Latvia is a long way from home

In faraway Riga, Latvia, the Kunlun Red Star Juniors wrapped up their “home” season in Russia’s top amateur hockey league this week.

But for Chinese players in the MHL, the dream of representing their country at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics lives on.

“We did our preseason training in Riga and the facilities here are very good. It is also a quiet city and easy to fly out from for games,” Red Star Juniors head coach Alexander Barkov said in an interview with the IIHF website.

“Step by step we are making progress. In four years’ time these players will be 22-23, but we need to remember that they are young and still a lot can happen,” added Barkov, whose introduction to Chinese hockey came during the second half of last season when he helmed the Under-20 and Under-18 national teams.

While nine different nationalities suited up for the Red Star Juniors this season, at times Barkov had five Chinese players on the ice in order to get them accustomed to the speed and physicality of Russia’s top developmental circuit.

It was a familiar challenge for the kids who cut their hockey teeth in North America.

Speedy center Ying Rudi was born in 1998 and moved to Toronto, Canada, at age 9 in order to pursue his hockey dream. He has also seen action with Kunlun’s senior team in the professional Kontinental Hockey League and played in China’s second-tier VHL.

Two other bright lights have been 18-year-old winger Huang Qianyi, the leading scorer among Chinese players in the MHL, and defenseman Zhang Dehan, 19, who joined Red Star after starring at a tryout camp in Vancouver.

“I grew up playing hockey in Canada, but being Chinese I’ve always had a Chinese passport,” said Zhang, who believes the Russian experience will help him realize his Olympic dream.

“My father must have known that an opportunity like this would appear one day. Playing for China in the Olympics is my goal.

“I think this season has been really good for my development because we are out on the ice every day and playing in a good league.

“We spend every day at the rink and it gives you a lot of time to develop your own game.”

The Red Star Juniors finished 13th in the MHL’s 17-team Western Conference and missed the playoffs.

Some members of the squad could be invited to compete in next month’s IIHF Division II Group A championships in Tilburg, the Netherlands, against Australia, Belgium, Iceland, Serbia and the host nation.