CALGARY, AB -- Nancy Drolet scored four goals and Danielle Goyette had three for Team Quebec on Thursday as the powerhouse provincial team humbled Prince Edward Island 12-0 in opening-round play at the Esso Women's Nationals Women's Hockey Championship.

In other first-round games in the 10-team Canadian championship, Team Ontario routed Nova Scotia 15-0, Team Alberta downed Saskatchewan 4-0, New Brunswick won 3-2 over British Columbia, which also lost 4-0 to the host club, the Edmonton Chimos.

The 1998 championship is being contested among teams from nine provinces, divided into two pools of five teams. Pool A includes Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia. Pool B is composed of Quebec, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and the host team. The round-robin portion of the tournament goes Thursday, March 19 and Friday, March 20, with the playoff round opening on Saturday, March 21 and concluding with the bronze- and gold-medal games on Sunday, March 22.

Drolet and Goyette, both teammates on Canada's silver medal-winning Olympic team, each had seven points in Quebec's one-sided victory. Nancy Deschamps scored twice for Quebec, while France St-Louis, another Canadian Olympian, Anne Rodrigue and Roxanne Ethier also scored for Quebec, which won three straight National titles from 1994-1996 before losing in the final game last year to the Team Alberta.

Team Ontario, represented by the Beatrice Aeros of North York, got a three-goal performance from Amanda Benoit, and two-goal games from Olympians Vicky Sunohara and Geraldine Heaney, as well as Cindy Cryderman. Cassie Campbell, also a member of Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Angela James, Erin Rourke and Stephanie Kay scored singles for Ontario.

The 1998 Esso Women's National Championship game will be played at 6 p.m. (8:00 p.m. EST), and will be televised live on TSN, and its Quebec-based sister network, Le Réseau des Sports (RDS).

In addition to competing for the Esso Women's National Championship title and the Abby Hoffman Cup, five individual awards and one team award will be presented to those deserving players for: most valuable player, top defence, top forward, top goaltender, the Mickey Walker most sportsmanlike player award and the Canon K. Richardson most sportsmanlike team shield.