At the Canadian Women's Hockey League, players witnessed the brutality of the professional league for the first time. Moving to the Russian Women's Hockey League, the players experienced the joy of success. Immersed in the high-level ice hockey arena for 5 years, the Chinese women's ice hockey team members have grown steadily. As a team, they are more mature and efficient. The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will be the best stage for them to show themselves.
The pro field opens another window
In 2015, Beijing successfully bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. How to improve the level of Chinese ice hockey as soon as possible and strive to achieve the desired results in the Winter Olympic Games at home? With this goal in mind, in 2016, Kunlun Hongxing Club was established in Beijing, and in 2017, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Hockey Club landed in Nanguo, dedicated to the development of women's ice hockey.
China's ice hockey has a small population base, limited talent resources, and no mature professional league, so players lack high-level exercise opportunities, even if individual players want to fly out alone, it is difficult to improve the level of the national team as a whole, only 5 years away from the Beijing Winter Olympics. At this time, Kunlun Hongxing adopted the strategy of "dancing with wolves", setting up a platform for national team players and foreign high-level players to train and play together, so as to achieve rapid improvement.
In 2017, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club officially joined the Canadian Women's Ice Hockey League (CWHL), which was the highest level women's ice hockey league in the world at that time, and most of the players of the U.S. and Canadian national teams played in this league.
After the establishment of Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing, the composition of the team has always been the members of the Chinese national team, the Chinese players in North America and the high-level players from abroad account for 1/3 each. The team has excellent players such as US national team forward Carpenter, Finnish international nora Leti, and there are also excellent Chinese players such as Wang Yuting, Linni and Hu Baozhen; driven by them, domestic players dare to play, and soon, Liu Zhixin scored the first point of Chinese players, and Yu Baiwei scored the first goal of Chinese players.
In the first season of the professional league, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing broke into the playoffs. Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing faced Calgary Inferns in the third semi-final, and after 114 minutes of hard fighting, the team scored the winning golden ball in the third extra time to eliminate the opponent. In the finals with Markham Xunlei, the regular time battle was 1-1 draw, Markham Xunlei scored in extra time, and the Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Team finally won the runner-up, which created the best result of Chinese ice hockey in the world's top hockey professional league.
Yu Baiwei, who participated in the finals, said: "Participating in overseas professional leagues is a challenge for me and a kind of exercise, my teammates are very good hockey players, most of them are from the United States and Canada, and so are my team players, they are all excellent. My teammates allow me to quickly improve my speed, conversion, and the way I play in training, so that I gain more confidence, so that I can deal with opponents more freely in the game, and more importantly, I am more determined in the experience of professional leagues, as long as I pay 100% effort, I can become a better self, and gradually gain confidence from every day's efforts. ”
Bring the first championship for Chinese ice hockey
In 2019, as China and Russia entered the era of "comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era", ice hockey was also written into the diplomatic agreement between the two countries. Taking the Joint Statement of China and Russia on The Development of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination in the New Era as an opportunity, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing team officially joined the Russian Women's Ice Hockey League (WHL), becoming the first foreign team in the history of the league.
There is a big difference in the style of ice hockey in North America and Russia, in a new environment, the ice hockey girls of Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing have encountered different challenges, but with the experience of the past two seasons, the players have been able to overcome it well, and they have written a miracle through their own efforts.
Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing won the 2019-2020 Russian Women's Ice Hockey League Championship, becoming not only the first Chinese team to win the professional ice hockey league championship, but also becoming the first foreign team in the history of the Russian Ice Hockey League to win the championship, which was highly praised by the International Ice Federation. Head coach Brian Idarski won the title of best head coach, captain Carpenter was elected the most valuable player of the tournament, and six players, including Lin Qiqi, Liu Zhixin, Qi Xueting, Zhou Jiaying and Linni, were also selected for the WHL All-Star Game.
The players have a high opinion of the experience of the professional league. Huo Cui, who participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics, said that the professional league has broadened his horizons: "Teammates come from various countries, play well, you can learn their advantages and different playing styles, including the fighting spirit on the field, the spirit of not accepting defeat, and feeling more." ”
In the following 2020-2021 season, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing continued to maintain a good momentum, winning the regular season championship for the first time, losing only two games in 28 rounds of the league, and the players were promoted and gained confidence. In the first half of the 2021-2022 season, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing, which is composed of the Chinese women's hockey national training team, has grown in the league, laying a solid foundation for preparing for the Winter Olympics.
Off the field, you can also experience the culture of ice hockey
Since its establishment in 2017, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club has traveled to the Canadian Women's Ice Hockey League and the Russian Women's Ice Hockey League, participating in 148 league games in 5 seasons, reaching the finals 3 times and winning the championship once. During this period, a total of 84 players represented the club in official competitions, including more than 30 local Chinese players and more than 20 Chinese players.
Liu Zhixin is one of the representatives, she has played 114 games, and is the first Chinese player in Kunlun Hongxing's men's and women's hockey clubs to reach 100 games. Liu Zhixin said in his 100-game milestone: "The professional league is my dream, unforgettable my first professional game, the first time I heard the national anthem on the world's top women's ice hockey league, I cherish every game, from the first to the 100th, thank you for the club gave me this opportunity, the coaching staff and teammates gave me a lot of help." ”
In addition, many Chinese players in North America have played for Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Hockey Club for four or five seasons, with forward Linney representing the club in 136 league games, the most appearances in team history; defender Wang Yuting, defender Liu Zhixin, forward Lin Qiqi and other professional league appearances on behalf of the club have also exceeded 100 games; goalkeeper Zhou Jiaying represented the club in 59 league games, the most goalkeeper in the team's history. In the long-term process of playing, local players and Chinese players have been well integrated.
As a group project, learning ice hockey culture is also an important part. After several seasons of edification, the players not only have a deeper understanding of the world's highest level of ice hockey, but also absorb a lot of fresh nutrients in the daily life with foreign teaching teams and foreign teammates, and many domestic players can communicate with coaches and teammates without obstacles, which is very helpful for daily training and competition.
After 5 years of "Dancing with Wolves", the players have grown, Yu Baiwei has become an increasingly mature captain, Wang Yuqing has a domineering spirit in front of goal, Fang Xin can always bring surprises to the team in free kick battles, and young Zhao Qinan and Zhu Rui have also found confidence on the field. On February 3, Chinese women's ice hockey will start its dream journey at the Winter Olympic Games.