Beijing time on February 3 news, Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics ice hockey game in full swing, women's group stage, the Chinese women's ice hockey team debut to meet the Czech Republic, the opponent ranked seventh in the world, the first time to participate in the Winter Olympics, led by Mills, the Chinese team reinforced a number of Chinese, offensive and defensive strength significantly enhanced, if the normal level of play, is expected to defeat the opponent, to achieve a good start.
In the history of women's ice hockey at the Winter Olympics, Chinese women's ice hockey has participated in 4 times, the best result is the fourth place in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the development of Chinese women's ice hockey has encountered a bottleneck, talent is broken, and there is no consecutive sochi and Pingchang Winter Olympics.
In the Beijing Winter Olympic cycle, the Chinese women's ice hockey increased investment, and the Kunlun Hongxing Vanke Sunshine Team from Shenzhen went to Canada and the Russian Women's Ice League, among which in the Canadian Women's Ice League CWHL, Shenzhen Club won the championship, creating history for Chinese women's ice.
In the Winter Olympic season, the Chinese women's ice hockey team participated in the Russian women's ice league WHL in the name of Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Vanke Sunshine Team, in order to prepare for the Winter Olympics, this team gave up high-level foreign aid, all composed of local and Chinese players, the first 22 games achieved 15 wins and 7 losses, temporarily ranked fourth, very promising to break into the playoffs.
In terms of lineup, Chinese women's ice retained Athletes such as Yu Baiwei and Zhang Mengying who participated in the Winter Olympics, and also added Chinese people such as Lin Ni, Lin Qiqi, Zhang Xifang, and Zhou Jiaying. It is worth mentioning that these Chinese players have achieved great results in university clubs and are basically the core of each team, whether it is Canada or the Russian women's ice league, their performance is obvious to all, and they have shown a high level in attack and defense. It can be said that after the Chinese players joined, the overall strength of Chinese women's ice was strengthened, and the prospects were promising.
According to the schedule, on the first match day, the Chinese women's ice hockey team faced the Czech Republic. Czech women's ice currently ranked seventh in the world, they played well in the Winter Olympic qualification matches, beating Poland, Hungary and Norway in a row, ranking first in the group with three wins, and receiving tickets to the Beijing Winter Olympics as desired.
The Czech women's ice team is dominated by the 2014 U18 World Championship lineup, which has been running together for a long time, not only winning the bronze medal in the World Youth Championship that year, but also joining the European high-level league and getting experience. In the Czech squad, Alena Mills is no stranger to Chinese ice fans, she played for Shenzhen Club and represented the team in the Russian league. Mills is the heart of the Czech team and has won the best contender at the World Championships.
The number of matches between the Chinese women's ice team and the Czech team is not much, and they have not met in recent years, but compared with the paper strength, the Chinese team is not under the opponent, and this Olympic team has been running in the Russian league for half a season, and the tacit understanding is better than that of the Czech team. As long as the tense atmosphere of the Winter Olympic debut is overcome, the Chinese women's ice can be expected to open the door.
In other games, Canada took on Switzerland, Sweden against Japan and Finland against the United States. The United States and Canada are regulars in the finals of the Winter Olympics and World Championships, and the confrontation between the two teams has become the mainstream of women's hockey in the world today. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the U.S. team defeated Canada and shattered the opponent's dream of winning consecutive years.
However, at the World Championships, the Canadian women's ice team defeated the American team to achieve revenge. Judging from the lineups announced by the United States and Canada, both teams have a number of veterans, and also add some potential new stars, and the lineup of new and old combinations starts again. The Finnish team did not show weakness, and winning a medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics had the opportunity to create some trouble for the American team. Canada has an overall advantage in front of the Swiss team and is expected to make a good start. (Lin Nan)