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CALGARY — Marie-Philip Poulin and Natalie Spooner each recorded hat tricks to lead Canada to an 11-2 win over the Czech Republic Monday on the opening day of the inaugural world women's under-18 hockey championship.
Poulin also had two assists, while Spooner set up a goal.
Carolyn Prevost scored twice and set up another, Camille Dumais and Jessica Jones each had a goal and an assist, while Brianne Jenner scored once.
Nikola Tomigova and Lucie Povova scored for the Czechs, while netminder Katerina Becevova stopped 38 of 49 shots fired her way by Canada's potent offence.
In other action, Madison Packer had three goals and an assist as the United States blanked Russia 11-0, Sweden beat Switzerland 4-1 and Germany doubled Finland 4-2.
Delayne Brian picked up the win by stopping 10 shots.
After Poulin and Prevost counted goals two minutes apart in the opening period, Spooner scored a pair of power-play goals to give Canada a 4-0 lead.
Prevost then put the Canadians up by five early in the second before Tomigova swatted a loose puck past Brian to get the Czechs on the board.
After Jones scored, Spooner roofed a shot over Becevova's blocker to complete her hat trick.
The Czechs then had a few good opportunities to narrow the gap, but Tomigova failed to get a shot on net as she broke in alone on Brian before Canada killed off a five-on-three advantage. Brian then made her best save of the game when she stopped a breakaway attempt by Barbora Pekarkova with her blocker.
Poulin scored a late second-period goal on the power play and then completed her hat trick in the third after Dumais counted her first of the tournament.
Following Povova's goal at 17:52 of the final frame, Jenner rounded out the scoring for Canada 26 seconds later.
Canada will face off against Finland tomorrow night at Father David Bauer Arena before rounding out the preliminary round with a game against Germany on Wednesday night.
