Asia at the Olympics
This article is part of a special series we’ve prepared to mark the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina.
The suspension of efforts to launch a professional Chinese hockey league was far from the only consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which first emerged in China before spreading worldwide. The virus not only led to the premature cancellation of the 2019–20 season across all hockey leagues but also forced the cancellation of the upcoming World Championships at every level.
While the following season went ahead in some form in most countries, cross-border travel became a major challenge, complicating international competition and player movement.
COVID Disrupts Plans
China’s development program, with hubs across three continents, took a major hit. Chinese teams in the VHL and MHL shut down, as did the Czech project and junior teams competing in North American leagues. The only team that remained active was Kunlun Red Star in the KHL, but even they were forced into exile – relocating to Mytishchi, near Moscow, where the club found a temporary home.
There was widespread uncertainty in the hockey world – and beyond. No one knew how COVID-19 would impact preparations for the Winter Olympics, nor what the next steps would be for the men’s hockey team. The situation wasn’t helped by a lack of communication from the Chinese Ice Hockey Association.
With no clear direction for the future, frustration mounted – even for Brandon Yip, who had been widely expected to captain the Olympic squad. Eventually, he decided to leave Kunlun, signing with Jukurit in Finland.
China Unexpectedly Shifts Strategy: Opts Against Naturalization and Launches Large Summer Camp
Unexpected challenges forced Chinese hockey officials to take an unexpected turn. They temporarily abandoned their plan to naturalize heritage players, shifting to Plan B – building the entire Olympic roster exclusively from homegrown talent.
To support this effort, a two-month training camp was held in Shenyang in July 2020, featuring 44 of China’s top hockey players. The squad was placed under the guidance of the legendary Benyu Wang, a symbol of Chinese hockey’s glory days in the 1980s, who was now set to take over as head coach of the Olympic team. (1)
The camp featured Andong Song, the first Chinese player ever drafted into the NHL, as well as the highly skilled Qianyi Huang, dubbed the “Chinese Gretzky.” Also present was Rudi Ying, one of China’s trailblazers in the KHL.
At that time, the expectation was still that NHL players would compete at the Olympics. The idea of sending an all-Chinese roster against the star-studded lineups of Canada and the U.S. was rather naïve, but it reflected deeper tendencies within Chinese hockey.
Czech coach Slavomir Lener, who spent several months working with the Chinese national team in the 1980s, often recalled China’s simplistic approach to hockey development – locking players away for months of intense training, believing that sheer hard work could close the gap on the competition. (2) This mindset resurfaced during the pandemic, but before long, Chinese officials abandoned the plan and resorted to the naturalization strategy.
Players Lose Key Seasons
The pandemic dealt its biggest blow to China’s Olympic preparations by dismantling the interconnected development network spanning China, Russia, Czechia, and the U.S. Though launched at the last possible moment, the system had the potential to build a reasonably competitive roster by 2022 – one dominated by homegrown players and reinforced by elite naturalized North Americans of Chinese descent.
Then came COVID, and with it, the end of all those plans. Players who had battled through tough seasons in lower-tier leagues – some on the verge of stepping up to the VHL, maybe even getting a shot at a few KHL games – could do nothing but watch as entire seasons were wiped out.
Many not only lost a crucial stepping stone in their development but, in some cases, an entire year of competition. And no amount of centralized training in Beijing or elsewhere in China could ever replace dozens of lost game reps.
The ones hit hardest were talented players like Jianing Guo, Jing Wang, and Yuyang Hou. While Guo at least made the final Olympic roster – though he never saw a single minute of ice time – Wang and Hou were left out of China’s Olympic plans entirely.
Before the pandemic derailed his career trajectory, Jing Wang was making solid progress within the Russian branch of China’s development program. He was a standout performer at the World Junior Championships, consistently putting up impressive point totals.
On the other side of the world, in the North American branch of the program, Yuyang Hou was developing rapidly. After three seasons in the USPHL, he made a stop in Czechia, where he stood out as one of the team’s brighter prospects, before showcasing his potential in the MHL. The following season, he was poised for a true breakout – either by taking on a bigger role in the MHL or even making the jump to the VHL.
