(Beijing Winter Olympics) Outside the Winter Olympics, the plight and hope of Chinese ice hockey
Beijing, February 16 (Wang Hao) On the evening of the 15th, with the final whistle sounding, in the men's ice hockey promotion match of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese team lost to Canada 2:7, ending the team's first winter Olympic tour in history. A few days ago, the Chinese women's ice hockey team stopped in the group stage. The winter Olympic games of the two teams have aroused heated discussion, and the development of Chinese ice hockey outside the field is also worthy of attention.
On February 12, the men's hockey group game of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was held at the Beijing National Gymnasium. China (White) lost 2-3 to Germany. Photo by Cui Nan, a reporter from China News Service
This is the first time that China has competed in a full quota in the winter olympic hockey competition, after the women's team had participated in the Winter Olympics three times, with the best result being the fourth place in the Nagano Winter Olympics, while the men's team had never participated in the Winter Olympics.
The failure to advance to the quarter-finals is not an unacceptable result. Objectively speaking, the women's team had the opportunity to advance to the top 8, but due to the relatively young team members and lack of competition experience, they eventually fell short at the critical moment.
There is a certain gap in strength between the men's team and other opponents, although this gap was expected to be small before the game, but it still cannot be ignored. Coupled with the lack of experience in the competition, it is not surprising that it did not reach the top 8 in the end.
In fact, aside from the accidental factors of the game, the performance of China's two ice hockey teams in the Winter Olympics is behind the current dilemma of Chinese ice hockey, that is, the weak mass base and the lack of a mature and stable league system.
On February 10, in the men's hockey group stage of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the National Gymnasium, China played against the United States. The picture shows the Chinese team players and the American team players fighting in the game. Photo by Mao Jianjun, reporter of China News Service
Compared with the ice hockey power, China's ice hockey started late, and in the period before Beijing successfully bid for the Winter Olympics, the sport fell into a trough for a long time, and the mass base was relatively weak, which directly led to a small space for material selection.
For example, in the 2016 Winter Games, there were 5 teams participating in the women's ice hockey competition, 2 of which were almost amateur teams. According to media reports, Li Xuan, the leader of the Harbin women's ice hockey team at the time, introduced that the number of chinese women's ice hockey registrations was only about 200 people.
Judging from the entire process of the Winter Olympics, the Chinese men's and women's teams have improved in several games, but at every critical moment, the shortcomings of lack of competition experience will be exposed. If they can participate in high-level leagues all year round, the level is likely to be further improved.
Ying Rudi, a member of the Chinese men's team, introduced that the lack of a stable top league has a great impact on the development of ice hockey. "I believe there are a lot of gifted kids who, because they don't have a career path, may slowly give up the sport."
Of course, the plight of Chinese ice hockey has improved somewhat in recent years. Since the moment beijing successfully bid to host the Winter Olympics, the sport has ushered in an opportunity for development.
Taking Beijing as an example, in the 2021-2022 season, the number of female ice hockey players registered with the Beijing Ice Hockey Association has reached 401, from 26 clubs. In the small way, it is clear that more and more people are starting to play hockey.
With the advancement of the "rotating ice" project, ice and snow sports have gradually entered the southern campus. Among them, many schools have opened a "wheel + ice" physical education course, and children in the south can also contact ice hockey.
Most of these children will not specialize in ice hockey in the future, but with an increasingly large mass base, the selection of materials for the project will become more and more relaxed.
On February 6, the Chinese players celebrated the victory. On the same day, in the women's ice hockey group stage of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics held at the Wukesong Sports Center, the Chinese team defeated the Japanese team 2-1. Photo by Mao Jianjun, reporter of China News Service
In February this year, the State Administration of Market Regulation established national standards for 11 sports such as alpine skiing, ice hockey and curling, covering the organization of ice and snow sports events, the operation and management of venues, and the evaluation of the level of public ice and snow sports.
In layman's terms, this is to ensure that the development of the ice and snow industry, including ice hockey, will not go astray in the future, and escort it from the policy level.
Although it is impossible to say where China's ice hockey will go in the future, from the perspective of competition, mass base and policy, at least it is on the right path, of course, this road may be very long, very long. (End)