Canada, ROC women mask up on Olympic ice amid COVID concerns

By JOHN WAWROW
AP Hockey Writer

BEIJING (AP) — The Canadian and Russian women’s hockey teams were required to wear masks for their preliminary round matchup at the Olympics because of coronavirus concerns. The start of the game was delayed by 65 minutes after the Canadians remained in their locker room awaiting Russian testing results. The International Ice Hockey Federation eventually reached a compromise in having all players wear masks, a Winter Games first for women’s hockey. Canada won 6-1 to improve to 3-0. In other games, Denmark defeated the Czech Republic 3-2, Sweden beat China 2-1 and Switzerland beat Finland 3-2.