|
|
|
|
|
|
BELL CAPITAL CUP
OTTAWA INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY FESTIVAL
Hockey in China Comes Home!
Islanders Bring Two Youth Teams to Birthplace of
Hockey; When
Beijing Team Finds Out It Comes On
Its Own; Guam Native Coaches
California Team Too! |
|
 |
|
Harbin China's Zhu Ziyang tries to escape the pursuit
of Qiqihar Snow
Leopards Li Hang during the Atom House B
quarter-final at the Bell
Sensplex in Kanata Sunday, January 1. The
Snow Leopards won 3-0
to advance to the semi-final at the Corel
Centre. (Darren Brown SUN) |
UPDATE: 5 Jan 06 - WOW - What a
great day!
The Islanders beat the Panthers 4-3 in overtime last night. AA E-Zine
staffer and SBU undergrad Yuyu Shen saw her first hockey game, got to interview GM Mike Milbury and lots of the 9 to 11 year old Chinese
hockey team kids and staff, and will be writing that story for next week's
issue. The Harbin and Qiqihar kids were flying all day too! They beat
the Gulls teams in exhibition games, and although it was a small group due
to intersession, CSSA international grad students from Stony Brook
University came to cheer them on.
During the Islanders game they played against each other during intermissions before a packed house
of crazy Islanders fans. (They really are crazy. Forget going to see the
players - if you have never been you have to go
just to see the fans in action!) They went center ice with the Islanders
players at the opening and were joined by the Chinese Consul for the
singing of the Chinese National anthem.
They tried on their new
skates just to try them on - again and again - and terrorized the guests
at the Marriot as they skated down the hallways. They really were an absolute
joy! And not speaking the same language did not matter - you don't need
words to show them how to use your video camera or digital still so they
can try them out. And like typical boys their age they were so into the
video game players they had bought with their Islanders gift money if you
didn't hear them, you would not have known they weren't American kids -
and just like American kids they played them everywhere they went!
Hopefully in 10 years time Charles will sign one of
them and the Islanders will have their own Yao Ming of hockey! More coming soon in Yuyu's story (in English) and videos (in Chinese
except for the Milbury interview).
1 Jan 2006
For the two Islander's sponsored youth
hockey teams, the start of the Western New Year could not have been better. Not
only are the three Chinese teams playing this year the first to ever play
in the international tournament, in four round robin competitions the
Islanders teams each defeated their opponents, have each reached the
quarter-finals - and as this is being written they are competing against each
other. (It is very frustrating in this day of multimedia access and instant communication that
the games are not at least being broadcast on the web! Only those in Ottawa can see them.)
The Islanders sponsored teams are
the Harbin Red Stars and the QiQiHar Snow Leopards, both in competition in Boys Atom House B. The
Beijing team is the Sinoco Beijing Dragons in Boys Atom House A.
On the morning of 29 Dec Harbin first
beat the Canadian Kanata Ice Wolves 7-1. That afternoon they tied with the
South Stormont Selects 3-3. Two days later they beat the Canadian Stittsville
Spitfires 5-0 and later that afternoon beat the Canadian Embrun Panthers
4-0. You can check out their stats and read about the roster of players
here:
http://www.oihf.net/stats/teamstats.aro?Tid=1936
In that same time frame the Qiqihar Snow Leopards beat the South End Storm 9-2 and the Canadian Kanata
Ice Hawks 8-1. On 31 Dec they beat the Cumberland Bandits 7-0 and Almonte
Pakenham Thunder 6-0. Their stats and roster are at
http://www.oihf.net/stats/teamstats.aro?Tid=1937
The Sinoco Beijing Dragons won their
first game on 29 Dec, beating the West End Ottawa Silver Bullets 3-2. On
30 Dec they beat the Leitrim Hawks 6-3. They lost on Saturday to the Stittsville Predators 3-1 and were out of the tournament. Given everything
they went through to get here - they had impressive stamina. They missed
two interconnecting flights and did not arrive in Ottawa until 10am the
morning of the tournament, and then played an exhibition game against a
French team before the tournament began. Their stats and roster are at
http://www.oihf.net/stats/teamstats.aro?Tid=2148
UPDATE: This afternoon the Qiqihar
Snow Leopards beat the Harbin Red Stars 3-0 and went to the semi-finals! There they lost to the South Grenville Rangers 3-2.
Rangers! Sounds like Qiqihar and the Islanders have a lot in common in
terms of who they lose to!
