With hockey returning to a different kind of normal as the Covid-19 pandemic allows for ice hockey globally to re-establish; and that more countries were participating in the game world wide than ever before the pandemic…..there are some countries hoping to leap frog over other nations, and jump start their national teams for the 2022 Winter Olympics and 2022 World Championships.

One of those nations is Kazakhstan and their women’s national hockey team.

One professional Kazakhstan women’s team is poised to be front and center regarding its national team: Aisulu Almaty.

The Aisulu Almaty are a women’s professional hockey team in Kazakhstan who play in the European Women’s Hockey League (EWHL) and the the Kazakh Women’s League in their home country. The team is based in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Aisulu Almaty has dominated the Kazakh Women’s league, having won the championship every season it has been contested since 2012-13, and were dominant even before that.

Kazakh Women’s League standings last season:

They are also one of 11 teams in the EWHL, an increase by two over last season. The other ten teams are from Austria (4 teams), Italy, Poland, Hungary (3 teams), and Slovakia, covering a large area of Europe.

The EWHL added Neuberg Highlanders and Budapest U25 Select for the 2021-2022 season. (Source: Eliteprospects.com).

Last season, Aisulu Almaty fell short of making the playoffs in the EWHL:

So why, you ask, would this professional women’s team travel extensively from their home base to play so much hockey on behalf of their country and city?

Well, pride and love for the country; for the challenge for sure; for the love of the game that still burns inside them.

It’s more than that.

First, Aisulu Almaty is pretty much Kazakhstan’s national women’s hockey team.

There are 7 Canadians on the 23 player roster led by long time coach Alexander Maltsev, with three of those Canadians having dual citizenship which would enable them to play for Kazakhstan internationally.

Second, Maltsev has been Kazakhstan head coach and general manager since 1996-1997, coaching the national team at the international level. He also has been the Aisulu Almaty head coach during that same time.

Kazakhstan competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City finishing in 8th place in their only appearance in the Olympics; and four times at the top division of the World Championships between 2005 and 2011.

Finally, Maltsev would like to end the drought of the Kazakhstan national women’s team not being in the Winter Olympics since 2002, by coaching them to qualification this Fall, and participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Having once celebrated memorable victories against Russia and Switzerland, the Kazakhstan national women’s team have dropped down considerably in the IIHF Women’s World Ranking.

IIHF Women’s World Ranking for 2021 has them 21rst, behind the countries of China, Poland, Korea, Italy and Hungary.

From 2003 to 2012 the Kazakhstan national women’s hockey team was rated no worse than 10th in the IIHF Women’s World Ranking.

Since 2012, the Kazakhstan national women’s hockey team has been on a downward spiral that continues going into 2022 Winter Olympic qualification play this Fall.

In an attempt to return to former glory, Kazakhstan’s top women’s club team decided to cross continents and join the EWHL in 2015/16.

“While Russia has invited us to play with them, we find it more useful to play in Europe as we are regularly facing our main opponents in the World Championships there,” said Maltsev.

Source: Henrik Manninen, Oct 19, 2019 https://www.iihf.com/en/news/15438/ewhl-goes-to-central-asia
2022 Olympics

A record number of 34 women’s national teams have been entered for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the qualification tournaments.

Qualified teams:

Olympic hopes for Kazakhstan, ranked 20th in the world in 2020, involve a two step qualification. A first pre-qualifier tournament from October 7-10, 2021 in Pellice, Italy.

If successful, they would move on to the final pre-qualifier tournament from November 11-14, 2021 in either the Czech Republic, Germany or Sweden.

Maltsev would most likely use the core of the Aisulu Almaty team for the Kazakhstan Women’s national team for Olympic qualification, possibly including Canadian women who have Kazakhstan citizenship. Players on the other teams of the Kazakh Women’s League would also be considered as to fill out the national team.

The three Canadian women on the team with dual citizenship include Erin McLean from Trail, British Columbia. The other two are Kalista Senger, from Clavet, Saskatchewan and Roxanne Rioux, from Saint-Jean-de-Dieu, Quebec.

The team plays hard and practices hard when at home, taking that passion and work ethic into every game, home or away.

“When I’m in Kazakhstan we practice six days a week. Four of the days we practice and work out twice a day and the other two days we only practice once which is usually an inter squad game.”, Breanna Berndsen from Kelowna B.C. wrote in Woman’s Hockey Life, of her professional hockey experience with Aisulu Almaty.

You can be sure that whether Kazakhstan, Canadian or both, Aisulu Almaty players will give it there all, leaving it all on the ice.