JD Vance, Marco Rubio Watch Team USA Women Blast Czechia In Olympic Opener

The United States women's hockey team got its Olympic tournament underway, and did so with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on hand.

Vance and Rubio are in Milan for the start of the Games, and the Vice President met with a group of athletes after he arrived. 

"This is one of the few things that unites the entire country, and if you can get a person who's not a big fan of sports to obsessively watch the Olympics, you know that it's a special thing," Vance said, per Fox News Digital. "Everybody is rooting for you guys."

Vance called the trip to root on Team USA at the Games the highlight of his time as Vice President and also talked about how Second Lady Usha Vance, while not a sports fan, always gets the family together to watch the Games every two years.

After that visit, the Vice President and Secretary of State swung by the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena — the smaller of the two Olympic hockey venues — to watch the US women take on Czechia to open their tournament.

Every preliminary round game is going to be big for the Americans as they play in Group A, which is easily the more difficult of the two groups, as it includes the US, Canada, Finland, Czechia, and Switzerland.

Fortunately, they got off to a great start with a 5-1 win over the Czechs in a game in which they got a lot of rubber on net, out-shooting them 42-14.

A nice, positive goal differential like that could be critical as the preliminary round goes on, given how strong it is.

The Americans' next game is on Friday against Finland, but that is up in the air after the Finns' tournament opener against Canada was postponed due to a Norovirus outbreak.

As for Vance, according to the Associated Press, when his time at the Games is done, he'll head to Armenia and Azerbaijan in a bid to build upon a peace deal between the two nations that was signed last year.