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Patrick Blennerhassett

While the announcement that National Hockey League players will not be attending the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing put a damper on many fans’ excitement for the Games, there is one team who should be secretly excited about the news: the Chinese men’s ice hockey team.
The 32nd ranked squad, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation, will not have to face the best in the world. However there is still going to be a plethora of talent coming their way, as they face medal favourites US, Canada and Germany.
The Americans have already revealed their roster for Beijing 2022 and it is loaded with NCAA talent, 15 players to be exact. Multiple prospects have been drafted by NHL squads from Division I teams and the Olympics will give scouts another chance to look at potential players who could make the jump.
There are also eight players who are currently playing professionally in Europe in such leagues as Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (seen as the best league outside North America) and the Swedish Hockey League.

Six players on the squad have NHL experience and two are currently in the American Hockey League, the main feeder league for the NHL. They will have leadership and experience upfront from Nick Shore, who was a 2011 third-round draft pick by Los Angeles Kings. He played 299 games with five teams in the NHL, scoring 18 goals and 41 assists.
They will also have Brian O’Neill, who currently plays in the KHL, as the lone returning Olympian from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games where the squad made it to the quarter finals.
NHL’s Beijing absence may signal end of Winter Games deal
Most importantly, the squad will have a number of young guns (the team’s average age is just 25) who could blossom into NHL stars. This includes 19-year-old Matty Beniers, who was taken by the expansion Seattle Kraken with the second overall pick in last year’s draft.
Beniers is currently averaging more than a point a game with the University of Michigan in the NCAA’s Division I, and is seen as the complete package: a centre who can play well at both ends of the ice.
When it comes to team Canada, the highest ranked squad in the world, we do not know the roster yet as Hockey Canada has not released it, but we do know one thing: there is a chance Owen Power, who was selected first overall in last year’s NHL draft, could very well wear the maple leaf come February.
Power is playing alongside Berniers right now at the University of Michigan, and is seen as a potential top pairing defenceman in the NHL, a highly coveted role in the game of hockey. Power would give China headaches each shift on Olympic-sized ice as he is seen as a top notch passer who can break down offences, and he also clocks in at 197 centimetres.

Canada’s roster will most likely look like the squad who won bronze at the 2018 edition in Korea, filled out by ex-NHLers who are currently playing in the KHL and all over Europe. There is also however one really enticing player who has expressed interest in playing, Eric Stall, who at one point in his career, was seen as an NHL superstar.
Stall’s resume is impressive to say the least and he would be a lock to captain the squad. The 37-year-old is not playing for anyone after helping the Montreal Canadiens to the Stanley Cup final last year, but his agent says he’s been working out and wants to play in the Olympics.
He would bring 1,034 points (441 goals) in 1,293 NHL regular-season games, plus a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricans in 2005 and Olympic gold in 2010 to a team that would need to gel quickly and find quick leadership.
Finally Germany will also prove to be a formidable opponent for China in their group match, and the squad who won silver in 2018 will be just as good four years later. Germany will be tough because much like in Korea, basically all of the players will be coming from the German Bundesliga, which means the squad will have instant chemistry right out of the gate.
China will then face one last opponent in a elimination style game, and that may be their best chance to potentially score a few goals, or give a team a scare, however their group games will most likely be them trying to keep the score to respectable double digits and hoping they can play strong defence and capitalise on the few chances they may get.


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Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

Winter Olympics: with NHL superstars out, the Chinese men’s ice hockey team still faces incredibly tough competition

China could face Owen Power, a Canadian prospect who is projected to become an NHL star. Photo: AP

Chinese men’s team, currently playing for the Kunlun Red Star (in white) in the KHL, still have their work cut out for them at Beijing 2022. Photo: Xinhua

Canada’s Owen Power now looks to be the centrepiece player of Beijing 2022. Photo: AP

Beijing 2022: US turns to college ranks to fill out men’s ice hockey Olympic roster

Brian O’Neill who played for Team USA at the 2018 Winter Olympics, is heading to Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Russian, Czech hockey players removed from Air Canada flight for not wearing masks, smoking

Passengers said police ‘swarmed’ the Air Canada flight from Calgary responding to reports of a disturbance by Russian and Czech hockey players. Photo: Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via ZUMA/dpa

Beijing 2022: IIHF’s Aivaz Omorkanov aims to clean up Asian ice hockey and lift fortunes of underachieving regional teams

Aivaz Omorkanov, the new IIHF vice-president for Asia and Oceania, during his speech in September where he was elected to the council and ousted Hong Kong’s Thomas Wu in the process. Photo: IIHF

Aivaz Omorkanov, the new IIHF vice-president for Asia and Oceania. Photo: IIHF

China Hockey Group co-founder Gregory Smyth said he is looking forward to working with new IIHF vice-president for Asia and Oceania Aivaz Omorkanov, to help grow the game in Hong Kong. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

China’s men’s team, seen here playing for the Kunlun Red Star, have been spared the embarrassment of suiting up against NHL superstars at Beijing 2022. Photo: AP 

Hong Kong ice hockey under scrutiny by government unit after investigation into use of public funds

Hong Kong’s top ice hockey official has been found in breach of rules set out by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department while attending an official event overseas. Photo: Handout

Mike Kan Yeung-kit, the president of the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association. Photo: HKIHA

Multiple Post investigations have found a deep divide between the HKIHA and the Hong Kong ice hockey community. Photo: China Hockey Group

China cleared to play in men’s hockey at Beijing Olympics following fears of defeat on home ground

China’s HC Kunlun Red Star player Tyler Wong is seen in action against Vladimir Zharkov of HC Avangard during the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) match in Mytishchi, Moscow region, Russia in November. Photo: Reuters 

Kunlun Red Star Beijing players look at a scoreboard during the Kontinental Hockey League ice hockey match against Amur Khabarovsk in Mytishchi, just outside Moscow, in November. Photo: AP

Sport

China

Beijing Winter Games 2022

Ice Hockey


China’s men’s ice hockey team has been spared embarrassment now the NHL has pulled out, but their competition remains tough
Canada, the US and Germany are all seen as medal favourites heading into Beijing 2022 and some wild cards could make these squads incredibly potent



With no NHL players at the 2022 Winter Olympics, China’s men’s ice hockey team still face an uphill battle from their three group opponents.
