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U.S. Women's National Team Blanks Slovakia, 5-0, in 2011 IIHF World Women's Championship Opener

By USAHockey.com, 04/17/11, 11:45AM EDT

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Team USA Continues Preliminary-Round Action Tomorrow Against Russia

ZURICH - Five different players scored and Brianne McLaughlin (Sheffield Village, Ohio) turned aside all 10 shots she faced in leading the U.S. Women's National Team to a 5-0 victory over Slovakia to start the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship here today at Hallenstadion. Playing in her first world championship, McLaughlin's shutout was the first of her U.S. career.

"It was a solid first step for us," said Katey Stone, head coach for Team USA and also the head women's ice hockey coach at Harvard University. "We had a lot of offensive punch and I was happy to see Brianne get a world championship win. It was a good game to build on."

The first period proved to be a successful one for first-time IIHF World Women's Championship participant Slovakia. Despite 26 shots by the defending champion Americans, Slovak netminder Zuzana Tomcikova was impenetrable, keeping the score at 0-0 for the full 20 minutes.

The U.S. was able to solve Tomcikova twice in the second stanza to gain a 2-0 lead. The first goal came at the 3:50 mark when Kendall Coyne (Palos Heights, Ill.) tipped Molly Engstrom's (Siren, Wis.) low shot from the right point. Scoring her first-ever goal for Team USA, Josephine Pucci (Pearl River, N.Y.) doubled the U.S. lead at 8:18, putting a one-timer into the net from the mid-slot after Tomcikova dove forward to make a save.

A trio of University of Wisconsin players added tallies in the early half of the final frame to account for the 5-0 final score. Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho) put one in from the right post off a cross-crease pass from Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.) at :11. Just :08 later, Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.) scored, followed by Decker one-timing a pass from Knight at 7:27.

Team USA will continue preliminary-round play tomorrow against Russia at 4 p.m. (10 a.m. EDT).

NOTES: With a goal and an assist, Brianna Decker was named the U.S. Player of the Game ... The U.S. held a 63-10 advantage in shots ... Team USA was 0-for-2 on the power play, while Slovakia was 0-for-5 The U.S. has captured three gold medals (2005, 2008, 2009) and nine silvers (1990, 1992, 1994,1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007) in the 12 previous IIHF World Women’s Championships. Joining Katey Stone as assistant coaches are Mark Hudak, head women's ice hockey coach at Dartmouth College, and Hilary Witt, assistant women's ice hockey coach at Northeastern University. In addition, Robb Stauber is serving as the goalie coach and Misha Donskov is the skill development coach ... Follow @USAHockeyScores on Twitter for live scoring updates during all international events ... Follow the U.S. Women's National Program blog here ... Get behind-the-scenes news and information by finding USA Hockey on FacebookTwitter and YouTube.