WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah ? Karen Bye had two goals and two assists and Natalie Darwitz scored twice as the United States dominated Germany 10-0 Tuesday in the opening round of Olympic hockey.
The home crowd offered sporadic chants of "U-S-A," but no outside inspiration was needed for the favored Americans against the bottom seed in its group. The United States has beaten the Germans all six times they have played, outscoring them 69-3.
Sara DeCosta stopped all eight shots by the Germans. Julie Chu had a goal and added an assist in her Olympic debut.
Darwitz scored 1:44 into the second and again at the 7:10 mark of the period to spark a three-goal outburst over a span of 1:43. Chris Bailey scored 23 seconds after Darwitz and Bye 80 seconds after that to make it 6-0 and chase Stephanie Wartosch-Kurten from the German goal.
Chu scored eight minutes into the third, then assisted on A.J. Mleczko's goal 1:17 later to make it 10-0. Wartossch-Kurten stopped 26 of 32 shots and Esther Thyssen stopped 21 of 25 for Germany.
Darwitz, 18, is the second-youngest player on the U.S. team, but she's far from inexperienced at skating against older players. In 1996-97, she had 85 goals and 42 assists for Eagan (Minn.) High School; at the time, she was only in seventh grade.
At 15, she became the youngest player ever to make the U.S. national team. On this year's pre-Olympic tour, she was sixth in scoring with 17 goals and 21 assists.
The preliminary round is expected to be just that for the Americans, who have never lost a game to anyone but Canada. Canada opened Group A on Monday with a 7-0 victory over Kazakstan.
For Germany, making its first appearance in the Olympic women's tournament, the much-anticipated loss allows them to concentrate on games against Finland and China. The Germans would need at least a win and a tie to advance to the medal round.
The Americans opened the scoring at 6:16 of the first period when Jenny Potter picked up the puck behind the net and backhanded it to Bye, who chipped it between the goalie's legs.
Bye had an assist when Baker scored at 15:05 of the first to make it 2-0. Baker shot from the left of the net, got the rebound, took the puck around the back of the net and then put it off the goalie's right leg and just over the goal line.
Darwitz took a pass from Granato and skated in from right circle, wristing it past the goalie at 1:44 of the second. Then the United States really broke things open.
Darwitz passed it to herself off the boards to get by a defender at the blue line, then opting not to pass to Krissy Wendell before wristing into the far corner of net. Bailey and Bye scored in quick succession before the German goaltender change.
Thyssen held the Americans for the rest of the second, but couldn't do the same in the third.