(c) Newsday http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/ny-sphow054575767jan05,0,11625.column?coll=ny-sports-columnists

Johnette Howard
SPORTS COLUMNIST

January 5, 2006

Islanders general manager Mike Milbury knew that club owner Charles Wang was born in Shanghai and left the country for America at age 8. But when Wang gave Milbury some out-of-the-blue marching orders last spring to go to China during the NHL lockout, Milbury wasn't sure exactly what Wang wanted him to do.

"All he said was, 'Go experience China and come back and tell me what you see,' " Milbury recalled yesterday.

Wang, laughing now, added, "Mike thought he was being punished."

Milbury jokes that he warmed to the idea when "I found myself standing in Tiananmen Square, looking at a giant mural of Mao and thinking to myself, 'Wonder what the other NHL general managers are doing today?'"

Down on the Nassau Coliseum ice as Milbury and Wang spoke, a team of 10- to 12-year-olds from the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin was playing the Oyster Bay Ice Cats yesterday afternoon. In the stands sat another Chinese boys team from Qiqihar, an ancient city of 5.6 million. They had just played the Long Island Gulls.

Except for the lettering on their jerseys, the Chinese boys didn't look much different than the Americans. They fidgeted on the bench between shifts, clacked their stick blades on the ice when they wanted a pass, and shot up their arms when they scored a goal.

Afterward, as the two Chinese teams hurried off to their next adventure on the jam-packed, goodwill trip that the Islanders are sponsoring them on to New York and Ottawa, the last player to straggle out to the team bus was Harbin's chubby, rosy-cheeked little goalie, lugging his cumbersome equipment like all poor netminders are required to do.

The boys' trip - a 10-day whirlwind that ends tomorrow - was Milbury's idea, with encouragement from Wang and a spark of inspiration from Ottawa Senators president Roy Mlakar.

Hockey is still a nascent sport in China. Milbury estimates there are only 300 players of all ages in all of Harbin, a city of 9.5 million, but the Islanders opened an office there in 2004 because Wang wanted to establish ties. Milbury was touched during his visit by the players' enthusiasm despite the rudimentary facilities and lack of equipment. The Senators' Mlakar read an online article that Milbury wrote shortly after his return, and called to say if the Isles could get the Chinese to Ottawa to play in the Bell Capital Cup, a 7,000-player, 415-team international youth event, the Senators would help look after the boys once there.

Not that Milbury or the Isles knew exactly what they were getting into. There were passports to arrange, visas to secure, thousands of dollars to raise. Some rabid Islanders season-ticket holders, including Stan Pesner and Paul Packer, helped Milbury organize a benefit dinner, and Wang matched the $40,000-plus take from that night. The Isles even held an eBay auction for dinners with Wang, Milbury and coach Steve Stirling. All told, they raised more than $100,000.

"All Charles said was 'Make it an experience of a lifetime for the kids' and needless to say, we're over budget," Milbury cracked. Not that Wang cares. The smiles on the boys' faces has been priceless.

In addition to being introduced before last night's Islanders-Panthers game, the boys' schedule has or will include two embassy-sponsored meals in their honor, a shopping trip to a Garden City sporting goods store, a much-enjoyed visit to a video arcade and dinner with Wang Tuesday night at a Chinese restaurant in Bethpage ("a soy sauce fix," Wang joked.).

When asked what he expected before the trip, 10-year-old Harbin defenseman Zhu Ziyang said through an interpreter, "I heard that America was a lot of fun. And I heard there were a lot of skyscrapers here." Twelve-year-old Qiqihar defenseman Zheng Canji added, "At first we thought the teams we would play here might be tough. But after we played them - not so tough." Teammate Hu Liang reported that he spent part of his $50 gift from the Islanders on perfume for a favorite teacher back home. "I tried some on first," Hu said, "and I smelled good all day!"

At Tuesday's dinner with Wang, one Chinese boy surprised everyone by standing and singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" - in English.

Another of Wang's fond memories of the night came when one of the little boys confidently approached him to strike a binding deal. Says Wang: "He had his hand stuck out to shake, and he kept saying to me, 'I come back next year, right? Promise you bring me back next year.'"