U.S. Turns Early Lead Into Rout of Russia

Russia was overwhelmed by the United States on Friday at the In-Line Hockey World Championships.

The Americans opened the scoring with five consecutive goals and cruised to an 11-3 victory in front of about 400 flag-waving fans at Disney Ice.

The victory kept the United States (2-0) atop Group A with the Canadians (2-0), who beat Germany, 13-6, Friday. The Americans meet Germany (0-2) at 7:30 tonight and the Canadians play the Swiss (1-1) at 4:30. If all goes as anticipated, the North American rivals will face off in a Roller Hockey International all-star game of sorts at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Friday’s match was over quickly, which was surprising, considering the Russians skated better than the Americans in a 10-7 exhibition loss to the United States just two days before.

Former San Jose Rhino Jay Murphy, who finished with a hat trick, beat Russian goaltender Vitaly Chumichev with an unassisted goal just 16 seconds into the game and the rout was on.

Dave Shute, formerly of the defunct Minnesota Artic Blast, slipped the puck past Chumichev two minutes later for the first of his two goals and former Oklahoma Coyote Joe Burton, who also scored twice, did the same three minutes after that. Former Sacramento River Rat Chris Valicevic and former Bullfrog Defenseman Joe Cook, scored two goals apiece.

“I was kind of surprised at how this one went, but, then, we didn’t handle what they did right,” Russian Coach Valentin Gureev said. ‘We got nervous and didn’t handle the situation well at all.”

The final score was not indicative of how lopsided this game was. The United States kept the puck in its zone nearly the entire first half, peppering Chumichev. He faced 47 shots. His teammates got off only 21.

“I think the key was that we never let them in it,” Burton said. “We had someone in their face all night.”

In other games:

Canada 13, Germany 6--Eight players scored for the Canadians, who will try to beat the Swiss (1-1), with an eye toward Sunday’s expected showdown with the U.S. Bullfrog defenseman Doug McCarthy had a goal and two assists and newly acquired Bullfrog winger Hugo Belanger scored twice and had an assist.

Switzerland 9, Finland 3--The Finns (0-2) had another disappointing outing, falling behind, 4-1, and never recovering. Swiss goaltender Patrick Schopf made 35 saves.

Italy 12, Japan 4--It was another strong performance by the surprising Italians (2-0), who moved into a tie with the Czech Republic atop Group B. Winless Japan (0-2) got off only 19 shots. Ten players scored for Italy.

Netherlands 7, Austria 7--The Dutch (0-1-1) had a three-goal lead but blew it and were hanging on under heavy fire from the Austrians (0-1-1) when the game ended. Austrian goaltender Markus Kerschbaumer relieved teammate Marcus Hurra in the final 11:24 and made 11 saves.

Czech Republic 15, Australia 6--The Czechs (2-0) broke open a 2-2 standoff and blistered the Aussies (1-1).