CALGARY, Alberta (AFP) – Valeria Pavlova and Viktoria Kulesova scored 14 seconds into the middle of the second half as Russia started the Women’s Hockey World Cup with a 3-1 win over Switzerland on Saturday night.

Pavlova equaled the power play with 9:11, and Kuleshova equally led Russia with 8:57.

In the third game Maria Batalova and in the first group game Valeria Merkusheva scored 19 times.

For Switzerland, Alina Müller scored the first goal in the first half, then retired in the second half with a foot injury.

Earlier, Nina Christoph scored two goals in the first half to help Germany 3-0 in the second set against newly promoted Hungary. Julia Zorn also scored two goals and Jennifer Harris scored 19 times.

Late in the game, also in the second set, Hikaru Yamashita scored early in the second half and saved Nana Fujimoto 26 times in Japan’s first 1–0 win against Denmark.

Cassandra Rebstock Rome stopped 27 shots for Denmark and lost 6-1 to the Czech Republic on Friday evening.

The tournament was last held in Finland in 2019, and the United States won its fifth consecutive title. The pandemic forced the Nova Scotia event to be canceled twice.

The United States registered a 3-0 win over Switzerland in Group A on Friday and Canada 5-3 against Finland. In the second group, the Czech Republic defeated Denmark 6–1.

All five teams from Group A and the first three teams from Group B will advance to the quarter-finals.

The US will meet Finland on Sunday.

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