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Chinese minor hockey team makes Cowichan Valley stops

Little Wolf Beijing faces local peewee teams on Sunday and Monday
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The atom A Cowichan Valley Capitals and Little Wolf Beijing square off at Shawnigan Lake School’s Charlie Purdey Arena on Tuesday evening. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)

Helping out behind the bench with Little Wolf Beijing during the Chinese hockey team’s ongoing tour of Vancouver Island has given Brian Passmore an appreciation of the youngsters’ level of play.

“They’re good players,” said Passmore, the head coach and general manager of the junior A Cowichan Valley Capitals. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised by them. They can pass the puck. You can tell they’ve been taught how to play.”

The Beijing team is made up primarily of first-year peewee players, while the teams they have played thus far are of atom A calibre. Little Wolf won their first three games, some by well over five goals, and Ray Zhang, the Capitals owner and sponsor of the Island tour, has tasked Passmore with finding more peewee-age teams for them to play before they return to China on Feb. 16.

Regardless of the results, the Chinese players and their Canadian opponents have enjoyed the games so far.

“It looks like they’re having a great time,” Passmore said. “It’s definitely an experience.”

Little Wolf played the third game of their Island tour on Tuesday evening, beating the atom A Cowichan Valley Capitals at Shawnigan Lake School’s Charlie Purdey Arena, which has served as home base for the Chinese squad.

Hockey has made big strides in China recently. The country is developing more and more players, national teams are traveling around the world to train, and a professional team joined the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League in 2016. Simon Chen, a defenceman with the junior A Caps and Zhang’s son, is an example of players moving abroad to learn the game and play at higher levels. Chen played at an elite U.S. prep school before joining the Caps, and attended the Vancouver Canucks Prospects Camp last summer. His long-term goal is to play for the Chinese national team when Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics in 2022.

The players currently touring the Island are following in Chen’s footsteps.

“They’re all skilled,” Passmore said. “They understand the game. They have puck skills and they can all skate. I was surprised by the way they pass the puck to each other. They’re picking it up pretty quick. They’re coming here to show us where they’re at, and they’re doing really well.”

There is a bit of a language barrier on the bench, Passmore acknowledged, but they’ve found ways around it. A couple of players speak English and can help relay Passmore’s calls for line changes, and one of their coaches came along to help as well.

“They understand pretty much what we’re wanting,” he said. “It’s been a little bit challenging, but they’re all hard-working kids.”

The Beijing players are on holidays surrounding Chinese New Year, which they will celebrate with dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Victoria following their game against Victoria Racquet Club on Saturday.

In addition to matches against teams in Campbell River, Comox and the Victoria area, Little Wolf has two more games in the Cowichan Valley before they head home. This Sunday, they will face the Cowichan Valley peewee A team at Fuller Lake Arena at noon, and on Monday, they take on the peewee A Kerry Park Islanders at Charlie Purdey Arena at 9 a.m.

With files from Steven Heywood,

Peninsula News Review

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The atom A Cowichan Valley Capitals and Little Wolf Beijing square off at Shawnigan Lake School’s Charlie Purdey Arena on Tuesday evening. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)
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The atom A Cowichan Valley Capitals and Little Wolf Beijing square off at Shawnigan Lake School’s Charlie Purdey Arena on Tuesday evening. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)
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The atom A Cowichan Valley Capitals and Little Wolf Beijing square off at Shawnigan Lake School’s Charlie Purdey Arena on Tuesday evening. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)


Kevin Rothbauer

About the Author: Kevin Rothbauer

Kevin Rothbauer is the sports reporter for the Cowichan Valley Citizen
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