On the evening of February 15, the Chinese men's ice team fought until the last second in the play-off of the knockout, and finally lost 2-7 to the world's number one Canadian team, ending their Winter Olympic journey with four total defeats.
After the loss, the Chinese men's ice skaters continued to slide around the ice rink at the National Gymnasium, reluctant to leave for a long time, this detail is touching, and their inspirational stories will become the source of energy for the future of Chinese ice hockey.
Play-offs against Canada, The performance of the Chinese team is more eye-catching than in the group stage. Facing the Canadian men's ice hockey champion who has won the Winter Olympics 9 times, the Chinese team has no ideological baggage, and won two single knives and a penalty in the opening 4 minutes, although it failed to score, but it was enough to make the Canadian team break out in a cold sweat. Although the Canadian team scored two goals in the first set, they were scored with more games and less use of the numerical advantage, but the goal of the Chinese team was scored when the number was equal, and the Chinese team even completely suppressed the Canadian team in the second half of the first set.
Unfortunately, the unexpected injury of China's main goalkeeper Smith made the back two sets of the Chinese team more difficult, and the pressure on the defensive end was greater, and finally lost 2-7.
Although China's men's first Winter Olympics trip ended in four consecutive defeats, the result was expected. Look at China's group stage rivals: Canada ranked first in the world, the United States fourth, Germany fifth, the three giants of ice hockey have won a total of two gold medals and two silver medals in the past three Winter Olympics. The gap between the strength of the Chinese team and these world's strong teams is quite obvious, and although a group of excellent naturalized players have been recruited, the overall gap is still irreversible.
The difficulties of the group stage directly determined the overall ranking disadvantage of the Chinese men's ice team among all 12 participating teams, and they unsurprisingly encountered the top-ranked revival team Canada again in the play-offs of the knockout round, and it was reasonable to lose four times in a row.
The most affirmative thing is that The Chinese men's ice team has never given up for a minute in the face of the strong enemy of the Winter Olympics. The first game against the United States team, the first game even played a tie; the second game against germany, the Chinese team in the 0-3 behind the situation of daring to fight, chased two goals in a row, almost forced the PyeongChang Winter Olympics runner-up team; and then two times against the Canadian team, the Chinese team showed the spirit of not fearing the strong enemy, although the game lost, but the spirit did not lose.
On the stage of the Winter Olympics, Chinese men's ice writing created a historic moment, and achieved a breakthrough of zero in goals, and naturalized players full of belonging and local players fought side by side, jointly writing a new history of Chinese men's ice.
As a naturalized player with Chinese ancestry, Ye Jinguang, the captain of Chinese male ice, his performance and voice are the epitome of more than a dozen naturalized players who are working the field in Chinese male ice.
"I'm very proud to play for China at the Olympics and make people proud of China. We are trying to fight for our passion. Ye Jinguang said.
Representing The Chinese team at the Winter Olympics at the age of 37, near the end of his career, he said it was an honor for both him personally and his family. "150 years ago, my ancestors were in North America, but China has always been in the Ye family tradition. At the age of 18 at Boston University, a friend joked that you would be playing hockey in China in the future, and I didn't expect it to become a reality. ”
Although the Chinese men's ice team inevitably suffered four consecutive defeats in the Winter Olympics for the first time, it is not shameful, Ye Jinguang said, in the face of the world's strongest teams, as long as the Chinese men's ice team makes efforts to win respect, it can make the world remember that they have come.
Participating in the Winter Olympics, Ye Jinguang is not only to achieve his personal dream, he hopes to open a new chapter for Chinese men's ice, his wish is particularly simple, "If there is a Chinese athlete, 20 years later, standing on the highest stage of ice hockey, people ask him why he practices ice hockey, he will answer 'In 2022, I watched the Chinese team', that is the success of our generation." ”
Four consecutive defeats, 23 goals conceded, 4 goals, this is the data handed over by Chinese men's ice in the first Winter Olympics, but the fighting spirit shown by the Chinese team and the motivation of young players will become the energy source of China's men's ice in the future, just as Yao Ming recalled his NBA debut 20 years ago: "All my strength in the NBA comes from the ugly 0 points and 2 rebounds on the debut." ”