For the 8th time the annual World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend will be held in autumn. Make the ice time ready for the weekend of 6-7 October 2018 and register your event!

The World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend is an event to promote ice hockey for women and girls. Interested, potential players of all ages can try out ice hockey for free all around the world and get the chance to join a club.

Organizers can me IIHF member national associations, their clubs, arenas, players, enthusiasts – anybody who wants to help promote ice hockey.

Last year events took place in 40 countries from Oceania to the Far East, Middle East, Europe to North and Latin America.

Organizers just need to book the ice and have instructors ready. At some places without an available ice rink at this time of the year, organizers also found other creative solutions.

In our World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend section of IIHF.com you can register your event to be included in our list and coverage, find an online toolbox for instructors (free registration needed) or see photos and reports from events from previous years.

The IIHF is looking forward to another busy World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend with thousands of players in action and many happy faces. Ice hockey is for everyone!

Aiming to lift the game in the Gulf to unprecedented heights, boys and girls from Kuwait lived and breathed hockey during for the past two weeks in a pre-season camp in Sweden.

Despite still being on school holiday, players from the U12 and U15 categories at the Kuwait Ice Hockey Association's hockey school have found little time to rest on their laurels.

Having temporarily decamped from Kuwait to Sweden, the sole subject on the curriculum for two weeks was dedicated to ice hockey. The emphasis being on developing their basic skills and team bonding as the youngsters got up to speed for the impending league season.

“It's the first time we bring the Kuwait youth team here. It's perfect for us to be here as we can have four practices a day. We can practise outside as well as inside and we can watch recordings on how we can improve,” said Kuwait's youth team coach Bojan Zidarevic on their training camp.

Based temporarily in Koping, 150 kilometres west of Sweden's capital Stockholm, everything the Kuwaiti team could ask for was on offer at an arm's length. Adjacent to the hotel housing the players and staff made the most out of utilizing the ice arena and the sports centre.

While the Swedish late summer sunshine reached temperatures half of those in Kuwait, inside the rink Zidarevic was out on the ice together with former Kuwait national team player Abdullah Alzidan to instruct the players during a mid-afternoon session. It was the second time that day the Kuwaiti youngsters were out on the ice with the focus on stick-handling and skating. Boys and girls skated together with smiles beaming through their caged helmets. Two of the most energetic players were the Alfalah siblings.

“It is the first time I play hockey outside of Kuwait. Being in Sweden is a very nice experience and a good place to make the team become stronger as one,” said 14-year-old Fedha Alfalah, who picked up the game two years ago, which she now combines with gymnastics.

“Hockey and gymnastics are very different. I like hockey because it is fun, challenging and competitive. I am good with the puck and to get up to speed, but I need to improve my turns as my ambition is to play for the national team one day,” she said.

Four years her junior is Fedha's brother Mehson. Aged 10, he was the youngest of the crop of players in Sweden, but this livewire of a kid already stood out as a fine skater and eager of going places in his hockey career.

“It's fun to be here in Sweden although it is a bit cold. I also started to play two years ago and I hope to play in Kuwait, Sweden and also the USA,” said Mehson Alfalah.

Despite running a rigorous training regime during their brief Swedish stint, the Kuwait Ice Hockey Association was keen to find ways to inspire the youngsters with the rich pickings of high-level hockey on offer in the near vicinity.

“We went to the Globe Arena in Stockholm to watch an all-star tournament (Djurgarden Stockholm versus NHL players from Stockholm). It was really fun for the kids to see such great players in action and it will be a memory for life. The next day we took them to watch a game of junior hockey with VIK Vasteras. The players were the same age as ours and we wanted to show them that you can play the same game as they do, but for that, you need to practice,” Zidarevic said.

Sweden and Kuwait go back a long way as far as hockey cooperation is concerned. On 1 August 1981, Mikael Lundstrom, a newly examined coach touched down in the boiling heat of Kuwait City. His assignment was to form Kuwait's first hockey club and to find players willing to learn the delights of the game. Lundstrom's baptism of fire as a coach saw him stay in Kuwait for three enjoyable seasons. He later coached in Sweden's top division but also as national team coach of both Denmark and France.

