Chen hopes to patrol China blue-line in 2022
NHL may be a long shot, but playing in the Olympics is not, writes Ben Kuzma.
We went to this mall in Beijing with my mom and they got bored with us kids and they dropped us off at an ice rink.
Simon Chen’s excellent adventure nearly ended before it started.
In the early portion of a Vancouver Canucks development camp scrimmage at UBC last Wednesday, the diminutive defenceman had to be helped off the ice, unable to put any weight on his left leg, then limped away for further evaluation.
It looked like a curious camp invite for the Beijing-born blue-liner — who played for the Cowichan Valley Capitals of the B.C. Hockey League last season — was going to be a short story of brief exposure to a higher brand of hockey to help fuel his dream of representing China in the 2022 Olympics.
However, Chen bounced back that day, and also participated in the Summer Showdown on Thursday at Rogers Arena.
“I went into the corner and banged knees with a guy,” Chen said of his UBC collision. “I’m OK.”
Chen, 20, will be much more than OK if China can do what South Korea did in the lead-up to the 2018 Olympics.
South Korea successfully lobbied the International Ice Hockey Federation to be in the 12-team men’s hockey tournament — the host country simply wasn’t good enough to qualify outright. If China follows suit, Chen could be the author of an even better and much longer story in 2022.
It’s all part of hockey becoming a global game. The Russianbased Kontinental Hockey League expanded to Beijing last season with the Red Star Kunlun franchise and, in part, that’s why the Canucks extended Chen a camp invitation.
Call it smart marketing in a game with expanding borders and branding opportunities. Beijing has a population of 21.5 million in a country that houses 1.3 billion.
Even though the exuberant Chen is generously listed at five foot 10 and scored but one BCHL goal last season in 52 games, the 180-pound firecracker has NCAA aspirations and he knows the BCHL is the top feeder system for U.S. college programs.
Chen’s father, Ray Zhang, is majority owner of the Cowichan Valley franchise and wants to grow the game in China with camps in B.C. to unify the two countries on the hockey front.
The Canucks will play a pair of exhibition games in China this September against the Los Angeles Kings — Sept. 21 in Shanghai and two days later in Beijing — to help establish a winter sports presence, but Chen doesn’t have the game to compete at that level. And playing professionally would affect his NCAA eligibility.
However, even harbouring a distant dream to be an Olympian in a country where the game once attracted but 300 registered players and has grown to more than 1,500 is admirable.
China gained promotion to the IIHF world championship Division 2 Group A ranking by winning a tournament in New Zealand in April to improve its rating to 35th in the world. It was 37th in 2015.
“I feel like (the Canucks camp has) already made me a better player and human being and this was such a special experience for me on and off the ice,” Chen said.
“I’ve learned so much in the drills that I’ve never had before like pivoting and crossing over and how to make better passes.
“To be honest, this camp was a pretty big jump for me. I was playing prep hockey in the U.S. (Brooks School in North Andover, Mass.) for two years and even my first games in the BCHL last year were a big jump.”
The biggest jump for Chen was his first interaction with a sport foreign to China. He stumbled upon it by chance when he was six and living in Beijing.
“We went to this mall in Beijing with my mom and they got bored with us kids and they dropped us off at an ice rink,” Chen said. “We put the skates on and also saw two kids with hockey gear on. We said: ‘Wow, that’s a sport we want to pick up.’
“I was a pretty chubby kid and needed to lose some weight. That was pretty good cardio, and I have an uncle in Sweden who brought some equipment back to China. That’s how I started skating.”
Chen played for China in world under-18 Division 2B competition in 2014-15 and now eyes the 2022 Olympics. It may not be that far-fetched.
In 2015, the New York Islanders made defenceman Andong Song, a Beijing native, the first Chinese player to be drafted when he was selected in the sixth round.
“Anything is possible,” Chen said. “Hockey has changed dramatically over the last five or 10 years. Personally, I’m pretty confident as a player and I can use my edges to get from side to side and get up the ice.
“I’m pretty under-sized, so I have to position myself well to win battles. But I’ve got a pretty good work ethic and I’m confident. I can battle with anybody on the ice, even if they’re 6-foot2 and 200 pounds.”
In that respect, Chen hasn’t had to look far for inspiration; whether it’s smaller pros Ryan Ellis with the Nashville Predators, Torey Krug of the Boston Bruins, Jared Spurgeon of the Minnesota Wild or Troy Stecher of the Canucks.
“I watch Stecher play a lot,” Chen said of the Vancouver defenceman. “He has a great shot and a great work ethic and uses his skating well in all zones and is somebody I really try to learn from.”