The Beijing Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament will kick off on February 3 at the Wukesong Sports Center and the National Gymnasium, with four women's matches on the first day, with China facing the Czech Republic in Group B. As the most fiercely contested sport in the Winter Olympics, ice hockey has always attracted the attention of fans.
Yu Baiwei, captain of the Chinese women's team, said before the game: "After 12 years of waiting, Chinese women's ice hockey once again stood on the field of the Winter Olympics, everything is changing, but the original intention has never changed! Please remember this chinese women's ice hockey team with faith and bravery! ”
Chinese women's ice was once the world's strongest team
In the 1990s, China Women's Ice was a world powerhouse, twice finishing fourth at the Women's Ice Hockey World Championships and emerging as a world-class goalkeeper known as the "Great Wall of China". At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, women's ice hockey became an official event of the Winter Olympics, and the Chinese team won the fourth place in history for the first time, just one step away from the podium.
After entering the new century, the strength of Chinese female ice began to decline due to the replacement of the old and the new. At the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, the Chinese team finished seventh. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, the Chinese team competed again at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, with the United States, Finland and Russia in Group B. As a result, China lost 1-12 to the United States, losing 1-2 to Finland and Russia in two 1-2 games, and losing all three games in the group stage. In the 7-8 ranking match, the Chinese team won the seventh place with a 3-1 victory over Slovakia.
At the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, The Chinese women's ice skaters failed to qualify for the qualifiers. At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Chinese women's ice returned to the Winter Olympics after 12 years as the host. In contrast, Chinese male ice has never participated in the Winter Olympics before due to insufficient strength. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Chinese men's ice hockey will appear on the Winter Olympic games for the first time by relying on the status of host.
The opponent, the Czech Republic, should not be underestimated
A total of 10 teams participated in the women's ice hockey event at the Beijing Winter Olympics, with China and Japan, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Denmark in Group B, and the top three teams in this group will enter the round of 8 together with 5 teams in Group A.
The Japanese team and the Czech team in Group B ranked sixth and seventh in the world respectively, and are important opponents of Chinese women's ice. In terms of the current world rankings, the Japanese team is currently sixth, the Czech Republic is seventh, Sweden is ninth, the Danish team is eleven, and the Chinese team is only in twentieth.
Czech women's ice has entered the Winter Olympics for the first time, but its strength cannot be underestimated. The main players of the Czech national women's ice hockey team are from the "golden generation" of the 2014 U18 Women's World Championships, when the Czech women's national junior team won the bronze medal, which is the most brilliant achievement in the history of Czech women's ice hockey. In last November's qualifiers, the Czech women's ice team won a record 16-0 against Poland, 5-1 against Hungary and 3-1 against Norway, with three big wins uncontroversially winning the Ticket to the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Among the many musketeers of czech women's ice, the most famous is the czech ice hockey queen - the main center of the Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Vanke Sunshine Ice Hockey Team, Alena Mills. Alena joined Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing in the 2020-2021 season and helped the Czech Republic to score the highest score at the 2021 World Championships with 5 goals and 2 assists, and she was named the best contender at the World Championships with a 71.2% competition rate.
Naturalized players improve their hard power
The core player of the Chinese team is captain Yu Baiwei, who participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics. In addition, Liu Zhixin and Zhang Mengying are participating in the Winter Olympics for the second time. Chinese sports are becoming more and more open and inclusive, and there are also new explorations in the introduction of talents. Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Hockey Club, which operates socially, adopts the strategy of "dancing with wolves", recruits Chinese naturalized players, and sets up a platform for national team players, Chinese naturalized and foreign high-level players to train and play together to help the national team quickly improve its strength.
According to statistics, the Chinese women's ice hockey team has 13 Chinese naturalized players, and their participation has greatly enhanced the strength of the Chinese women's ice hockey team, and from the experience and number of NCAA players in the team, the Chinese team is the second most in the entire B group.
The star player of Chinese women's ice is undoubtedly goalkeeper Zhou Jiaying as a naturalized player. She currently holds several goalkeeper records for the Princeton Women's Varsity team, including conceding goals per game, winning numbers and saves. In 2017, Zhou Jiaying was selected by Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing and participated in CWHL and three seasons of WHL, with obvious progress. This should be the chinese women's ice hockey goalkeeper with the world's top level after Guo Hong, the "Great Wall of Chinese Ice".
Even if a number of naturalized Chinese players have been introduced, compared with other more mature national teams, the Chinese team lineup is relatively young, and it is worth observing whether the physical, psychological and experience can adapt to such a big competition as the Olympic Games. The first match between the Chinese women's team and the Czech Republic on the 3rd will be a good touchstone.