By Steve Keating
BEIJING (Reuters) – About two months before the Beijing Olympics were due to open alarm bells were going off at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) headquarters.
It had become clear a hugely overmatched China men’s ice hockey team was about to walk into a National Hockey League buzzsaw in China.
There seemed only two paths ahead, both leading to embarrassment for the Games hosts.
Option one: wave the white flag, concede they did not meet the necessary competitive standards, take their humbling lumps and move on.
Option two: play and take the beatings, which would likely result in a string of pummelings at the hands of geopolitical rivals the United States, Canada and Germany in Group A.
But a COVID-19 surge in NHL dressing rooms opened an escape hatch as the league pulled its players out of the Games, sending China into their opener on Thursday against the U.S. convinced they will not only be competitive but capable of pulling off the biggest upset since the 1980 Lake Placid “Miracle On Ice”.
That famous clash saw a group of American college kids beat the Soviet Union’s “Big Red Machine” on the way to winning gold.
China’s chances are also bolstered by the decision to include 15 foreign-born players on their 25-man roster.
“You show up at the Olympics you want to win a gold medal that’s always in the front of our heads,” said Ye Jinguang. “We are competitive. We’ve been together for a long time, we work hard, are going to play our systems, we’ve come a long way.
“I think we are going to turn some heads.”
Ye’s name will not sound familiar to hockey fans but Brandon Yip, as Ye was known in his NHL days, might. A Canadian, Yip and his team mates believe they suddenly have a few things going for them.
CHINA LIFELINE
When a COVID-19 outbreak caused the postponement of more than 100 NHL games it triggered an Olympic-out clause for the league, throwing the Chinese a face-saving lifeline.
No longer will China face Canadian and U.S. teams stacked with NHL All-Stars but instead far less threatening rosters hastily cobbled together mostly from colleges and minor leagues.
In another twist, the hosts have the benefit of a team whose core have played together on the Kunlun Red Stars, a China-owned team in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
“Everyone knows we’ve been together for many years so that is one thing that is going to be a home court advantage for sure,” said Yip. “Other teams have kind of been thrown together last minute. We are going to take advantage of that.”
Chemistry and a hot netminder can carry any team far in a short tournament like an Olympics.
While other teams are still learning each other’s names, China have a band of brothers, with many of them together for years and forced into close quarters living by COVID-19 lockdowns.
Netminder Jeremy Smith, or Jieruimi Shimisi, a second round pick of the Nashville Predators in the 2007 NHL draft, could well be the key to China’s hopes.
“I know personally we have goals and as a team we have goals,” said Smith. “Who knows what can happen? It’s a short tournament. Just like any other tournament, something happens, you win four games in row late, you can win a gold medal.
The top four from an overall 12-team ranking – the three group winners and the best second-ranked side – advance to the quarter-finals while the other teams will face qualification playoff games to reach the knockout stage.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Beijing. Editing by Tony Munroe and Ken Ferris)
