Shelley Looney and Jenny Schmidgall each had two goals as the United States women's hockey team beat Russia 10-2 on Monday to open the 1999 world championships.
Brandy Fisher, Krissy Wendell, Katie King, Cammi Granato, Tricia Dunn and Karyn Bye each added a goal as the United States, which trailed 2-1 early, outshot the Russians 55-15. Canada had an even easier time, outshooting Switzerland 73-19 in cruising to a 10-0 victory against Switzerland in group B. Haley Wickenheiser, Cassie Campbell and Jayna Hefford scored two goals. In other games Sweden beat China 3-1 in group A, and Finland downed Germany 9-0 in the B group. Canada has won all the previous four world titles, but lost the Olympic gold to United States a year ago in Nagano, Japan, as women played for Olympic medals for the first time. The United States has 11 returnees from the Olympics, and Canada 12. The two best teams in each group reach the semi-final stage. The final will be played on Sunday.© 1999 SportsLine USA, Inc. All rights reserved