Kunlun Red Star Dragons – Page 3

South China Morning Post. Dec. 8, 2021

The IIHF had mulled pulling the Chinese team from the 2022 Winter Games amid concerns it would be embarrassed on home ice against NHL-level competition
The decision avoids what would have been an unprecedented removal of a host country’s squad for performance reasons

China will take part in the men’s hockey tournament at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing after initial concerns that the team would be embarrassed on home ice against NHL-level competition.

Players making up the Chinese national team played two recent test games against Russian opponents with international officials watching closely. The team, playing as Kontinental Hockey League club Kunlun Red Star, lost 4-1 to Avangard Omsk and 5-4 in overtime to Amur Khabarovsk, getting outshot 77-43 in the two games combined.

Kunlun coach Ivano Zanatta said the games were evidence his team meets Olympic standards.

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

“Definitely not second to a Norway or a Denmark or Latvia. We’re equal to those countries,” Zanatta said then. “Today and the last game they proved they have the character and the ability and they have the right to participate in their own Olympics.”

The IIHF agreed, even though Kunlun has lost 29 of 36 KHL games this season and China is ranked 32nd in the world.

The hope is that an influx of international players allows China to not get blown out in group play games against the US, Canada and Germany.

Leading scorers Spencer Foo and Brandon Yip and top defenceman Ryan Sproul are Canadian, and starting goaltender Jeremy Smith is American, though there is still some uncertainty about who will be eligible to play in Beijing.

The IIHF allows players to naturalise and represent a country if they have played there for at least two years.

It is not clear if there were eligibility concerns for some naturalised players because the pandemic forced Kunlun out of China to a Moscow suburb in early 2020. Athletes are required to be citizens of a country to participate in the Olympics.

After being awarded the 2022 Olympics in 2015, China hired big-name coaches from overseas and invested in a youth academy with the aim of developing a home-grown team in time. That failed, but China will still get to play on home ice in February.

The attention now turns to NHL participation, which was agreed to with the caveat that the league and Players’ Association could pull out if pandemic conditions worsen.

If a significant number of NHL games are postponed for coronavirus-related reasons, withdrawing is an option because the 2½-week Olympic break would be needed for rescheduling purposes.

The NHL/NHLPA deadline is January 10.

The IIHF Meet December 6 To Discuss China’s National Men’s Hockey Team 2022 Winter Olympics Participation

Red Star Dragons goalie Paris O’Brien makes save against Sibir

Kunlun Red Star 2 Sibir Novosibirsk 7 (0-2, 1-3, 0-2)

Sibir defeated Kunlun for the third time this season, recording a fourth straight victory and improving to 10 wins from its last 12 games. That upswing, which follows a slow start to the season for Andrei Martemyanov’s men, puts the Novosibirsk team level with Avangard on 42 points.

The IIHF, are set to meet December 6, to discuss China’s National Men’s Hockey Team participation in the Beijing Olympics, and the decision is expected to hinge on player eligibility rules and the performance of the Kunlun Red Star Dragons.

Red Star enjoyed a rare victory last time out, defeating Neftekhimik 2-1 as young goalie Paris O’Brien made a winning start to his KHL career. The Dragons also promoted some of their homegrown Chinese players to more prominent spots on the team and Ivano Zanatta continued with that approach here.

However, O’Brien found life tougher on his second appearance in this league. In-form Sibir created far more offense from the start and took full control of this game with two goals towards the end of the first period. Alexander Sharov opened the scoring with a well-placed backhand, then Nikita Shashkov doubled the lead barely one minute later.

Dragons Tyler Wong goes in on net for scoring chance

Red Star’s power play has been problematic this season, but early in the second period the home team needed just 12 seconds to parlay a minor penalty for Denis Golubev into a goal for Tyler Wong. However, at the very moment Golubev would have exited the box, if Sibir’s penalty kill had endured, he was on the ice make it 3-1.

Then O’Brien suffered a moment to forget when a Trevor Murphy point shot cannoned off the boards and bounced into the net off the luckless goalie’s pads. Murphy, a former Dragon, added a goal to his earlier assist.

As the second period drew to a close, Ethan Werek pulled one back for Kunlun but Michal Cajkovsky made it 5-2 seconds before the intermission.

The third period saw Sibir increase its lead. Vadim Kudako got his second of the season to make it 6-2 before Golubev’s second of the game confirmed the final scoreline.