Winter Olympic Observation: Play level to prove themselves The Chinese ice hockey men's and women's teams strive for the best results

The Beijing Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament will be held from February 3 to 20. Chinese women's ice hockey will appear on the Winter Olympics again after 12 years, and Chinese men's ice hockey has qualified for the Winter Olympics for the first time in history. Recently, the Chinese men's ice hockey team conducted its first training session before the Beijing Winter Olympics at the National Gymnasium. This is the first "real battle" carried out by the National Stadium on the 23rd to open the closed-loop management of the Winter Olympics and the end of ice making.

According to the schedule, a total of 58 ice hockey matches at the Beijing Winter Olympics were played. Among them, the women's ice hockey competition was played from February 3 to 17 with a total of 28 matches, and the participating teams were expanded from the original 8 to 10 teams, divided into two groups, and the Chinese women's team and Japan, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Sweden were in Group B. The men's ice hockey competition will be played from February 9 to 20 with a total of 12 teams, divided into three groups, and the Chinese men's team and Canada, the United States and Germany are in Group A.

Because of the historical development of the Olympic Games, the ice hockey program was included in the Seventh Summer Olympic Games in 1920 and has been an official competition of the Winter Olympic Games since the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924. The Canadian team is undoubtedly the strongest contender for this project. Although they only won bronze medals at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, they have previously won the men's ice hockey championship at the Winter Olympics nine times, the team that has won the most gold medals in the event. Since the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics women's ice hockey became an official sport, the Canadian team has dominated with 4 gold and 2 silver. According to the list of ice hockey players for the Beijing Winter Olympics released by the Canadian Olympic Committee: the men's team is led by veteran Eric Starr, who is a member of the men's ice hockey championship at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and the men's ice hockey situation is bound to change greatly due to the announcement by the North American Professional Ice Hockey League that its players will not participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics; 13 members of the women's team lineup have experience in the Winter Olympics, and their biggest competitor is the 1998 and 2018 Winter Olympics gold medallists The United States. It remains to be seen whether Canadian ice hockey can regain its glory at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

For Chinese men's ice hockey, climbing to the Winter Olympics is a significant stroke of Chinese ice and snow sports. In the group stage facing the three strong opponents of the United States, Germany and Canada, the Chinese men's ice team does not need to consider the victory or defeat, go all out, show themselves, play their own characteristics, while playing with high-level opponents, constantly learning the advanced experience of the ice hockey team, the first time to try the Winter Olympics trip is worth the trip.

In women's ice hockey, the best players in the world will participate in the Winter Olympics, and for the Chinese women's ice hockey team that has returned to the Winter Olympics, it is expected to make a breakthrough in the Beijing Winter Olympics. In the same group, japan and the Czech republic are stronger than the Chinese team, so facing Sweden and Denmark, which is the first to enter the Winter Olympics, has become a key battle to win and score points. If The Chinese women's ice team can play steadily, reaching the top eight is not an unattainable goal.

On February 3, the Chinese women's ice hockey team will take the lead, starting against the Czech Republic, followed by Denmark, Japan and Sweden on the 4th, 6th and 7th. The men's team will face the United States, Germany and Canada on the 10th, 12th and 13th.