VANCOUVER — Jarome Iginla and Dany Heatley each scored twice, and heavily favored Canada overcame some early nervousness and a scoreless first period to roll over Norway 8-0 in its highly anticipated Olympic hockey opener Tuesday.
The Canadians are so deep and balanced that 15 players figured in their first six goals. Sidney Crosby had three assists in his Olympic debut.
Norway goalie Pal Grotnes, a carpenter by trade, was strong early, turning aside all 14 shots in the first period, but it was too much to ask of a country that lacks a current NHL player on its roster.
• Russian general manager Vladislav Tretiak started goal- tender Evgeni Nabokov against Latvia in a late game.
• Finland clinched a spot in the women’s hockey semifinals with a 2-1 victory voer China.
• Forward Erika Lawler sat out the U.S. women’s hockey team’s 13-0 victory over Russia to rest her bruised ankle.
Stuck at nine
WHISTLER, British Columbia — The biggest winner in Olympic biathlon history remains stuck on nine medals. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen went from being perfect in shooting to missing his last two pulls of the trigger in the men’s 12.5-kilometer biathlon pursuit. The Norwegian great started 17th and wound up seventh. Bjorn Ferry of Sweden won, and France’s Vincent Jay added bronze to the gold he won in the 10K sprint.
• Magdalena Neuner of Germany and Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia finished 1-2 in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit. Sara Studebaker was the top American, finishing 46th.
Not enough curl for U.S.
U.S. men curlers had better start sweeping faster. Or slower. They need to do something different after a 7-5 loss to Germany and a 6-5 loss to Norway.
• The American women blew a three-point lead, falling 9-7 to Japan.
• The Canadian men’s and women’s curling teams gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about, each starting off with victories. The women beat the Swiss 5-4, and the men beat Norway 7-6 and Germany 9-4.
Footnotes.
Tatjana Huefner gave Germany its ninth women’s singles luge gold in 13 Olympic competitions. With Felix Loch winning the men’s event, Germany swept gold for the sixth time, something no other nation has ever done. Top U.S. hopeful Erin Hamlin, the 2009 world champion, was 16th.
• The speedskating races went off without a hitch, the newly repaired ice resurfacing machines running smoothly. Fans even cheered the Olympia machines as they drove around the oval.
• For Olympics fans, the biggest news might be that they will be able to get a better look at the cauldron. Details will be released today, but it’s clear that changes will be made to the chain-link fence.
• The International Ski Federation cleared nordic combined athlete Niyaz Nabeev of Russia and Estonian cross country skier Kaspar Kokk to resume competition after sidelining them for five days because of too-high hemoglobin levels.
