USA Women's Hockey

ZLIN, Czech Republic -- Haley Skarupa (Rockville, Md.) scored twice in the first period and again in the third period to lead the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team to an 8-0 victory over Russia in its first preliminary-round game of the 2012 IIHF Women's World U18 Championship.

"I thought we played very well," said Heather Linstad, head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team. "We started to share the puck and we skated well. We did a lot of good little things today."

Skarupa put the U.S. on the board at 9:48 of the first period when she potted a rebound from an Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) shot. Skarupa connected on her second goal, on the power play, at 17:53, with a shot from the slot that beat Russian goaltender Margarita Monakhova low.

Miye D'Oench (New York, N.Y.) gave Team USA a three-goal lead at 12:51 of the second period with a shot in front of the net. Dana Trivigno (Setauket, N.Y.) tapped in Sydney Daniels' (Southwick, Mass.) shot that rebounded off the back boards for Team USA's second power-play goal of the game. Daniels earned an assist on both second period goals.

Trivigno connected for her second tally of the night after MaryAnne Kennedy-Menefee (Lansing, Mich.) found her open at 5:55 of the third period. Paige Savage (Carrollton, Tex.) lit the lamp with a high wristshot at 12:48 to increase the U.S. lead to 6-0. Skarupa tapped in her third goal of the night at 13:18 with help from Carpenter, who also picked up an an assist on Savage's goal 30 seconds earlier. Daniels beat Monakhova stick side with 14 seconds remaining in the game to secure the 8-0 win for Team USA.

Sidney Peters (Geneva, Ill.) stopped all 13 shots to earn the shutout in the U.S. victory, while Monakhova made 63 saves for Russia.

Team USA will play its second preliminary-round game of the 2012 IIHF Women's World U18 Championship tomorrow (Jan. 1) against Sweden at 1 p.m. EST.

NOTES: Haley Skarupa was named Team USA's Player of the Game ...The U.S. went 2-for-5 on the power play, while Russia went 0-for-2 with the man advantage ... Team USA recorded 71 shots on goal, while Russia had 13 ... Alex Carpenter is Team USA's captain ... The IIHF U18 Women's World Championship, being played for the fifth time, includes teams from Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States ... Team USA captured gold in each of the first two years of the tournament (2008, 2009) as well as last season (2011). In 2010, the team took home the silver medal ... Heather Linstad, head women's ice hockey coach at the University of Connecticut, is the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team for the 2011-12 season. She is assisted by Joel Johnson and Hilary Witt ... To follow the team in the Czech Republic, check out the U.S. Women's National Program blog by clicking here ... Post-game video interviews can be found by clicking here.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Skarupa (Carpenter, Savage), 9:48; 2, USA, Skarupa (Trivigno), 7:53 (pp). Penalties: RUS, Shibanova (bodychecking), 1:43; RUS, Shibanova (cross-checking), 5:20; RUS, Batalova (interference), 15:56; RUS, Nikolayeva (slashing), 18:32.

Second Period - Scoring: 3, USA, D'Oench (Daniels), 12:51; 4, USA, Trivigno (Daniels), 17:17 (pp). Penalties: USA, Crossman (tripping), 14:54; RUS, Yergorova (slashing), 16:39.

Third Period - Scoring: 5, USA, Trivigno (Kennedy-Menefee), 5:55; 6, USA, Savage (Carpenter), 12:48; 7, USA Skarupa (Carpenter, Savage), 13:18; 8, USA, Daniels (Cameranesi), 19:46. Penalties: USA, LaShomb (hooking), 7:30.

Power Play: USA 2-5; RUS 0-2
Penalties: USA 2-4; RUS 5-10