At 19 years old and with three MHL seasons under his belt, Jianing Guo was well-positioned for a move up to the VHL. Instead, he lost an entire season. When he finally got a chance to skate with Kunlun in the KHL in 2021, just months before the Olympics, he looked anything but confident.
Trouble at Kunlun Red Star
Tensions eventually surfaced between Chinese hockey officials and Kunlun Red Star, as the club had its own vision for how it should operate. At one point, there was even uncertainty about what kind of roster Kunlun would ice for the upcoming KHL season.
However, just before the start of the 2021–22 Olympic season, the Chinese Ice Hockey Association managed to pull the emergency brake. They reached an agreement with the club and assembled a roster of players eligible to represent China at the Games.
The 2021–22 Olympic Season: A Year of Questions and Uncertainty
Heading into the Olympic season, uncertainty loomed over China’s national team. The situation was far from ideal, and taking on the hot seat as head coach required a serious dose of courage. Yet, in July 2021, Ivano Zanatta – a seasoned Canadian-born coach of Italian descent and a former Italian national team player – embraced the challenge, stepping in as the bench boss for both Kunlun Red Star and Team China.
Kunlun’s priorities as a club had to take a backseat to the needs of Chinese hockey during the Olympic season – and Ivano Zanatta understood that perfectly. As a result, Chinese-born players, along with naturalized skaters in contention for Olympic spots, saw significantly more ice time than in previous years.
One of the biggest surprises came in a December matchup against Novosibirsk, when Pengfei Han, a homegrown Chinese goalie, was given the start over the usual tandem of Jeremy Smith and Alexander Lazushin – something previously unthinkable. And he didn’t disappoint: Kunlun fell 2–3 in overtime, but Han posted an impressive 92.5 save percentage.
China’s Hockey Team at Risk of Missing the Olympics
The situation grew even more complicated. Global hockey circles began mounting pressure on the IIHF and the IOC to reconsider China’s participation in the Olympic tournament at the last minute.
Critics voiced concerns on multiple fronts – some feared an embarrassing performance from the host nation, while others took issue with China’s aggressive naturalization efforts, bringing in Canadian- and American-born players. At the time, the agreement for NHL player participation was still in place, further intensifying fears of a lopsided disaster on the scoreboard.
Even the IIHF lacked clear information on who would actually suit up for China. Adding to the uncertainty were Chinese laws prohibiting dual citizenship, which raised concerns about whether naturalized players would even be able to obtain a Chinese passport in time for the Games.
The IIHF seriously began reconsidering China’s participation in the Olympic men’s tournament, with Norway openly mentioned as a potential replacement. The biggest concern among hockey’s governing bodies was whether China’s roster would be competitive enough to justify its spot in the tournament.
Ultimately, the IIHF ruled that China would have to prove itself in an unofficial “qualification” test – a November KHL doubleheader featuring Kunlun Red Star against Amur Khabarovsk and Avangard Omsk.
Kunlun iced a roster made up almost entirely of Canadian and American-born players of Chinese descent, strongly hinting at the direction China would take in assembling its Olympic squad.
Confusion surrounded what exactly the team needed to accomplish – reports varied – but according to goalie Jeremy Smith, who spoke to ESPN, the players were told they had to win both games. (3) In the end, however, the IIHF simply wanted Kunlun to prove it could be competitive – and it did. The team pushed Amur Khabarovsk to overtime, ultimately falling 4–5, before losing 1–4 to Avangard Omsk.
In the following days, the IIHF remained in intensive discussions with the Chinese Ice Hockey Association, which had to clarify who would actually suit up for China.
Beijing 2022 Olympics: China In, NHL Out
In the first week of December 2021, global media outlets reported the IIHF’s final decision: China’s men’s hockey team would be allowed to compete at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
At the same time, however, the NHL made a last-minute withdrawal from the tournament over COVID-related concerns. This meant China wouldn’t have to face the world’s top stars, easing fears – at least somewhat – of potentially humiliating blowouts.
