Team USA Dominates Olympic Athletes from Russia with 5-0 Victory

The U.S. Women’s National team shut out the Olympic Athletes from Russia today with an impressive five goals and 50 shots from the U.S.

The U.S. team was riding high from their previous game, a hard-fought 3-1 victory against Finland. However, the athletes from Russia faced a crushing shutout from Team Canada in their last game, losing 5-0. This loss means back to back goalless games for them.

Both teams came out of the gate at an equal pace and not many shot attempts. By the end of the first 10 minutes, there were only three shots on goal between the two teams.

The U.S. team started to pick up the pace with an early goal by Kacey Bellamy. Receiving a cross-ice pass, she took a shot from the right circle through tons of goal-front traffic to make it 1-0.

At the end of the first, the shot count stood at just 7 - 2 with Russia having trouble maintaining possession. The athletes from Russia failed to get a single shot on goal, even with an early power play in the first period.

In the second period, the U.S. got a serious morale boost in the form of Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson. Halfway through the game, Lamoureux-Davidson catches a rebound and deflects the puck in to make it 2-0.

Six seconds later, Lamoureux-Davidson grabs the puck again, takes it to the net, dekes out the OAR goalie and backhands it in to put the U.S. team up 3-0.

Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson just broke an Olympic record: fastest two goals by one player in an Olympic hockey game in the men’s or women’s tournament. The last record holder was Carl Goran Oberg of Sweden who scored two goals in eight seconds at the 1960 Olympics.

“They told me it was a record back there, but I had no idea,” Lamoureux-Davidson told the IIHF. “I guess whenever you’re able to score two quick goals like that, whether it’s one player or back-to-back shifts from a different line, it just adds to the momentum. Scoring two quick ones like that is pretty cool, I don’t think I’ve ever done it before.”

Right after Lamoureux-Davidson’s record-breaking goals, Gigi Marvin puts one in to make it 4-0 for Team USA.

Things didn’t get any better for the Russian athletes in final five minutes of the second period. After the three quick goals from the U.S. team, they pulled starter goalie Valeria Tarakanova and put in Nadezhda Morozova... and then proceeded to take two minor penalties.

Morozova made a solid effort to prevent any more U.S. goals in the third period but a late-game goal from Hannah Brandt put the U.S. team at 5-0 and cemented their victory. In the end, the team from Russia couldn’t get enough momentum to score and registered only 13 shots on goal to the U.S. team’s 50.

The USWNT plays Team Canada Wednesday, February 14th at 7:00 pm PST. Even though it’s Valentine’s Day, there’s no love lost between these two teams. You won’t want to miss this rivalry matchup.