2022 Olympics: Breaking down Team USA's 8-0 win over China

Sean Farrell (MTL), Drew Commesso (CHI) star in historic Olympic debuts

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The U.S. men started the Olympics off on the right foot by dominating China 8-0 in their tournament-opener. The first period looked a little shaky, but from the second period on, USA’s offensive attack, its speed and skill overwhelmed the opposition.

Harvard’s Sean Farrell (MTL) had a hat trick and added two assists to pace the American scoring attack, while Boston University’s Drew Commesso (CHI) stopped all 29 shots he faced while becoming the youngest goalie to ever suit up for the U.S. men in a Winter Olympics.

Brendan Brisson (VGK) started the scoring in the shaky first for the Americans where China’s physicality appeared to surprise Team USA’s younger players. However, Brisson hammered a perfect one-timer on the power play to make it 1-0 and that helped settle things down.

USA Hockey @usahockey

🚀 from @brendan_brisson gets the scoring started! #WinterOlympics | #TeamUSA 🇺🇸

In the second period, Noah Cates (PHI) took a hit to help the U.S. get their transition going. Farrell zoomed into the offensive zone and provided a no-look, spinning backhand pass right on the tape for Cates to one-time it for a 2-0 lead. After that, Team USA’s veterans got in on the act as captain Andy Miele managed to keep control of a puck with a defender draped on him and sent an area pass that Brian O’Neill snuck past Jeremy Smith to make it 3-0.

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Looks like we're finding that chemistry! @Andy_Miele x @Brian22ONeill #WinterOlympics | #TeamUSA 🇺🇸

Up next, Farrell took control of a NZ turnover forced by Nick Abruzzese (TOR), skated in and ripped a wrister short side to make it 4-0. Team USA out-shot China 16-6 in the period and finally looked more in control.

The third period was book-ended by goals off of Farrell’s stick, both from A+ shots. Ben Meyers (UFA) and Matty Beniers (SEA) also scored nice goals in the period as the U.S. skated off to their 8-0 win over a Chinese team that started the game awfully promising, but faded down the stretch.

Now let’s get to the analysis.

First period wakeup call

That first period was eye-opening on a lot of fronts. For one, China showed that their players had been together all year. They normally play as Kunlun Red Star in the KHL and in that first period, they challenged the Americans physically. Clearly every guy on that team had a pretty good understanding of their job, their role and at least in the first period, they played it well. Their seasoned pros were absolutely laying the wood, winning board battles and making some massive open-ice hits.

If the young players on Team USA weren’t sure what to expect, they realized pretty quickly that they had to bear down a lot more if they were going to have success in the game.

It took that full 20 minutes to understand that if the U.S. was going to get their speed game going, it was going to require a bit more precision in transition, winning puck races and getting off the wall quickly. That’s what we saw the rest of the way, which is why the score went from 1-0 after 20 to 8-0 after 60.

College players drove the bus

Of the goals scored by Team USA, seven of them were scored by NCAA players and there’s no question their best two lines came from the middle six — all collegians. Though Matty Beniers’s line with Abruzzese and Matthew Knies (TOR) was listed second on the depth chart, they collectively saw the ice more than any other forward unit. That line has so much speed and then Knies has the power game to give them tremendous balance. They only accounted for one of the goals, but they were a force the whole time.

The third line for the U.S. was its most productive. Farrell was with Meyers and Cates, which proved to be an absolute handful for China. Despite these three players never playing with each other before, they looked in sync. Cates and Meyers were able to provide the room for Farrell to do his thing offensively and Farrell’s speed was absolutely a factor in driving play.

On defense, Team USA’s most-utilized defenseman was Minnesota sophomore Brock Faber (LAK), who finished the game with one assist and played nearly five full minutes more than any player on the roster. His 23:25 dwarfed the ice time of the other blue liners for Team USA.

