As the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics gets closer and closer, the Chinese ice hockey training team, which is training and preparing for the competition in Russia, feels more urgency and tension. On September 24, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced the ice hockey schedule for the Beijing Winter Olympics; but on September 25, the newly elected President of the International Ice Federation, Tadev, told Agence France-Presse and other media the next day that if the Chinese ice hockey team could not come up with a satisfactory state, it would replace the Chinese Olympic team with Norway.
On October 10, china's Kunlun Hongxing team defeated the Moscow CSKA ice hockey team 2-1 in russia's continental hockey league KHL. Zheng En, who has returned from injury, helped the team win their fourth league game this year. Can this team of NHL foreign players, Chinese players and Chinese local training team players "retain" the Olympic seat for Chinese men's ice hockey through their performances in the KHL?
It took four years for Zheng Enlai to return
On July 31, Zheng Ninali stepped onto the Olympic stage as she wished, realizing her grandmother Zheng Fengrong's athletics dream. On August 22, her brother Zheng Enlai also joined the Chinese ice hockey training team and went to Russia to participate in the KHL League to make final preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics. 4 years ago, Zheng Enlai had already reported a heart to join the Chinese nationality and participate in the Winter Olympic Games for China. But he suffered a torn groin and a femoral head injury while playing in Canada, and his ambitions were delayed for 4 years.
Zheng Enlai was born in Canada in 1997. Grandma is a famous Chinese high jumper Zheng Fengrong, the first female athlete in New China to break the world record. Grandpa Duan Qiyan was the men's high jump champion at the first National Games in 1959. Canada is a big hockey country, and Zheng Enlai went to the ice rink at the age of 3. Grandma and grandpa went to Canada to help their daughter Duan Li with the children and take over the cultivation of the third generation of this sports family. In order to take Zheng Eun to train in ice hockey and his sister to train in athletics, the family often huddled in a car and traveled long distances to compete and train.
Zheng Enlai's dream was originally to play in the NHL of the North American ice hockey league, and in 2012 he was selected by the Mercedes Hat Tigers of the Western Canadian Youth Hockey League as his first-round pick. But in 2017, Zheng Enlai was injured during a confrontation at the WHL training camp, causing a groin strain and a crotch injury. After two surgeries, Zheng Enlai, who had a hard time recovering, did not have a professional contract and insisted on rehabilitation and training on his own.
During this period, the Chinese Ice Hockey Association opened up its overseas selection policy. On May 16, 2017, on the day of Zheng Fengrong's 80th birthday, Zheng Enlai renounced his Canadian citizenship and represented the Chinese team in the 2022 Winter Olympics. On June 23 of that year, the name of Zheng Enlai appeared in the overseas selection and training list announced by the Chinese Ice Hockey Association.
In the following 4 years, Zheng Enlai insisted on training while rehabilitating. Mother Duan Li told the Beiqing-Beijing headline reporter that Zheng Enlai arrived more than an hour earlier than other athletes in every training meeting, and went to the ice rink to meet with the physical trainer and the doctor in advance to prepare for the rehabilitation and training. During this period, he helped the Beijing team participate in the National Ice Hockey Championship and other events. After being selected for the hockey national training team, Zheng Enlai also joined the Chinese Kunlun Hongxing team with his teammates in the last foreign training of the Beijing Winter Olympics and participated in the KHL League.
Pressure from the International Ice Federation
This is the last foreign training match of the Chinese ice hockey national training team before the Beijing Winter Olympics. The whole team was under extra pressure. Not only because of the upcoming Winter Olympics, and the upcoming national team roster, but also because of the pressure from the International Ice Federation.
According to agency France-Presse and other media reports, on September 25, Frenchman Luc Tadeff succeeded Fassel, who has been in charge of the International Ice Hockey Federation for 27 years, as the new president of the Ice Federation. When the new tadiv officer took office, the first fire was burned to the Chinese team. In 2018, the International Ice Federation voted 47 votes to support the Chinese men's and women's ice hockey teams to pass through the Winter Olympic Games. At the Winter Olympics, the Chinese team was in Group A with the world's strongest teams, the United States and Canada, and Germany, the runner-up of the last Winter Olympics. The Chinese ice hockey team, ranked 32nd in the world, has not participated in a single international competition since 2019.
Tadif told the media that if the Chinese ice hockey team plays a 0-15 fiasco in the official winter Olympic games, it will not be good for China and for the development of ice hockey. "The International Ice Federation has questioned the qualifications of the Chinese team and has informed the International Olympic Committee." Tadif also told the media that "the International Ice Federation will make a decision after the Beijing Winter Olympics test matches in October." If China withdraws from the Winter Olympics, the seat could be replaced by Norway, who is ranked 11th in the world. He said.