Over three decades later, Sweden was chosen as the ideal place for regular training camps for the Kuwaiti men's national team eager to move on up in the hockey world. They reached a significant milestone when making their debut at the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division III Qualification. But their lack of experience shone through and an aging team lost all three games. With the Kuwaiti national men's team now aiming to improve ahead of the 2019 Division III Qualification in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, their current head coach Pavel Arnost has instead opted to base the team's training camps in his native Czech Republic. Zidarevic, however, hopes to keep the Swedish connection alive with the next generation of Kuwaiti players.

“Hopefully we will come next year with the kids. Here we can find ice everywhere, but Sweden is also a nice country. People are polite to us and we have the possibility to arrange many friendly games here and find equipment for our teams, so it is a great place to get the players ready for the new season,” he continued.

Kuwait is about to embark on a landmark season which sees both their national women's team and the men's U20 making their debut at IIHF-sanctioned international competitions. Competing at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia Division I Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 Challenge Cup of Asia Division I in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is a sign that they are on the right track in their development.

“It is on a good way and the management is doing a good job. We have many kids at our hockey school with over 150 kids each year. We now have the men's senior team, the ladies’ team, the junior national team, U15, U12 and our hockey school. With practice the result must come one day,” said Zidarevic.

As other winter sports such as figure skating and speed skating grow in popularity and with curling about to take off in Kuwait, plans for another ice arena are in consideration. Sweden could be the source of inspiration in their future project as the Kuwaiti coach Alzidan exclaimed in awe when entering the 13,850-seater Globe Arena for the first time last week. “We need one of these too in Kuwait!” he said.

HENRIK MANNINEN

Get your 2018 IIHF Annual Report now! Published every autumn, the full-colour, 140-page report is a complete recap of the 2017/2018 hockey season.

The organizing committee of the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia has released details for ticket sales for the upcoming tournament.

“We had to take various factors into consideration when determining our ticket prices, including expenses to run the event,“ explained Slovak Ice Hockey Federation President Martin Kohut. “The primary criterion for us was to set affordable prices for all fans. We were trying not to exceed the price structure established by the Czech Republic when they organized the championship in 2015. It turned out to be successful. We are very confident that fans will be able to afford seeing their favourite teams play.”

The organizing committee took into consideration the attractiveness of particular games and in the later stages. Tickets for preliminary-round games will be sold in two price categories - from 20 to 75€ (1st category), and from 10 to 60€ (2nd category).

Ticket prices

Tickets will be available in three packages – individual games, event pass, and “Follow Your Team” passes.

Single-game tickets for preliminary-round games in Bratislava will cost from €70-155 and €45-115. In Kosice the prices range from €60-175, and €45-135. Tickets for quarter-finals, semi-finals, the bronze medal and gold medal games will range from €180-475 and €125-400 respectively.

Playoff games will be held in both Bratislava and Kosice. The Eastern Slovakia city of Kosice will hold two quarter-final games as will Bratislava, the Slovak capital. Tickets will be sold in two price categories as well. Tickets for the quarter-finals will cost €70-100, and for the semi-finals between €160 and €200. Bronze medal game tickets will be €145-180, and for the gold medal final €300-350.

Fans looking for the event pass to every game in Bratislava (34 games) will pay between €1,590-2,050, and in Kosice (30 games) the event pass will be €1,015-1,355. The preliminary round package (28 matches) is €985-€1,295. The quarter-finals, semi-finals, bronze-medal and gold-medal package (6 playoff games in Bratislava) costs €815-1,015.

Follow Your Team tickets, which are sold for all preliminary-round games for one specific team (7 games), cost between €310-475 in the 1st category and €230-380 in the 2nd category.

Click here to see all prices.

Sale starts 19 September at 9:19am

Tickets will be sold in three stages. The first stage begins on a magic date – Wednesday, 19 September at 9:19am local time (CET). “Tickets will be sold in the offline shops of Ticketportal,“ explained the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship head of marketing Vladimir Jancek. Tickets will also be available on the official championship website 2019.iihfworlds.com, where fans can find all important information.

During the first stage of the sale, fans will be able to buy preliminary round package, preliminary round daily tickets, a limited number of "Follow Your Team" tickets, and event passes for all 2019 IIHF WM matches.

The second stage of sales will start in December 2018, when fans will be able to buy individual tickets for playoff matches, including the semi-finals, bronze medal, and gold-medal games.

