On February 10, Beijing time, the first group stage of the men's ice hockey event of the Winter Olympics will be contested, when the Chinese ice hockey team will face the United States. It is worth mentioning that this is also the first time that the Chinese men's ice hockey team has appeared in the Winter Olympics. Considering that the American team participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics is mainly composed of college students and overseas players, the Chinese ice hockey team that achieved a "zero breakthrough" in the Winter Olympics is even expected to gain a good start.
This is no exaggeration. Looking at the world rankings alone, the Chinese ice hockey team at no. 32 obviously can't compete with the Top Five American ice hockey team. However, this ranking is actually a bit "fake". The reason is simple, due to the outbreak of the epidemic, the Chinese ice hockey team cancelled a number of games related to improving the rankings. Because of this, the Chinese team, which is struggling to get up in the ranking, has remained in the 32nd place.
Although the ranking match was not successful, the Chinese ice hockey team was not idle. In order to better prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics, the team went to the KHL League in Russia half a year ago to train in the competition. Not only that, the Chinese ice hockey team has also naturalized 15 players, including captain Ye Jinguang and other ice hockey players. Therefore, the Chinese ice hockey team that "repairs both inside and outside" and plays at home is by no means a fish belly unit in the eyes of some of the bearers.
On the one hand, the Chinese ice hockey team is desperately improving, and on the other hand, the American ice hockey team is forced to "cut meat". Due to the announcement issued by the NHL (North American Hockey League) prohibiting active players from participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics, the American ice hockey team had to form a team based on college players and overseas players. This not only made the star of the ice hockey project of this Winter Olympic Games insufficient, but also greatly reduced the strength of the American ice hockey team.
It is worth mentioning that the American ice hockey team also did not call up players from the NHL at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics four years ago, and ultimately missed the top three in the project. It can be seen that the American ice hockey team without professional stars is not as scary as imagined. Therefore, the well-prepared Chinese ice hockey team still has the hope of winning the first game. Once so, the Chinese ice hockey team will usher in the opening of the Winter Olympics debut!