SOCHI SCENE: #DawnsEarlyLight

SOCHI SCENE: #DawnsEarlyLight

SOCHI, Russia (AP) The U.S. women's hockey team has come up with a clever way to attract fans back home to watch its games live - hashtagging the second line of the American national anthem.

The (hash)DawnsEarlyLight hashtag is reminding fans in the United States to wake up early to watch their team, a favorite along with Canada in the Sochi Games. A USA Hockey staffer came up with the idea, playing off the lyrics: ''By the dawn's early light.''

Here's a USA Hockey tweet using the hashtag: https://twitter.com/usahockey/status/435386740682289152

The hashtag was active during the first period of Team USA's semifinal with Sweden on Monday night, though mostly among hardcore fans. The rest of America was paying attention, apparently, too - (hash)womenshockey and (hash)TeamUSA were trending nationwide.

Hockey topics, meanwhile, did not appear to be trending on Twitter in Sweden.

- By Oskar Garcia - Twitter http://twitter.com/oskargarcia

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Associated Press reporters are filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu