Beijing time on February 10 news, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics men's ice hockey game in full swing, the Chinese men's ice hockey team debut encountered a strong American team, despite the absence of NHL players, but the United States team regardless of strength or heritage are in the absolute upper hand, the More realistic goal of the Chinese men's ice hockey team is to lower the posture to fight the opponent and strive to score.
A total of 22 teams participated in the beijing winter olympic ice hockey competition, including 12 men's and 10 women's, which was the first time that the Chinese delegation achieved full participation in the ice hockey event, and the debut of the Chinese men's ice hockey team in the Winter Olympics attracted much attention.
The Chinese men's ice hockey team was once a strong team in the Asian ice world, in the 1986 and 1990 Asian Winter Games, the Chinese men's ice hockey won the championship, in the late 80s and early 90s was the hegemony of Asian men's ice, dominating in front of Japan, South Korea, Kazakhstan and other teams. However, Chinese men's ice hockey has not followed the trend, but has developed relatively slowly, and the gap with the world's ice hockey powers is relatively large.
As the host of the Beijing Winter Olympics, The Chinese men's ice hockey was once controversial because of the disparity with the opponent's strength, but the International Ice Federation was full of confidence in the Chinese men's ice through careful discussion, watching the preparation of the Chinese team and the game video, so it determined the qualification of the Chinese team.
Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese men's ice hockey team and the United States, Canada, Germany were divided into group A, of which the United States and Canada are the world's two strongest men's ice hockey overall strength of the two teams, although the North American Professional Hockey League (NHL) active players can not participate for health reasons, but the overall strength of the three teams is strong, the Chinese team to achieve victory in the group opponent is very difficult, the group qualification is more difficult.
On February 10, China made its men's hockey debut against the United States. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese men's ice hockey team has a total of 25 players. Forward players include Ye Jinguang, Wang Taylor, Fu Jiang, Fu Shuai, Luo Jia, Jian'an, Wei Ruike, Ying Rudi, Yan Juncheng, Zhang Zesen, Zhong Wei, Guo Guoning, Xiang Xudong, defenders are Jack Kelios, Ryan Spree, Yuan Junjie, Liu Jie, Dennis Osipov, Zheng Enlai, Chen Zimeng, Yan Ruinan, Zhang Pengfei, and goalkeepers are Jeremy Smith, Oban Wynn and Han Pengfei. Song Andong was not on the big list.
The 37-year-old Ye Jinguang, the captain, is also the oldest player in the Chinese delegation of this tournament, Ye Jinguang has completed 174 games in five seasons, scored 56 points, becoming the best Chinese male player in the history of professional ice hockey in the world. Although he is 37 years old, Ye Jinguang is in good shape, gliding, dribbling, passing, shooting, all in one go. In the words of his teammates, he was an invincible "red" bolt of lightning on the field.
Since August last year, the Chinese men's ice hockey team has gone to Russia for external training, the players have participated in the Russian Mainland Ice Hockey League (KHL), gained valuable game experience, and local players such as Ying Rudi have scored goals, which is an important breakthrough for Chinese men's ice. Ye Jinguang, Yuan Junjie and others are not afraid of strong enemies in the mainland ice hockey league, play their own characteristics, and leave a deep impression on the top players in Europe and the United States.
The U.S. men's ice hockey team is the world's top team, and although NHL players have not been able to attend, their team is strong and still a favorite to win the championship. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, the U.S. men's ice team sent a total of 25 athletes, only one of whom participated in the Winter Olympics, he is a Yale University alumnus who played in Russia, forward Brian O'Neal, and forward Nick Shore played 299 games for five professional teams under the National Hockey League between 2014 and 2020.
In addition, the U.S. team has 15 players from the American University Athletic Association (NCAA), 8 European professional players (5 in the Russian Continental League, 3 in the Swedish and German leagues in total) and two players from the American Hockey League (one level below the NHL).
According to the Beijing Winter Olympics Media Services Information System, the average age of the U.S. men's ice hockey team is 25.1 years old, the youngest is 19-year-old Marty Benniers, the oldest is Pat Nagel, 34, and Nathan Smith from NCAA Minnesota State University is worth noting.
U.S. men's ice coach David Quinn said that youth is the team's strength, and strives to integrate the players into a cohesive group in a very short window. Director John Van Biss said that the goal of the American team is to win the gold medal.
How to make good use of the opportunity to play against strong teams to increase competition experience, compete in training levels, and show competitive spirit is a realistic task facing the Chinese men's team. However, for the Chinese men's ice hockey project, being able to appear at the Winter Olympics is already a major breakthrough, which has obvious positive effects on the further popularization of ice hockey in China. (Lin Nan)