Roster Challenges and IIHF Compromises
China’s hockey leadership likely had a different vision for the Olympic roster. By the time the Games arrived, homegrown players were expected to be firmly integrated into the team – ideally, making up the majority. Naturalized players were supposed to provide experience while still being sufficiently “Chinese”, like Brandon Yip and Zach Yuen.
However, reality forced a shift in plans. In the end, several players with no Chinese ancestry at all found their way onto the roster.
The roster selection was anything but easy. The main challenges could be grouped into three key areas:
- Kunlun played in “COVID times” not in China but in Mytishchi, Russia. Could the IIHF count this time spent in exile toward the two-year residency requirement necessary for players to represent China?
- What about players who hadn’t met the required two- or four-year residency rule but were still wanted on the roster?
- How would China handle the passport issue? According to behind-the-scenes reports, many North American-born players refused to give up their U.S. or Canadian citizenship, creating a major eligibility hurdle.
China Olympic Hockey Team’s Roster Revealed: Controversy Over Names
Questions persisted, even after head coach Ivano Zanatta unveiled China’s official Olympic roster in the final days of January. China’s coaching staff had little choice but to lean heavily on naturalized talent. In the end, 15 of the 25 roster spots went to naturalized players, while the remaining 10 were China-born skaters.
What drew significant media attention was the fact that naturalized players were listed under their Chinese names – quickly turning into a point of controversy.
| China Men’s Ice Hockey Roster for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Chinese Name | Born | Club 2021-2022 |
| Goaltenders | |||
| Jeremy Smith | Jieruimi Shimisi | USA | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Paris O’Brien | Yongli Ouban | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Pengfei Han | – | China | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Defensemen | |||
| Ruinan Yan | – | China | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Pengfei Zhang | – | China | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Zimeng Chen | – | China | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Zach Yuen | Junjie Yuan | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Ty Schultz | Enlai Zheng | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Jason Fram | Jie Liu | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Ryan Sproul | Ruian Sipulaoer | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Denis Osipov | Dannisi Aoxibofu | Russia | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Jake Chelios | Jieke Kailiaosi | USA | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Forwards | |||
| Rudi Ying | – | China | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Juncheng Yan | – | China | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Zesen Zhang | – | China | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Xudong Xiang | – | China | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Jianing Guo | – | China | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Wei “Peter” Zhong | – | China | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Brandon Yip | Jinguang Ye | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Tyler Wong | Taile Wang | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Parker Foo | Shuai Fu | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Spencer Foo | Jiang Fu | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Cory Kane | An Jian | USA | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Lucas Lockhart | Jia Luo | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
| Ethan Werek | Wei Ruike | Canada | Kunlun Red Star/KHL |
It seems that neither the IIHF nor China’s hockey leadership was particularly proud of how the final roster came together – these topics became something of a taboo, with even the players themselves largely avoiding discussion. However, from the final roster, we can draw the following conclusions:
- The IIHF ultimately did not take issue with the fact that Kunlun had not actually played in China since 2020 – likely considering the extraordinary circumstances brought on by the pandemic.
- The IIHF appeared to bend the rules for Jeremy Smith, Denis Osipov, and Ethan Werek, all of whom had previously represented their birth countries in IIHF tournaments (Smith – USA U20 Worlds 2008, Osipov – Russia U18 Worlds 2005, Werek – Canada U18 Worlds 2009). By the time of the Olympics, each had played only 2.5 seasons with Kunlun, short of the required four seasons for switching national teams. Since none of them played for China again after Beijing 2022, it’s likely the IIHF granted them a one-time exemption for the Games.
- The citizenship issue was most likely resolved by granting naturalized players special “sports passports” issued by Chinese authorities as an alternative to full citizenship – a solution that the IIHF ultimately accepted.
Asia at the Olympics
Article Series
Sources, Quotes and Notes:
Leave a Reply