TORINO, Italy — The Italian women's hockey team debuted in the Olympics by winning the opening faceoff against mighty Team Canada.
That was as good as it got for the hosts Saturday night.
Caroline Ouellette and Hayley Wickenheiser each scored three goals to lead the Canadians to a 16-0 win over Italy, the largest rout in women's Olympic hockey history.
The blowout eclipsed a 13-0 U.S. victory over Japan eight years ago at the Nagano Games.
"We expected Italy to be weak but we're not going to apologize for winning," Wickenheiser said.
The defending champion Canadians were expected to dominate the preliminary round matchup. Italy's team has been together for only about two weeks and before the game Italian coach Markus Sparer said the team's goal was not to finish last in the games.
"Yesterday, we were getting autographs from them," said Italian goaltender Debora Montanari, who made 38 saves on 47 shots through two periods before being replaced. "Today, we were on the ice together. It's like a dream."
The lopsided result did not deter a crowd of 8,399 from chanting "I-tal-ia! I-tal-ia!" early in the game, cheering whenever the puck was cleared from the Italian end and singing the national anthem and waving the flag in the final minute.
"That was fantastic. I cried," Montanari said.
Ouellette began the scoring barrage with a goal 1:36 after the puck was dropped, she scored again 16 seconds later and had a hat trick less than seven minutes into the game.
Wickenheiser scored once in the first period, which ended with Canada ahead 5-0, and added two goals in the second to boost the lead to 9-0.
The Canadians scored seven times in the final period. For the game, Italy was outshot 66-5 and didn't get a shot on net in the third period.
SWEDEN 3, RUSSIA 1: Maria Rooth had a goal and an assist in Sweden's 3-1 victory over Russia. Nanna Jansson and Pernilla Winberg also scored for Sweden, which won bronze in the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics and finished third in the world championships in April. Katarina Timglas scored for Russia, which reached the Olympics despite an eighth-place finish at the world championships.
FINLAND 3, GERMANY 0: Heidi Pelttari had a goal and an assist, Maija Hassinen stopped 24 shots and Finland opened the preliminary round of women's Olympic hockey with a 3-0 victory over Germany. Mari Pehkonen and Marja Helena Palvila also scored for Finland, which won bronze in Nagano and finished fourth in Salt Lake City. The fifth-seeded Germans generated few offensive chances, though their vocal cheering section didn't mind.