2018 Olympic Winter Games (Men)

CANADA OPENS OLYMPICS WITH WIN OVER SWISS

JASON LA ROSE

GANGNEUNG, South Korea - René Bourque (Lac La Biche, Alta./Djurgårdens IF, SHL) and Wojtek Wolski (Toronto, Ont./Metallurg Magnitogorsk, KHL) scored two goals apiece, leading Canada Men's Olympic Team to a 5-1 win over Switzerland in its opening game Thursday at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

The Canadians scored twice in the first eight minutes and never looked back, winning their 11th consecutive Olympic game and improving their all-time record against the Swiss at the Games to 9-1.

Maxim Noreau (Montreal, Que./SC Bern, NLA) had the other goal for Canada, while Derek Roy (Rockland, Ont./Linköping HC, SHL) added three assists and Chris Lee (MacTier, Ont./Metallurg Magnitogorsk, KHL) chipped in with two helpers.

Bourque opened the scoring just shy of the three-minute mark when he redirected a feed from Lee past Swiss goaltender Leonardo Genoni, and Noreau ripped home a power-play goal at 7:30 for the eventual game-winner.

A pair of quick-strike goals put the game away for Canada early in the second period.

Bourque got his second on a Canadian power play, jamming a shot through Genoni, before Wolski danced through the defence and wired a shot upstairs just 51 seconds after that to make it a 4-0 game.

That would be the end for Genoni, who gave way to Jonas Hiller after allowing four goals on 12 shots.

Penalty trouble early in the third period allowed Switzerland to get on the board; Simon Moser poked in a loose puck that had snuck through Canadian netminder Ben Scrivens (Spruce Grove, Alta./Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL) to get the Europeans on the board on the power play, but Scrivens closed the door from there, making 11 of his 28 saves in the third period.

The Swiss put Hiller on the bench with more than five minutes left in a last-gasp effort to cut into the Canadian lead, but Wolski found the empty net to clinch the three points for Canada.

The Canadians are back in action Thursday (10:10 p.m. ET/7:10 p.m. PT) at the Gangneung Hockey Centre, taking on the Czech Republic in the second of three preliminary-round games.