Norwell's Drew Commesso makes U.S. Olympic men's ice hockey history

Drew Commesso made history before he even faced any shots against China on Thursday.

At 19 years old, the Norwell native became the youngest goaltender ever to be a part of the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team, and that youthfulness didn’t deter head coach David Quinn from giving Commesso the first start of the tournament over 34-year-old Pat Nagle, who has years of AHL experience.

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Commesso, who is in his sophomore season at Boston University, looked like a well-seasoned veteran between the pipes, albeit against an inferior China squad that came into the Olympic opener ranked 32nd in the world by the International Ice Hockey Federation.

With terrific positioning and poise, Commesso turned away China’s shots with relative ease and he finished with 29 saves to secure the shutout as Team USA cruised past China, 8-0, at the National Indoor Stadium. Commesso's shutout was the first for Team USA at the Olympics since Ryan Miller held Switzerland scoreless in 2010.

The majority of Commesso’s saves weren’t of a high degree of difficulty as USA’s defense kept China on the outside of the offensive zone and Commesso gobbled up shots from the point. Commesso also did an excellent job corralling the puck and not allowing clean second-chance opportunities for China.

USA counted on Commesso early to not let the massive underdogs in China have any thoughts of a monumental upset, although China kept it close by only trailing by a goal after one period.

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In the opening frame, Commesso came through with one of his better stops when he held his ground and denied the bid of a charging Spencer Foo from the right wing. Foo ended up colliding with Commesso after his shot attempt, resulting in a penalty and rewarding the U.S. with its first power-play opportunity, on which Brendan Brisson cashed in with a goal off a rifle of a shot that went top shelf for a 1-0 lead.

After an 11-save first period, Commesso only needed to make six stops in the second stanza as the U.S. seized complete control with seven goals over the final two frames.

Commesso put the finishing touches on his strong showing late in the third period when he helped the U.S. kill off a China power play, which turned into a 5-on-3 man-advantage for China for 25 seconds. Commesso made a few stops during the penalty kill and made another save in the waning seconds to keep China from scoring its first- ever goal in the Olympics.

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Commesso was far from the only Massachusetts native to have a sizable imprint on the contest. Hopkinton’s Sean Farrell paced the prolific offensive attack by notching three goals and two assists. It was the first hat trick at the Olympics for Team USA since Phil Kessel achieved the feat at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, and it was the second-most points from an American in a single game during the modern era of the Olympics, which began in 1956.

The 20-year-old Farrell, who is a sophomore at Harvard University, got started early in the second period when he made a nifty no-look pass from behind the net to set up linemate Noah Cates in front for a goal. With 1:53 left in the period, Farrell netted his first tally, ripping a short-side shot past Jeremy Smith (47 saves) for a 4-0 advantage.

Farrell added two more goals in the third period as he capped his hat trick with 1:33 to play. The third line of Farrell, Cates and Ben Meyers all had at least one goal. Meyers also recorded two assists.

“Our line played really well,” said Farrell to the USA Network broadcast following the win. “I’m really fortunate to play with those guys. I think we’ve been clicking ever since practice started, so it was good to start off on the right foot.”

Hingham’s Matty Beniers got in the scoring fest with eight minutes left in the third period as he showed why the Seattle Kraken selected him No. 2 overall in this past NHL draft. Beniers, who is the youngest member of Team USA and played with Commesso growing up on the South Shore Kings, unleashed a perfectly placed shot from the right dot into the upper-left corner of the net.

The challenge for the U.S. increases exponentially when it takes on Canada in its second preliminary round game on Friday (11:10 p.m.).

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Norwell's Commesso, Hopkinton's Farrell star for USA in win over China