The United States men’s Olympic hockey team beat China 8-0 Thursday in the first game of Team USA’s schedule, getting three goals and five points from Harvard forward Sean Farrell, a shutout from goaltender Drew Commesso and a goal from Matty Beniers.
The Americans poured on 55 shots after a tight first period, with the floodgates opening in the second and third. Farrell, a Hopkinton, Mass., native who won a USHL championship last season with the Chicago Steel and is a productive first-year ECAC player with the Crimson, keyed the victory with myriad plays on both sides of the puck. Commesso (Norwell, Mass.) became the youngest American goalie ever to play in the Olympics, securing a win and whitewash in his first start. The Boston University sophomore has been on a tear since returning from the canceled 2022 World Junior Championship tournament after Christmas and is playing the best hockey of his career. Beniers (Hingham, Mass.) tallied a goal and brought his intelligent, two-way game to the mix, as the U.S. collegiate players on USA’s roster shined today as a collective group.
We’ll analyze each Massachusetts native’s impact on the game while projecting what are keys to their sustained success in the Olympics and beyond. The next big test comes late Friday night (11:10 p.m. ET) when Team USA takes on Canada in the next game of the preliminary round.
Sean Farrell
11/2/01, RW, left shot, 5-9/174
What he did: The Montreal Canadiens prospect had an unforgettable day against the home team, completing a hat trick and contributing to five of his team’s eight tallies. Perhaps no single play Farrell made was more impressive than his pass to Noah Cates in the second period. The Harvard sophomore pursued the puck with dogged determination behind the China net, gaining possession and with his back turned to the front of the net, firing a perfect backhand feed to the University of Minnesota-Duluth captain in the slot. Cates wasted no time ripping a shot past goaltender Jeremy Smith, but that play happened because of the speed and precision Farrell brought. Playing on a line with two Minnesotans in Cates and Golden Gopher senior Ben Meyers, Farrell was electric, playing with high pace, smarts and skill. He scored the game’s fourth goal of the game by taking a pass, walking down near the left circle dot, and painting the upper corner with a laser wrister. All told, it was a dominant performance from the former St. Mark’s prep player who played four full seasons of junior hockey and is giving the Canadiens a reason for hope in a bleak winter.
How he can sustain it: Farrell is a special player. Though he lacks ideal size, he uses his speed, lightning-fast hands and panoramic vision to make plays, so the key to sustained success at this event and subsequent levels is to keep playing an uptempo game. He checks all the boxes for smaller players, but he also plays with the kind of effort that will allow him to make plays against bigger, stronger opponents. He’ll have to keep developing as much functional strength as he can and protect himself from big hits in vulnerable spots, but he came right into the NCAA and made an immediate impact, carrying that over to Olympics.
Drew Commesso
7/19/02, G, catches left, 6-2/181
What he did: In play for the Mike Richter Award as college hockey’s best goaltender, the former St. Sebastian’s star and second-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2020 was calm, cool and collected in stopping all 29 shots he faced. It has been a frustrating two winters for Terrier sophomore, who was exposed to COVID before he was due to depart for the 2021 World Jr. Championship and forced to remain behind as he watched Team USA win gold without him. 2022 was supposed to be his coming-out party in his last year of eligibility for the signature under-20 tournament, and after winning his first start against Slovakia, a COVID outbreak forced the cancellation of the WJC. His youth and inexperience in international play did not deter USA Hockey from giving him the call for Beijing and he rewarded that confidence with a superb effort that was tougher than the final score indicated.
“He made some tough saves,” U.S. head coach David Quinn (Cranston, R.I.) said after the game. “They did a great job getting to the net. They’re big bodies, and they got the puck to the net quickly. So he had to fight his way through traffic and I thought he did a really good job of that.”
Quinn and his staff deserve credit for going with Commesso, who had to battle with his counterpart, a veteran pro 13 years his senior, in a gritty first period that saw the U.S. team come out with just a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. The USA’s scoring took off in the second period, but their goaltending had not given China any hope in the opening frame by allowing soft goals when the Americans put the pressure on. That was the quiet genius of Commesso’s performance.
How he can sustain it: Commesso’s keys to success are simple: he tracks pucks and doesn’t waste energy in his crease. His vision and reads were outstanding, locating pucks through traffic and setting his feet to make the initial saves. He deftly steered rebounds away from high danger areas, not creating trouble for himself by allowing shots to come off his pads hot, often a challenge for younger, inexperienced players. Count him as yet another top young goaltender from the area and BU product who looks every bit the part of a top-60 pick, as he helped get BU back on track in the Hockey East, and earned some important trust and confidence for his newest team.
Matty Beniers
11/5/02, C, left shot, 6-2/174
What he did: The Milton Academy product and University of Michigan sophomore took a drop pass in the third period, zipped around the right faceoff dot and then unleashed a bullet shot that went over Smith’s blocker shoulder. The rocket drive continued up under the nexus of the right post and crossbar- it was a shot that a Vezina Trophy-winning goalie wouldn’t have stopped. Seattle’s second overall selection in 2021 played a strong two-way game, bringing his usual speed, effort and intelligence. With Beniers, it’s not about jaw-dropping displays of dazzling puck skills: he knows where to be on the ice to make plays and with his vision and motor, it creates a tough combination to defend. He’s not going to pile up the points as Farrell did, but he’s the kind of player every coach trusts in crucial situations, and he only reaffirmed his status as a player expected to be skating in the NHL by the end of the season.
How he can sustain it: Consistency has always been one of the best elements to Beniers and is a big reason the Kraken took him right after Michigan teammate and Canada defenseman Owen Power went first overall in July. He’s the consummate center who can do all of the little things that help you win games without appearing on the scoresheet: he wins draws, is effective in puck support, takes the right routes without possession and plays a diligent three-zone style. He’s already a pro, it’s just a matter of him fulfilling his obligations and taking that next step when the time comes to make it official.
Final call
Former NHLer and four-year BU Terrier Brandon Yip is China’s captain and brings noticeable experience, speed and energy to his team. From 2005-09, he scored 45 goals and 108 points in 128 games on Comm. Ave. He was a member of BU’s 2009 national championship-winning team. He played for the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and Phoenix Coyotes before heading to Germany in 2015. A four-season member of the KHL's Kunlun Red Star club, Yip spent 2020-21 in Finland with Jukurit, before returning to Kunlun and a spot on China's Olympic team.
