China's Olympic Hockey Team Is Confusing Everyone With All Its Canadian & US Players

China has formed its first Olympic men's hockey team for this year's Winter Games.

... Sort of.

The Olympic host nation always gets to have a team in the hockey tournament, but China isn't exactly stacked with homegrown talent. Instead, China has recruited a bunch of players from North America to play on the team, and most of its players are actually Canadian or American.

Yeah, we thought it was confusing too.

Twenty-five players are playing for Team China in Beijing, and only six of them were actually born in the country. The rest of the roster is filled out by 11 Canadians, seven Americans and a Russian, many of whom have played at least a little bit in the NHL.

Team China athletes Jeremy Smith, Jake Chelios, Ryan Sproul, Spencer Foo and Brandon Yip have previously played for the NHL.

"Since we've been over here for three years you start to feel a closeness to China. We've been eating Chinese food, living the Chinese culture so there's a certain closeness you feel with China and you start to feel you want to win for them," said Chelios to Reuters.

Jake Chelios is the son of Chris Chelios, a three-time Stanley Cup winner and Hockey Hall of Famer. Chris was also a hockey player for Team USA during the 1984, 1998, 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympic Games, so you could say that the Olympics run in the family.

Still, China's mostly foreign roster has been creating a bit of controversy in recent months.

In November, the Chinese team came under fire for not meeting the competitive standard of the International Ice Hockey Federation. China is guaranteed a spot in each Olympic event; however, they typically need to meet a certain standard to compete in the Olympics.

With China's mostly North American roster, a lot of people in and outside of the country have been unsure how to feel.

But China didn't just throw this team together for the Games. Most of its national team players were already playing for the Kunlun Red Star, a pro hockey team in the mostly Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

The whole thing hasn't been sitting well with some people.

China's women's hockey team has faced similar criticism, with 12 out of 23 players being born outside of China.

Zhou Jiaying, who more often goes by the name Kimberly Newell, is the team's Canadian-born goalie, and she found herself in the middle of an awkward situation recently.

Although her Olympic profile lists English as her first language spoken, she was recently told that she was not allowed to speak English to members of the press. Instead, she had to speak Mandarin and allow a translator to convey her words to the media.

The women's tournament is already underway and the puck drops for the men on Wednesday.

Medal games begin Thursday, February 17 at 11:10 p.m. EST/8:10 p.m. PST, and you can bet that we'll be watching.