Doug Mittler, PA SportsTicker
Published: Thursday, December 20, 2007
National Post, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=187745

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Does hockey translate to a Chinese audience? The New York Islanders want to find out.

The job of expanding the hockey vocabulary belongs to Alex Peng and Justin Chang, a pair of New York-based television broadcasters who are calling Islander home games in Mandarin. They currently can be heard by flipping the SAP button on Fox Sports Net and the MSG Network in New York. The ultimate goal is to spread the broadcast to an untapped Asian market.

"This is a big-picture project," said Isles VP of communications Josh Bernstein. "There is a rabid fan base for American sports."

Earlier this year, an audience estimated at between 100 million and 200 million fans tuned in to watch an NBA game featuring two prominent Chinese players, Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets and Yi Jianlian of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Islanders owner Charles Wang, who was born in Shanghai, knows an untapped market when he sees it. The founder of Computer Associates has put a broadcasting structure in place as part of a long-range plan to sell hockey to a Chinese audience.

Other overseas efforts to promote the sport include Ice Hockey Project Hope, which provides young Chinese athletes to educational opportunities and promotes cultural exchange through youth hockey tournaments.

The toughest task for Peng and Chang, who have called NBA games for ESPN International, is finding Mandarin equivalents for hockey terms and teams.

"We are trying to help our viewers and we are learning ourselves," said Peng, who like Chang has followed the sport but is calling games for the first time.

The Boston Bruins, for example, are the "Brown Bears" and the Florida Panthers go by "Black Leopards." Logos and uniform descriptions identify other teams while the Montreal Canadiens are explained with a definition of their French-Canadian background. The San Jose Sharks are linked to their sponsorship of a team in the Asia Hockey League.

Peng says he has spent "days and nights" preparing ways to explain basics such as a slap shot, a one-timer or icing. Nearby in the booth is Bernstein, who offers between-periods instruction even if he can't understand Mandarin.

"The best I can do is ask them how they did and answer their questions," Bernstein said.

During one December game, for example, Bernstein needed to explain why it was OK for goalie Rick DiPietro to be given a rest after 18 straight starts.

There is a balance between describing the action and instructing the audience on the basics of hockey.

"Hockey is a lot faster than basketball," said Chang, who went on the air with his partner after just two dress rehearsals. "It was tough to keep up with in the beginning."

Cultural differences surface as well.

"The term 'fighting' is legit in hockey, but it has a negative connotation in Chinese," Peng said.

The names of players, particularly European and French-Canadian ones, do not always translate well. To solve the problem, Peng tries to find an equivalent name from another walk of life. When Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby came to Nassau Coliseum last week, Peng said the Penguins star's surname is pronounced "just like the one who sings Christmas carols."

Bing Crosby would be proud.

Was there any problem in explaining what team Crosby played for?

"No," Chang said. "Everybody knows what a Penguin is."

Peng and Chang currently call only home games in what amounts to a makeshift broadcasting booth behind Islander TV voices Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe. The long-range plan is for them to polish their craft before the Islanders look overseas.

"We're getting there. It's taking a leap of faith," Bernstein admitted. "We're hoping that the most popular team in Asia will be the New York Islanders, based on what we're doing right now."