In the past 2021-2022 season, Chinese women's ice hockey has ushered in a huge harvest: the national women's ice hockey team defeated Denmark and Japan at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, writing a magnificent stroke of sonorous roses on the ice; in early April, at the ISU World Championships, the national women's ice hockey team returned to Group A after 11 years; on April 26, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Vanke Sunshine Women's Ice Hockey Team won the Russian Women's Ice Hockey League (WHL), once again showing the power of Chinese women's ice hockey.
The national team is back on the stage of two major tournaments
Presumably, ice hockey fans still remember a scene during the Spring Festival this year, on the afternoon of February 6, in the women's ice hockey group stage of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the Chinese national women's ice hockey team defeated the Japanese team and achieved an exciting victory.
Just two months later, in the Italia World Championships Group B competition in Poland, the Chinese team won consecutive victories over South Korea, Italy, Slovenia, Kazakhstan and Poland, returning to Group A after 11 years. Yu Baiwei, captain of the national team, said that the good performance of the Beijing Winter Olympics has greatly enhanced the confidence of the players and achieved the desired results at the World Championships.
In the upcoming 2023 ISA Group A competition, if the Chinese team can be upgraded, then there will be a chance to directly enter the Milan 2026 Winter Olympics ticket, without having to play qualifiers. If you can successfully qualify for the Milan Winter Olympics, then you can really declare that Chinese women's ice hockey has truly returned to the ranks of strong teams.
Another champion for the Chinese club
In the 2021-2022 season, the Chinese national team participated in the Russian Women's Ice Hockey League under the name of Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Vanke Sunshine, winning 15 games in 22 rounds of the league, and improving its strength in the competition with Russian clubs. More importantly, under the situation that the epidemic has led to the suspension of various events, the team members have been given a lot of practical opportunities.
Among the Chinese teams participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics and the World Championships in Poland, 19 and 16 players respectively are from Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club, most of these players joined the club as early as 2017, representing the club in the Canadian Women's Ice Hockey League (CWHL) and the Russian Women's Ice Hockey League (WHL) for a total of 5 seasons, Lin Ni, Liu Zhixin, Wang Yuting, Lin Qiqi and other players have participated in more than 100 professional league games, and their experience is getting richer.
In the Post-Winter Olympics Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Vanke Sunshine lineup, in addition to Chinese players such as Yu Baiwei and Liu Zhixin, there are 5 Finnish national team players such as Nora Leti, Kavinen, Tapani, Tominin and Kribone who have participated in the Winter Olympics many times, as well as excellent players such as Swedish national team captain Nordin and Czech national team captain Mills.
After more than two months of competition, the regrouped team got better and better, and finally reached the podium of the Russian Women's Ice Hockey League, which is also the second time the club has won this award. It has written a brilliant stroke in the field of international ice hockey and has been affirmed by the International Ice Federation.
The bigger future of Women's Hockey in China
Like almost all sports, women's hockey lagged behind men's hockey, and it only officially entered the Winter Olympic stage in 1998. Even now, there are not many mature women's hockey leagues around the world, and many female hockey players need to work while playing, and even need to pay club fees to get the chance to play.
Since 2017, with the care and support of governments at all levels such as Guangdong Province, Shenzhen City and Longgang District, Shenzhen Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club has built a platform for Chinese players to help players devote themselves to ice hockey, to demand themselves as professional athletes, to win glory for Chinese ice hockey, and to show the style of Chinese ice hockey.
In the southern country of Shenzhen, in recent years, inspired and influenced by the Chinese women's ice hockey in the national team and clubs, more and more girls have begun to go to the ice rink and contact the sport of ice hockey. In the future, if more girls participate in it, the China Women's Ice Hockey Games will have a broader talent base. They can believe that girls can also chase their dreams on the hockey rink.