Chinese ice hockey seeks a breakthrough! Winter Olympics Ice Hockey Preview: European and American powerhouses dream of Beijing

Beijing, 28 Jan (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament will be held from February 3 to 20 at the National Gymnasium and wukesong Sports Center, where 12 men's teams and 10 women's teams will fight each other to compete for two gold medals in the ice hockey event.

Ice hockey is fast-paced and fiercely confrontational, and it is one of the most "eye-catching" competitions in the previous Winter Olympic Games. In the United States, Canada, Russia and other countries, the popularity of ice hockey is high, the number of participants is large, and the professional league is mature, so they have always maintained a strong competitiveness in the international arena.

The North American Professional Hockey League (NHL), which is made up of multiple professional hockey teams from the United States and Canada, previously announced that active NHL players will not qualify for the Beijing Winter Olympics due to the increasing number of local COVID-19 cases and game postponements. Therefore, the U.S. men's team will be mainly composed of college players and overseas players, and the overall strength will be affected to a certain extent.

Also affected by this are the Canadian men's team, but they still have former NHL star Eric Starr in the lineup, who was instrumental in Canada's victory over the Vancouver Winter Olympics. In addition, the 2021 NHL draft winner Owen Powell is also among them, coupled with his multiple teammates competing in the Hockey Junior World Championships, Canada's overall strength remains at a high level.

This is good news for the Finnish men's team. Finland, which regards ice hockey as the "national ball", has won silver and bronze medals at the Winter Olympics, but has never won gold medals. In recent years, the Finnish men's team, mainly young players, has performed well in international competitions, and some Finnish media have called them the "Olympic Dream Team", and the team is at its peak and aims to impact the gold medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

At the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the Men's Team of the Russian Olympic Committee won the championship with a "golden ball" in extra time. In the group stage of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the Russian Olympic Committee team has to face the encirclement and suppression of the czech republic, Switzerland and Denmark, and Germany has to face the powerful Canada and the United States.

For the Chinese men's team, which is entering the Winter Olympics for the first time, they will have to face three of the top 5 teams in the world rankings in the group stage: Canada, the United States and Germany, and this schedule is slightly cruel. Although team captain Ye Jinguang has also played in the NHL League, for the Chinese men's team, which is ranked 32nd in the world, surpassing themselves and showing their style is their main task.

At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, women's ice hockey became an official olympic sport. In the 6 Winter Olympic Games since then, the U.S. women's team and the Canadian women's team have won a total of 5 gold medals, and the "U.S.-Canada Showdown" has become the highlight of the Winter Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Rink. According to the official website of the American Ice Hockey Association, Joel Johnson, the head coach of American women's ice, said that the goal of the Beijing Winter Olympics is to "bring the gold medal home."

The Finnish women's ice hockey team, which is in Group A with the United States and Canada, won the bronze medal at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Coach Yusso Toivola said finland has become a strong contender for the women's hockey event between the United States and Canada. According to the format, they will directly advance to the quarter-finals with the Russian Olympic Committee and Swiss teams in the same group.

After finishing seventh at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Chinese women's ice skaters have once again stepped onto the Winter Olympics after 12 years, after their best record in history was fourth place at the Nagano Winter Olympics. According to the women's ice hockey format of the Winter Olympics, they will compete with the same group of Japan, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Denmark for 3 tickets to the top 8. Among them, Denmark is the first time to step onto the stage of the Winter Olympics, and the first opponent they have to meet is the Chinese team. (End)