Although the IOC may not support the IAF's "front-line change" initiative, the remarks of its new president have made Chinese ice fans both angry and sad. It is true that the level of men's ice hockey in China is relatively low. In the early days of the founding of New China, China's ice hockey was vigorously developed in the northeast, north China and other provinces and cities, setting off a boom in professional teams and mass ice hockey activities. China's men's ice hockey team has twice won the Asian Winter Games ice hockey championship. In the mid-to-late 1990s, China's ice hockey declined, and since then it has not been related to the Ice Hockey World Championships Group A. At the 2017 Asian Winter Games, the Chinese men's ice hockey team lost 0-14 to Japan and 0-10 to South Korea. Fast forward to 2021, and Chinese men's ice hockey needs to prove its achievements in the KHL League that it deserves an Olympic seat.
The "International Column" is looking forward to forming a synergy
It should be noted that China lost to Japan because Japan has been working in the university hockey league for many years and has made great progress like football in the past 20 years. The South Korean team has not won against the Chinese team before, and in 2017, 6 North American professional players from the South Korean team wore Korean jerseys.
As host to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea was relegated to Group B after losing five consecutive games at the 2014 ITALC World Championships. The International Ice Federation has therefore refused to allow South Korea to qualify directly for the Winter Olympics. The INTERNATIONAL ICE FEDERATION has since suggested that South Korea naturalize foreign players to play for the national team. The International Ice Federation stipulates that athletes who have played in a country or region for two years are eligible to represent that country or region in international competitions. The South Korean team took advantage of this rule and recruited six Canadian and American players to represent South Korea. At the 2017 Asian Winter Games, China was defeated by South Korea 0:10 for the first time. A few months later, South Korea was promoted to the top group of the United States and Canada, and received a ticket to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Wang Zhili, deputy director of the Winter Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sports, once said that the Winter Sports Management Center is willing to introduce naturalized players. "Ice hockey is very popular in Europe and the United States, and the number of overseas Chinese involved in playing ice hockey is very large, and some players are willing to return to China to represent China in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics." But compared to the Korean-style Great Leap Forward, China has two prerequisites for naturalization: no dual citizenship is allowed; non-Chinese players are not allowed.
In the 35-member list of the training team in this foreign training competition, the players are composed of three parts. There are players from traditional hockey teams such as Harbin and Qiqihar, such as Guoguo Ning, Han Pengfei, etc.; there are players who have gone abroad to study and play since childhood, and insist on not changing their nationality, such as Zhong Wei, Song Andong, Andong, Ying Rudi; there are also high-level Chinese players whose parents are Chinese and were born overseas, such as Kunlun Hongxing Captain Ye Jinguang, the fu general who currently ranks first in the league team, Hu Yang, Wang Taylor, Yuan Junjie, etc.
It is worth noting that the training team participates in the continental hockey league KHL, which is second only to the NHL. In addition to the top Russian club teams, the league also includes cross-Eurasian hockey teams in Croatia, Finland, Slovakia, Latvia, Belarus and other places. Beijing Kunlun Hongxing is the 29th new team. Kunlun Hongxing team not only provides training opportunities for Chinese players, but also is responsible for the record and ranking. For this reason, the team brought in the famous Russian goalkeeper Razuzin, as well as a number of North American professional players.
Playing in the top league, whether you can play depends on your strength. The foreign aid introduced by the team squeezed out the playing time of the Chinese training team players. Due to the gap between training level and physical fitness, some domestic players did not even have a chance to play. Zhang Cheng, Xiang Xudong, Zhang Pengfei, Han Pengfei and other players have played 0 times so far. Zheng Enlai, who only landed in the KHL on August 24, has now played for the team three times and become the leader among domestic players. Duan Li told reporters that Zheng Enlai's ability to perform during training was recognized by the head coach. At the beginning, Enlai took the initiative to tell the coach that he was injured just right. But he was capable and the coach was willing to send him on the pitch. Now slowly participated in 3 games, adapted to the rhythm of the league, and won more playing time. In this victory over CSKA, Enlai won the title of Dragon Player representing the best player. ”
Zheng Enlai's goal is to win more playing time for himself and help the team improve the ranking. Foreign coach Ivan's goal is to quickly improve the level of domestic players through the team's training and hard work in the top league, and to combine domestic players and naturalized players as soon as possible to form team combat strength. Judging from the current playing time, in addition to players with overseas playing experience such as Ying Rudi and Zheng Enlai, it is difficult for other domestic players to enter kunlun Hongxing's current four-group lineup.
This has made the outside world sweat about the prospects of this Chinese ice hockey team. According to the Ice Hockey Schedule of the Beijing Winter Olympics, on the first matchday, the Chinese team will play against the team with the highest seed ranking in the Wukesong Sports Center, and then fight with the United States, Canada, Germany and other teams. In the end, according to the group stage results, the top four teams advanced to the quarter-finals, and the remaining eight teams competed for the other four quarter-final places. It is reported that at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the task of the Chinese men's ice hockey team is to "not be at the bottom". The task doesn't look heavy, but the Chinese hockey team really needs to add fuel.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Chu Peng
Editor/Xu Zhao