Olympics | Men's Hockey

Hopkinton’s Sean Farrell records hat trick as US routs China, 8-0, in men’s hockey at Olympics

Hopkinton native Sean Farrell (right) is congratulated by goaltender Drew Commesso of Norwell after scoring one of his three goals. Matt Slocum/Associated Press

BEIJING — Don’t look now, but the young United States hockey team might be fun to watch at the Olympics.

Harvard sophomore Sean Farrell had a hat trick and delivered one of the team’s two no-look assists as the Americans routed China, 8-0, Thursday in the host country’s Olympic men’s hockey debut.

The Hopkinton native delivered his behind-the-back pass from behind the net to Noah Cates and also scored the fourth, fifth, and eighth US goals.

Farrell’s no-look pass stood out as the highlight in a game full of them for the US.

“I knew one of us was going to be out front, so I just threw it there,” said Farrell, who led the US with 5 points. “Fortunately, Catesy, it ended up right on his stick and he buried it, so it was a great little play by our line.”

Andy Miele delivered another no-look assist on Brian O’Neill’s goal, Minnesota center Ben Meyers roofed a backhander, and Hingham’s Matty Beniers flashed the offensive ability that made him the second pick in the NHL draft with his goal.

“It’s just getting used to the pace of the play, how physical that game was,” Beniers said. “It was more physical than probably a lot of us have played before. And [it showed] who we are as a team and what we’re made of.”

Boston University goaltender Drew Commesso was not tested much but was sharp when he needed to be, making 29 saves for the shutout. The 19-year-old from Norwell became the youngest US goaltender to play at the Olympics.

“There were some tough saves,” said David Quinn, the Cranston, R.I., native serving as US coach. “They did a great job getting to the net. They’re big bodies, they got pucks to the net quickly, so he had to fight his way through traffic and I thought he did a really good job of that.”

After a slow start, the Americans’ young speed and skill were on display. The US eventually wore down its overmatched opponents and outshot them, 55-29. Only US-born goaltender Jeremy Smith kept it close the first half of the game for China, finishing with 47 stops.

There was little he could do on Brendan Brisson’s power-play goal that opened the scoring midway through the first period, or on Cates’s shot from in front in the second that made it 2-0.

Skating in front of about 1,000 Chinese fans, the home team made up mostly of North American players who naturalized for the Games hung tough before the Americans broke through three times in the second and four more times in the third.

“We all got our feet wet, scored a lot of goals, didn’t let up anything,” said Brisson, who opened the scoring on the power play midway through the first. “A great start, and we’re just going to be rolling into Canada now.”

Seven of the eight US goals were scored by players currently in college. The other was O’Neill, the lone returnee from the 2018 tournament in PyeongChang, where the US was eliminated in the quarterfinals in a shootout loss to the Czech Republic.

“It says a lot about how good the NCAA is,” said Farrell, who is a Montreal Canadiens prospect. “I think stepping into a tournament like this with a lot of older guys, the college play definitely prepared all of us for it.”

Even without Auston Matthews, Patrick Kane, and a generation of elite American talent, the expectations are higher this time around for the US. Blowing out China reveals little about what the US can do in the tournament, though it was a strong start.

The US next faces archrival Canada, which beat defending silver medalist Germany, 5-1, in its tournament opener. That showdown is set for Saturday afternoon in Beijing before the US plays Germany Sunday night in its final preliminary-round game.

In other action Thursday, former NHL forwards Lucas Wallmark and Anton Lander scored to help Sweden beat Latvia, 3-2, and Sakari Manninen recorded a hat trick on his 30th birthday in Finland’s 6-2 victory against Slovakia.

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