Pucksters up their game
China men’s ice hockey team scores a significant win at IIHF event after Beijing 2022 debut
From proving the doubters wrong at the Olympics to earning promotion at the worlds, China’s men’s ice hockey team’s steady rise continues to raise hopes for the sport’s future in the country.
Just over two months after making its Olympic debut on home ice, the Chinese men’s team has taken a solid step toward the next Winter Games in 2026 with its recent victory at the International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship Division II Group A tournament in Croatia.
Playing with virtually the same roster from Beijing 2022, Team China dominated the five-nation tournament — a fourth-tier event in the IIHF world championship system — with four straight wins over Israel, the Netherlands, Croatia and Spain to secure promotion to Division I Group B next year.
The return to Division I for the first time since 2007, when China hosted the tourney in Heilongjiang province, represents a huge boost for hockey’s profile in the world’s most populous nation, where enthusiasm for winter sports has taken off thanks to the successful staging of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.
Having been granted an automatic berth, as the host of Beijing 2022, the national program is now targeting reaching future Olympics via the usual qualification route.
“I am very excited and proud that our team could win the championship,” said Team China captain Ye Jinguang after beating Spain 4-1 in the final game on April 30.
“My teammates and I have been training and competing together for five or six years. Our hard work paid off.”
Ye, known as Brandon Yip in his native Canada, realizes there is a lot more hard work ahead as China attempts to continue to level up.
“It’s a long way to Italy (for the 2026 Winter Olympics) and we have a few more championships to win, but we are just gonna take it step by step,” said Ye.
“I think playing at the Olympics together, having that momentum, really helped us a lot. We are going to move on to get better this year and hopefully compete well at the next championships.”
Ye joined the team as part of the talent search launched by the Chinese Ice Hockey Association and its partner club, Kunlun Red Star, back in 2017 to draft overseas players with Chinese heritage.
After playing with Kunlun in the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League for at least two seasons, most of the North American-born players earned eligibility to represent China due to their heritage and after completing minimum-stay requirements in their adopted country’s pro system.
The 37-year-old Ye, a Vancouver native, brothers Spencer and Parker Foo, who were born in Edmonton, Alberta to a Chinese father and Canadian mother, and Cory Kane, a former NCAA Division I player with Michigan-based Ferris State University, were among the outstanding performers at last month’s worlds in Croatia.
Parker Foo, who goes by the Chinese name Fu Shuai, tallied four goals and six assists in four games to top the tournament’s scoring chart, while his older brother Spencer, aka Fu Jiang, also collected 10 points, with * three goals and seven assists, in just three games.
The experience of bonding with China’s homegrown players during the Olympic cycle through to the promotion success at the worlds has significantly enhanced the foreign-born players’ sense of responsibility to help promote the sport they love in China.
“We accomplished our goal. We still have a lot of work to do, but we are proud of this achievement that we came here and we took care of business. Personally, my goal is to play hockey as long as I can for Team China,” said Kane, a native of Irvine, California, who goes by the Chinese name Jian An.
After proving that it belongs in the Olympic tournament at Beijing 2022, Team China, which has climbed to No 27 in the world rankings, now faces a steep learning curve ahead of next year’s Division I worlds, according to head coach Ivano Zanatta.
“This is the first step of our heritage group of players participating at the world championship. They showed the qualities that we need — patience, determination, the right attitude, commitment, and that’s what’s important. I am really happy for Team China,” said Zanatta, who played at the 1992 Winter Olympics representing Italy.
Despite the superiority of his team in Zagreb, Zanatta dismissed any notion that China can now expect a rapid ascent up the world championship’s divisions.
“I’ve been through this with Italy, both as a player and as a manager, and it’s very difficult. This is one level and it’s still a battle as you saw against Spain, and the next level is even more difficult,” he said.
“I think we are taking steps in the right direction. But you need a lot of patience in hockey. It’s a sport that requires time. You aren’t wearing shoes, you are wearing skates, so people forget about the dynamics.
“But China has great infrastructure and, obviously, they are going to have to continue working with the youth and kids and I think it looks good.”