I read half the Chinese hockey team is made of foreigner, mainly Candians, that have no Chinese heritage. They play over in China professional hockey league and have lived there over 2 years. I believe NHL are not allowed to play in the Olympics so US players are college players.
Werek is not alone in the fact that he’s not born in China: the team is comprised of 10 Canadians, 9 Chinese players, 2 Americans, 1 Russian,
per Elite Prospects.
There have been plenty of Americans that have competed for other countries in past Olympics because they couldn’t qualify for the USA team. It’s almost every country taking the best qualified no matter where the person was born. I see this story every Olympics.