A Chinese mens hockey team led mostly by North American-born players suffered a dominating 8-0 loss at the hands of Team USA on Thursday.
According to NBC Sports, Harvard University forward Sean Farrell scored the first Olympic hat trick for Team USA since Phil Kessel did so in 2014.
His first goal was arguably the most impressive of the three as he beat Chinas goalie, Jeremy Smith, to the top left corner toward the end of the second period.
Boston University goalie Drew Commesso, the youngest starting goalie ever for the United States in the Olympics, showed no signs of nerves, stopping 29 shots en route to the shutout.
Coming into the game, much was made of the Chinese mens hockey roster. According to NBC Sports, 18 out of 25 players on the roster were born, raised or both in North America.
The International Ice Hockey Federation allows players to represent a country in international play if they have lived there for at least two years and played for the countrys national team.
According to ESPN, this was all part of the plan for China. It recruited American players such as Smith and fellow Jake Chelios up to four years in advance in hopes of fielding a competitive team when it hosted the Winter Games.
Chelios, the son of NHL Hall of Famer Chris Chelios, agreed to change his name to Jieke Kailiaosi to aid Chinese fans, Firstpost reported. For the same reason, Smith agreed to go by Jieruimi Shimisi.
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