The Chinese men's ice hockey team made its debut in the Winter Olympics

On the evening of the 10th, the Chinese men's ice hockey team lost to the United States team 0:8 in its debut at the Winter Olympics. Although the Chinese women's ice team, which debuted earlier, eventually missed the quarterfinals, 2 wins and 2 losses, and goals in every game made the foreign head coach of Chinese women's ice give a high evaluation to the overall performance of the Chinese women's team.

At present, there are 8 Chinese female ice skaters playing in overseas leagues. In order to prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese women's team has been training and playing in Russia for more than 5 months under the name of Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Vanke Sunshine Team, and the men's team has been competing in the Russian Mainland Ice Hockey League (KHL) since August last year. In an interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera, the head coach of the Chinese men's ice hockey team, Ivano Saneta, said that although the Chinese men's ice hockey team is "not the most optimistic team" in this Winter Olympics, it will face strong teams such as the United States, Canada and Germany, "we will have a firm belief and fully demonstrate our ability." ”

The Associated Press said that after winning the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in 2015, China hired well-known coaches from overseas to develop the hockey program and invested in a youth college. From the beginning of the 2016-2017 season, the relevant departments have strived to let the vast majority of male and female national team players participate in the KHL, using "competition instead of training" to improve their level, and also hired well-known coaches in the international ice hockey industry as members of the team's think tank, such as Mike Keenan, a former senior coach of the North American Professional Ice Hockey League (NHL), as a member of the advisory board of the ice hockey project of the Beijing Winter Olympics. At the same time, naturalized athletes have also improved the strength of the team.

Although the sport of ice hockey has a high threshold, it is gaining more and more attention in China: in 2017, about 1,000 people were engaged in the sport; by 2018, that number had increased to 12,060. In Beijing, during the 2019-2020 season cycle, more than 4,500 young ice hockey players were registered, ranging in age from 4 to 18. Beijing also has three young hockey leagues (including tournaments), including one with schools as the main participant. According to information disclosed by the Beijing Ice Hockey Association, there are 32 ice hockey youth clubs in the city.

The world's highest-ranking NHL has also shown a strong interest in the Chinese market, and they have been promoting it in China since 2014, holding "China Games" in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai in 2017 and 2018. The Beijing Winter Olympics will also be a good boost. Ye Jinguang, a former NHL player and captain of the Chinese men's ice hockey team, believes that the Winter Olympics will make ice hockey more popular in China. The International Ice Hockey Federation announced on the 10th that it invited Chinese actor Wu Jing to serve as the world ice hockey ambassador. Tadev, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, said, "We are very grateful to him (Wu Jing) for helping us develop ice hockey through his influence. ”