The flame hadn't even been lit in Beijing Thursday before nine of the 12 current and former University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey players on Olympic rosters began to make their mark in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Canada and current Bulldog defenseman Ashton Bell and former All-American Jocelyne Larocque, defeated Switzerland, with former UMD All-American Lara Stalder 12-1.  Both Bell and Stalder scored goals in the game, with Bell's first Olympic goal coming right after Stalder's. The Swiss captain scored her team's lone goal during a 5-on-3 advantage midway through the third at 8:30 to make it a 9-1 game.  It was Bell that struck next for Canada.  The Bulldog captain got a rebound and popped the loose puck into the net to make it 10-1 at 13:36 of the final frame.  Bell also added an assist on Canada's fifth goal at 8:21 of the second period -- her first Olympic point.

Another current UMD player making her debut was Emma Soderberg, who in her first Olympic start was stellar in between the pipes for Sweden. Japan upset Sweden 3-1 with an empty-net goal late in the third, but it was Soderberg who kept the Swedes in the contest all night long. Soderberg had 37 saves for Sweden in the loss.

Swedish captain and former Bulldog forward Michelle Lowenhielm had some harsh words for the result but high praise for Soderber after the game.

"It sucks," Lowenhielm said bluntly. "We're a good team and we had the chances, but we just missed on the rush and we made too many mistakes. We can play a better game."

"Oh my God, she's a great goalie," Lowenhielm said of Soderberg. "She's helping us a lot back there and making some sick saves and I can't say enough about her. It's sad that we're not giving her enough help. Every game is a tough game. That's why we're here," said Lowenhielm. "I believe in this team and I believe we can do it if we go all out and play a full 60. It's not gonna be easy but I know we can turn this around."

Current UMD forward Kassy Betinol and former UMD standout defenseman Jessica Wong made their Olympic debuts with China, but were defeated 3-1 by the Czech Republic and Katerina Mrazova, who is also competing in her first Olympics.  Wong added an assist on the Chinese goal late in the second period that made it a 2-1 contest at the time.

Bulldog goaltending coach Maddie Rooney got the start for the United States in net, a 5-2 win against Finland.  Rooney made 10 saves for the U.S. in the first start of her second Olympic games.

Betinol and Wong will hit the ice again tomorrow for China against Denmark, and Alexandra Vafina and Russia will take on Stalder and Switzerland in the only two games of the day.