Winter Olympics: Czech Republic beat China 3-1 to win Olympic debut in women’s ice hockey
- China was outshot 36-14 in its fourth Olympic appearance, and first since finishing seventh of eight teams at the 2010 Vancouver Games
- Defending champions United States open their tournament later in the day against Finland
Michaela Pejzlova scored on a breakaway with 13:33 left in the third period, and the Czech Republic capped its women’s hockey Olympic debut with a 3-1 win over host China at the Beijing Games on Thursday.
Tereza Radova became her nation’s first female to score in the Olympics by redirecting defender Aneta Tejralova’s pass into the slot to open the scoring 10:38 into a game the Czech Republic never trailed. Denisa Krizova also scored and Klara Peslarova stopped 13 shots in a Group B preliminary round game to open the tournament a day before the opening ceremony.
China was outshot 36-14 in its fourth Olympic appearance, and first since finishing seventh of eight teams at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Mi Le scored and Canadian-born goalie Tiya Chen stopped 33 shots for a Chinese national team made up of mostly members of the Russian-based Women’s Hockey League’s Vanke Rays.
The defending champion United States opens the tournament later in the day against Finland.
With the Czech Republic up 2-1, Pejzlova secured the win by beating Chen through the legs after being set up by a blue-line-to-blue-line pass from Pavlina Horalkova.