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Team USA Tops Russia, 6-1, to Open U18 Women's Worlds

By USA Hockey, 01/07/17, 11:00AM EST

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Barnes Nets Pair of Goals in Victory

ZLIN, Czech Republic – Cayla Barnes (Corona, Calif.) netted a pair of goals and was one of four players to register multiple-point games, as the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team defeated Russia, 6-1, here today at PSG Arena in its opening game of the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women's World Championship.

“We had a good all-around effort today and got better as the game went on,” said Joel Johnson, head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team. “It’s a good first step and we’ll build off it for tomorrow’s game against Sweden.”

Maureen Murphy (Buffalo, N.Y.) opened the scoring at 8:14 of the first period, skating in from the far boards and beating Russian goaltender Diana Farkhutdinova with a wrist shot over her glove hand. Clair DeGeorge (Anchorage, Alaska) and Delaney Drake (Traverse City, Mich.) assisted on the play.

Thirty-four seconds later, Natalie Heising (Maple Grove, Minn.) received an Anneke Linser (Lino Lakes, Minn.) pass from behind the net and fire one home from from the slot to make it 2-0. That is how the opening period ended.

Just :55 into the second period, Barnes carried the puck into the offensive zone and used the defenseman as a screen, beating the goaltender top corner.

Taylor Wente (Plymouth, Minn.) added a goal at 11:44 off a Catherine Skaja (New Prauge, Minn.) feed to put the U.S. up 4-0.

Barnes notched her second goal of the game and extended the U.S. lead to 5-0 with a power play tally at 7:21 of third period. Linser tapped in a rebound at 11:06 of the final stanza to make it 6-0. Russia scored in the final minute of play to account for the 6-1 final.

U.S. netminder Alex Gulstene (Evanston, Ill.) stopped 14 of 15 shots she faced.

For complete game statistics, click here.

The U.S., which is 1-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) at this year’s event, will continue preliminary-round play when it takes on Sweden at 1:30 p.m. ET tomorrow (January 8). A live stream of the game will be available here.

NOTES: Cayla Barnes was named U.S. Player of the Game ... The U.S. outshot Russia, 39-15. All games from the International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women's World Championship are being streamed live at u18worldwomen2017.iihf.com. Follow @USAHockey on Twitter for live scoring updates with the #U18WWC hashtag.