USA Puts On Show Of Force Over Switzerland

Team USA finished atop Group A at the Women's Euro Hockey Tour defeating Switzerland in convincing fashion 6-2 to close out their group play.

USA was slow out of the gate, but once their offense started flowing, the Americans were a hard team to stop beating Switzerland 6-2 in their final group play game at the 6-nation Women's Euro Hockey Tour.

Just over six minutes into the first, USA got on the board with a fluke goal by Tessa Janecke. Janecke was behind the goal line and attempted to center the puck but it hit Swiss netminder Andrea Brandli's stick and trickled through her legs instead of reaching its intended net front target.

Several minutes later however, Switzerland got on the board capitalizing off some sloppy defensive zone play from USA to fire a writers blocker side beating USA's Amanda Thiele to tie the game at 1-1.

Like they did against Finland in their opening game, it took USA a while to get rolling, but once they did, the flood gates opened. 

In the second period Sloane Matthews took a puck near the offensive blueline and walked around the Swiss defender cutting to the net before going high on Brandli to make it 2-1.

Less than a minute and a half later, Ella Huber scored her second of the tournament. After Joy Dunne corralled a rebound, she found Huber in the slot from below the goal line to make it 3-1. On the power play later in the frame, Abbey Murphy finishes a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play with a one time shot off Kirsten Simms' cross ice pass to extend USA's lead yet again.

Early in the third period, USA continued their onslaught with Cassie Hall scoring her first, followed closely by her University of Wisconsin teammate Casey O'Brien picking the top corner to make the score 6-1. Lena-Marie Lutz would get one back for the Swiss on a power play, but it was too little too late as USA held on for a 6-2 win. Despite allowing six goals, Swiss netminder Andrea Brandli was strong in net facing 49 shots in the game. USA's Amanda Thiele made eight saves in the win.

Switzerland will close out their group play against Finland to see who will finish second in Group A.