(Side Note: A group of Stony Brook University alumni
and staff are going to the Islanders - Rangers game at MSG on 4/11 to give
the Islanders a cheering section at an away game. If you are interested,
group tix are still available. Check it out at
http://www.aa2sbu.org/aaezine/articles/vol12/N10[AA]2Networking.shtml)
But the China v. China face-off is supposed to
happen again when they get to visit the Islanders home ice. We contacted
the Islanders to get specifics but have not gotten a reply yet - not
unexpected given its a holiday weekend - but the first Islanders press
release said that the Red Stars and Qiqihar would play against each other
on Wednesday afternoon, and that was reported in the Ottawa Sun too.
Further updates to follow.
There are also two teams from Long
Island, the Long Island Gulls and the Long Island Royals, who were in the
Minor AAA Division so did not play against any of the teams from China.
LI Gulls:
http://www.oihf.net/stats/teamstats.aro?Tid=1769
Long Island Royals:
http://www.oihf.net/stats/teamstats.aro?Tid=1779
Below are links to all of the
articles Ontario newspapers and press releases from the Islanders and this
page will be updated with new articles. Its a great story of uniting East
and West!
12/26: Islanders: The Opportunity of a Lifetime
Islanders Bring
Chinese Youth Hockey Teams to North America
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/archive.asp?id=630
World Journal: Islanders Press
Releases in Chinese
http://www.aaezine.org/articles/vol13/N1IslandersReleaseWorldJournal.shtml
12/28: Islanders: A Dream Realized: Harbin and
Qiqihar Teams Arrive
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/archive.asp?id=632
12/29: Ottawa Sun: A Capital Welcome for Chinese:
Beijing Dragons
http://www.aaezine.org/articles/vol13/N1BellCapitalCup2005BeijingDragons.shtml
12/29: Islanders: Bell Capital Cup Tournament Day
1
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/archive.asp?id=638
12/29: Islanders: Thank You Nike Bauer Hockey
Donates more than
300 full sets of equipment to Chinese hockey programs
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/archive.asp?id=636
12/30: Ottawa Sun: Chinese Clubs Off to Fast
Start
http://www.aaezine.org/articles/vol13/N1BellCapitalCup2005FastStart.shtml
12/30: Islanders: Mike's Memo: The Thrill of a
Lifetime
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/archive.asp?id=640
12/31: Islanders: It's China vs. China: Harbin
and Qiqihar on Saturday
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/archive.asp?id=644
12/31: Islanders: Chinese Hockey Meets the
Islanders
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/archive.asp?id=645
1/1: Islanders: The Battle of China I: Qiqihar
Marches On In Spirited Contest
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/archive.asp?id=646
1/1: Islanders: Rangers Do It Again: QiQiHar
Falls in Semifinals
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/archive.asp?id=647
1/2: Ottawa Sun:
Snow Leopards Edged in Atom Semi-final
http://www.aaezine.org/articles/vol13/N1BellCapitalCup2005TheEnd.shtml
UPDATE: 3 Jan 06 - 11PM
The two Chinese teams will be on the ice with the Islanders and Panthers
for the start of tomorrow nights NHL game when the Chinese
National Anthem will be sung. They will play against each other during the two
intermissions. Further updates will be on the Zine calendar at
http://aasquared.org/calendar/calendar.pl?view=Event&event_id=557
UPDATE: 3 Jan 06 - 7PM
Tomorrow, Wed, 1/4, at 1pm at the Nassau Coliseum,
there will be two exhibition games between the Long Island Gulls Mite A
(1pm) and Mite B (2:15pm) teams and the two teams from China, the Harbin
Red Stars and the Qiqihar Snow Leopards. They are free and open to the
public. Directions to the Coliseum are on the Islanders website.
1/5: Newsday: Through Youth Hockey Islanders
Build Bridge to China
http://www.aaezine.org/articles/vol13/N1IslandersBuildBridgeJHowardNewsday010506.shtml
Now from this venture that Mike Milbury
was asked by Charles Wang to start in his birthplace, when these kids are
in their early 20's - anything goes. And its not just in China. One of the Qiqihar players is Korean - his parents work
there. The Beijing Dragons team is multinational. And although the Chinese
Hockey League is still in its infancy (no web page yet available), China
along with Japan (http://www.jihf.or.jp/),
Korea (http://www.kiha.or.kr/ice_hockey/index.jsp),
Taiwan (http://www.hockey-hotline.com/),
and Thailand (http://www.geocities.com/ihatthailand/)
are all part of the Asian Hockey League (http://www.alhockey.com/)
and recruiting Canadians, while some national teams are hoping to make
Olympic history just by competing. From NHL and AHL we may soon have WHL!
Bell Capital Cup:
http://www.oihf.net/
New York Islanders:
http://www.newyorkislanders.com
|
|
Click logos
or photos
for info!
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