Because of the scoreline, his game is going to be overshadowed, but I can’t stress enough how comfortable and confident Commesso looked. He was tested a few times early in the game, but he made all of the easy saves and never once overcomplicated things. He’s such a steady presence in the net and I think the U.S. very likely has its No. 1. Pat Nagle backed up today and Strauss Mann (UFA) was scratched, but I think Mann is the No. 2 for the Americans. He very well could get the game against Canada, but after seeing how good Commesso looked against the 29 shots he did end up facing, I’d have plenty of confidence in the 19-year-old. We shall see how this plays out.

Yeah, but it’s China

I get it. No one expects China to win a game in this tournament and maybe they won’t, but I do think this is not necessarily the China that everyone thought they’d be now that NHL players aren’t in the tournament. That first period was as physical and tough as I’ve seen on the Olympic stage. USA’s skill needed a full period to find its way.

Also, China has been ranked way back of the pack in World Rankings for years, but this is the first time they’ve actually gotten the Kunlun team to play internationally. Other iterations of the Chinese national team did not include the North American pros. You can absolutely quibble with the validity of this Chinese roster with so many non-Chinese players on it, but there’s former NHL prospects and players on there which helped level the field a little. I don’t love the process of creating national teams that way, but without that, China gets embarrassed even worse. It is what it is.

Here’s the other thing that I think makes it OK to feel some optimism about this U.S. roster. In 2018, Team USA lost its opening game to SLOVENIA in overtime. That team did not have Anze Kopitar on it, FYI. That set the whole tournament up to be a disaster, which ended with USA’s only wins coming against Slovakia twice. Now the Americans have put themselves in a good position going into the big game against Canada which is a massively bigger test for them. We’ll learn more about Team USA in that game, but I think we learned a fair amount even though China gave up eight goals. Take the win with a grain of salt, but also understand that this Chinese team is not who we though they were coming into the tournament.

Key Stats

5: Sean Farrell (MTL) put his name in the USA Hockey record books with his five-point performance. Only one American man has scored more points in a single game in the Olympics modern era. The record is held by Farrell’s fellow Harvard man Bill Cleary, who had six points in a game against Germany at the 1960 Olympics. The U.S. has played worse opponents in their Olympic history and yet Farrell now sits No. 2 all-time for points in a single game. Pretty impressive stuff from the reigning USHL MVP. Obviously, he was named Team USA’s player of the game.

55: I know it was China and everyone has expected them to be bad, but the Americans poured 55 shots on goal over the course of the game including 23 in the third period. There was no relenting. They took the chances they were given and absolutely owned the puck. One thing a game like that allows the U.S. to do is get more familiar with the jobs they’ve got to do and how their teammates play. There was more time and space for them to operate, but they also created it with their speed and skill.

14: That’s the number of different players that recorded at least one point for Team USA. When you can get almost your entire roster headed in the right direction like that, regardless of who you are playing, that’s a great way to kick things off. It helps build some confidence.

50%: If there’s one area the U.S. may need to improve, it’s in the faceoff circle. They were even on draws against China, winning 33 and losing 33 at the dot. Team USA’s most effective faceoff man was Ben Meyers, who won 10 of 16 draws.

Other statistics of note

• Ben Meyers (UFA) finished with three points including one goal, while Nick Abruzzese (TOR) had two assists. They were the only two players to record more than one point besides Farrell.

• Matthew Knies (TOR) finished the game with six shots on goal, most by any American player. Both Matty Beniers (SEA) and Brendan Brisson (VGK) had five shots on net.

• Team USA’s power play went 2-for-5 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the PK, which included a late 5-on-3 in the third period before China took a penalty to lose the advantage.

Power Play Units

I was curious what Team USA’s special teams would look like. The first indication on the power play was that they’re set up like this:

PP1: Steven Kampfer, Andy Miele, Ben Meyers, Brian O’Neill, Kenny Agostino

PP2: David Warsofsky, Matty Beniers, Brendan Brisson, Nathan Smith, Matthew Knies

I would anticipate these are flexible, especially since the U.S. worked some different units later in the game. The second PPG came from Farrell, who was playing with Justin Abdelkader, Meyers, Faber, and Drew Helleson (COL).

Prospect notes