Olympics-Ice hockey-Germany ease past Japan for first Sochi win

By Frank Pingue SOCHI, Russia, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Germany capped their preliminary round play with a 4-0 win over Japan on Thursday in a matchup between two teams that will miss the knockout stage of the women's ice hockey tournament at the Sochi Games. Franziska Busch scored two goals, including an empty-netter in the game's final minute, as Germany cruised to victory over a Japanese team that had trouble mounting any sort of attack. Japan were looking to erase the disappointment of losing all five games during the 1998 Nagano Olympics, where they qualified automatically as the host nation. But they were outscored 7-1 in three games here and failed to register a win. With the win, Germany placed third in the four-team Group B while Japan finished last. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)