OlymPicks: Disbanding of Women's Ice Hockey League Leaves Chinese Female Players on Thin Ice

OlymPicks is an ongoing blog series whereby we highlight news, gossip, and developments regarding the buildup to Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics.

Chinese pro female hockey players have been left to pick themselves up after suffering what one expert calls a "massive blow." That's because the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) recently announced it will disband on May 1.

As the second-largest professional women's ice hockey organization in North America (and the world), the biggest being the National Women's Hockey League or NWHL, the end of the CWHL is an undeniable setback for female players across the region and the record 175,000 viewers who watched the league's championship game in Toronto in late March. However, Chinese up-and-comers will be particularly affected by the decision. After all, as Reuters put it in a recent article: "The CWHL has four teams based in Canada, one in the United States and another in China, where it was hoping to grow the women's game ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympics." As there are currently no other professional hockey leagues at this level in China, this leaves local players who are preparing to compete in the 2022 Olympics without the support of a professional league, nor opportunities to compete against players at their level.

Indeed, unlike their counterparts in Canada and America, the league's Chinese team, the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays (comprised of some Chinese-born players, some Chinese heritage players, and some non-Chinese players), was newer to the game and had fewer shots at success in every sense of the word. Pair that with the expectation that they would in turn inspire young players to strap on skates of their own, and the dissolution of the league is nothing short of a dashed dream for China.

Mark Simon, a Beijing-based hockey consultant for the likes of China Hockey Group (CHG) Kunlun Red Star (KHL) men's team, says the CWHL suffered from a lack of publicity and sponsorship. That's a shame, in Simon's view, because China's professional female players were heavily relying on the league. He says: "They've been doing fairly well lately, winning tournaments and games, but to keep that going in the right direction they need to be able to keep playing. It would also help them keep the momentum going so they could develop and recruit more native Chinese and Chinese heritage players in future seasons, to make the team more 'Chinese' for lack of a better term."

That point is seconded by Mark Dreyer, founder of the China Sports Insider news site. He says: "There was talk two years ago that the women’s team might even win a medal at the 2022 Olympics, but if the Chinese players are not able to hone their skills against the best in the world between now and then, that already ambitious goal will start to look firmly out of reach."

And yet, Dreyer still holds out hope. "Consolidation was perhaps inevitable for the financial success of women’s professional ice hockey" he pragmatically points out, before voicing hope that the National Women's Hockey League will pick up some of the slack left by the CWHL's demise.

However, Dreyer adds: "With this news still so fresh, it’s unknown what will happen to the Chinese team. The most obvious way forward would be to join the parallel NWHL, as some of the other CWHL teams have said they intend to do." However, he concedes: "It sounds as if both the money and the will is there from the Chinese side, though NWHL management may have other ideas."

There might be an alternative, according to Dreyer: "In the future, China could look to set up its own league, allowing the sport to recover in the long term." Fans shouldn't hold their breath for such developments, however. As Dreyer puts it: "That won’t happen in the next few years, and it’s very hard right now to look past the immediate target of 2022."

Read Dreyer's further analysis about the CWHL's woes via an op-ed on Sup China here.

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Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
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Photos: theicegarden.com, olympic.cn, The Toronto Star