final. Its only loss in 40 games came at last year's worlds,
when the Americans won a round-robin game 3-1 at Halifax, Nova
Scotia.
The two top teams in each group advance to the semifinals on
April 8. The final is April 9.