Paralympic ice hockey, formerly known as ice hockey, was included as a performance sport at the 1976 Winter Paralympic Winter Games in Önscherzvik and became an official sport at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Paralympic Games. At the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympic Games, ice bobsleigh hockey was officially renamed Paralympic ice hockey. The tactics of this game are complex and changeable, fast-paced, intense, and fierce, and the difficulty coefficient is higher than that of ice hockey games.
On March 3, the U.S. Paralympic ice hockey team conducted pre-match training at the National Stadium.
Competition venue
The Paralympic Ice Hockey Program for the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games will be held at the National Gymnasium (Ice Sail) in Beijing.
On March 1, the Chinese Paralympic ice hockey team trained at the National Gymnasium in preparation for the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing.
Format settings
The competition is divided into preliminary rounds, semi-finals and finals. The preliminary round-robin is divided into two groups for a single round robin, the top two in each group enter the semi-finals, the semi-finals are cross-knockout, the winning team enters the final, the champion and runner-up are determined, and the loser competes for the third place.
Project settings
There is a mixed team competition to produce 1 gold medal.
Paralympic ice hockey events are played by athletes with lower limb disabilities.
Contest Rules
The venue and rules of Paralympic ice hockey are basically the same as those of ice hockey. The middle of the playing field is divided into two equal areas with a red line, and the two blue lines divide the playing field into three parts: the middle field is a neutral zone, and the two sides of the field are offensive (defensive) zones.
The Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games has a total of 8 Paralympic ice hockey teams, each of which can be played by 15 men or up to 16 team members, including at least 1 female team. The participants in the competition all have lower limb disabilities, such as amputation, muscle abnormalities, ankle or knee movement is limited to a certain extent, and the length of both lower limbs is more than 7 cm, etc., and athletes who meet the criteria can participate.
The two sides of the game send 6 players, including goalkeepers, respectively left winger, center forward, right winger, left back, right back and goalkeeper, and can be replaced at any time during the game, there is no quota or number of times.
The game is divided into three sets of 15 minutes each, with a 15-minute break between rounds, scoring 1 point with one goal, and the winner is the one who scores the most. If both teams score the same score at the end of the three innings, extra time is played. Once the extra time is scored, the match ends. When extra time is still a draw, the two sides play a shooting match until the winner is decided.
Race equipment
Ice sleds are an important piece of equipment used by team members, and each team member must be tailored to the rules of the game, their own disability and physical condition. Ice skis are generally made of steel, aluminum, titanium, magnesium and other materials, including frames, front slides, pedals, seat buckets, heel supports and 1-2 ice blades.
Ice hockey clubs are generally made of carbon fiber material, light in weight and not easily damaged, with a maximum length of no more than 1 meter, a maximum length of 32 cm and a maximum width of 7.5 cm. The shape and function of the two ends of the ice hockey club are different, the top of the shaft is toothed, which is used to push the ice and slide, and the end of the rod blade is shaped like a boat oar and is used to hit the ball.
Technical essentials
Athletes sprint, sharp turn, sharp brake, dribble, pass, shoot and other technical actions, all need to be completed through the "one shot, two use" club in the hand. At the same time, they also have to rely on the club to feel the change of ice hockey line.
For more information, please pay attention to the Winter Paralympic Games Journal
Xinhua News Agency Visual China Courtesy of Photo
Source: Winter Paralympic Games Proceedings | Reporter Liu Yang
Edited by Kang Dian
Process Editor Wu Yue