Women's Olympic Hockey Recap: USA Dominant, China Edges Japan

The Americans proved to be way too much for Switzerland and China pulled off a big shootout victory over Japan on Day 4 in Beijing.

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USA Dominant in 8-0 Win Over Switzerland

Switzerland's struggles continue thanks to an 8-0 loss to the top-ranked Americans on Sunday evening.

The Swiss now holds a minus-22 goal-differential after three games, a huge blow for the fifth-ranked team in the IIHF standings.

The onslaught was early and often, with Hilary Knight scoring twice and Jesse Compher, Kelly Pannek and Amanda Kessel contributing to a 5-0 opening frame. Both Pannek and Compher scored in the second and Dani Cameranesi added one with under three minutes left to finish off the one-sided contest.

USA had a 66-12 shot advantage in the game and holds an overall 16-goal-differential, good for second behind Canada's 18. Alex Cavallini had eight saves for the shutout.

China Beats Japan in Shootout, But Japan Advances

It's perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament so far as China managed to edge Japan 2-1 in the shootout for its second win of the round-robin.

The loss didn't hurt Japan too badly, however, who qualified for the quarter-finals with the point, the team's seventh in three games. And with the win, China has a good shot at advancing, too. A win against Sweden would secure a spot in the playoff round, something the team hasn't been able to do since the first women's Olympic tournament in 1998.

Japan led most of the game thanks to a first period goal from Akane Hosoyamada. But at 41:06, Baozhen Hu's first-ever Olympic goal would force extra time in what had been an evenly contested battle between the two Asian hockey powers. Le Mi scored the lone goal of the shootout to finish the victory, giving China an important win.

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Three Stars

1. Jesse Compher, USA: She scored twice for the Americans, but could have had another two or so had puck luck gone her way.

2. Hilary Knight, USA: Multiple Americans scored twice, but her two goals in the first helped put the game well out of reach.

3. Zhou Jiaying, CHN: Known as Kim Newell to North Americans, Jiaying has been one of the best goaltenders in this tournament and her 32 saves made the difference.