The U.S. women's hockey team secured their place in the semifinals Tuesday, shutting out Olympic Athletes from Russia with a 5-0 victory in their second preliminary round play.
The U.S. began the game strong with Kacey Bellamy's wrist shot scoring for the U.S. in the first period.
Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scored two consecutive goals in just six seconds for the U.S in the second period. USA Hockey said on Twitter that Lamoureux-Davidson set a record for the quickest two goals in U.S. Olympic Women's history.
Gisele Marvin followed Lamoureux-Davidson soon after with the fourth goal. Hannah Brandt netted the fifth with a little over a minute left in the third period. Her earlier shot in the third period was overturned.
The Russians are the youngest team in the tournament, with less experience and almost an entirely new roster from the team that played in four years ago in Sochi.
Led by Chicago-area stars Kendall Coyne and Hilary Knight, alongside Meghan Duggan, Kacey Bellamy and the Lamoureux-Morando twins, all Olympic veterans on the team, the U.S. squad, which won its opener against Finland, is looking for revenge after their silver-medal finishes to Canada at the last two Games.
The women's team has made the podium in every Olympics since it earned the very first women's ice hockey Olympic gold in 1998, but that competition was the only time they won it all.
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The team will play their rivals for the first time in Pyeongchang beginning Wednesday night (CT). With their latest win, the Americans remain undefeated going into their early Olympic showdown with Canada, which is also 2-0.
No medal will be on the line Thursday, just positioning for the semifinals.