The final stage of sale will start in February 2019 at which time fans will be able to buy tickets for specific games. “We will release 30% of all tickets in the first stage when we believe all of Slovakia’s games and other top teams will sell out quickly, so we urge fans not to wait until February to buy individual tickets because they might not be available,“ added Kohut.

More than 430,000 tickets available

About 75 percent of the overall capacity of both arenas will go to sale. The capacity at the Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava is 9,774, at the Steel Arena in Kosice 8,165 seats. The “seat killing” is necessary as the IIHF, teams, media and technical locations will take about 25 percent from the overall capacity in each arena.

“Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do with the capacity of arenas. In all, there will be about 430,000 tickets released for public sale. Even though the approaching championship will not set an all-time record, we believe that the arenas will be as full as possible,“ Kohut added.

Ticket limit of 4 per person

It is important that fans buy tickets only from an authorized retailer and on the official championship websites. Each ticket has enhanced visual elements to prevent counterfeiting. “Tickets will include a hologram, bar code, and sale number, and there will be thermal printing on the hard-copy tickets (tickets sold in offline shops). Tickets bought online will include the bar code, ticket number, sale number, and QR code,“ said Stanislava Sebenova from Ticketportal. “Our company is confident in the reliability of this ticketing system, and we will be able to handle the high volume of sales we’re expecting.“

Buying tickets does come with purchase limits. Each fan can buy only four tickets in a selected category, and the online booking time is 48 hours. “Tickets cannot be distributed, sold, displayed or be offered for sale without the permission from the organizer. They cannot be used for advertising, promotional, or any other commercial purposes without prior approval,” said the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship marketing manager Lukas Donoval.

Finally, both areas will have special access for wheelchairs. There will be 10 seats in Bratislava and 19 in Kosice specifically for this purpose, and tickets are free of charge. Persons accompanying the wheelchair fans will pay 50% of the 1st category ticket price. To book these seats fans must call Ticketportal at +421 905 700 909 or +421 2 52 93 33 21.

The Chinese women’s national team hasn’t come near an IIHF podium since finishing fourth at the 1998 Olympics. Kunlun Red Star’s job is to change that.

Of course, Kunlun – a second-year Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) franchise based in Shenzhen – also hopes to capture a Clarkson Cup after losing last year’s final in overtime to the Markham Thunder. But fundamentally, it exists to develop and accelerate the growth of the Chinese women’s national team heading into the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Kunlun has been officially rebranded this season as the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays after merging with Vanke Rays, another Chinese club which played its lone CWHL season in 2017/18. That’s apparently all part of the long-term master plan.

2022 will be here before we know it, and China’s stated goal is to capture a women’s hockey medal. That’s a tall order, even for the world’s most populated nation (1.4 billion). It currently has just 177 registered female players. Meanwhile, the United States and Canada have met in five out of the six Olympic women’s hockey gold medal games, and outside of North America, only Finland, Switzerland and Sweden have ever won bronze.

China finished fifth out of six teams at the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division I Group B, two tiers below the top nations. So how will the Chinese shoot for the top?

KRS has brought back elite ambassadors like Finnish goalie Noora Raty, a 2018 Olympic all-star and CWHL Goalie of the Year, and American forward Alex Carpenter, a four-time World Champion who scored the gold-medal winner in 2016. Yet while they’re teachers, role models, and on-ice catalysts, they won’t suit up for China in 2022.

It’s easy to see that while continuing to develop domestic talent is vital, incorporating naturalized players will also be a big key to making China competitive. The Twitter profile of Rob Morgan, who doubles as KRS’s general manager and the director of scouting and player development for the Chinese women’s national team, lays it out: “Chinese North American players direct message me.”

“I’m so excited,” said Emma Kee, a 17-year-old Shattuck St. Mary’s forward from Cincinnati who has participated in multiple Olympic development camps. “I called my grandparents and they’re really big on supporting China and playing for your ancestors and your roots. Just going to the Olympics itself is an unreal imagination. I grew up dreaming and writing little diaries about it. It would be amazing.”

We recently caught up with Morgan, a Medicine Hat native who coached Vanke last season, during Kunlun’s development camp at the University of British Columbia (UBC). That was the main women’s hockey venue and secondary men’s hockey venue at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Update: Morgan has just accepted a job with Long Island University (LIU) Brooklyn to become their inaugural women's hockey coach. He will continue as a scout for China.

What are your objectives at a camp like this?

This is the third camp now that we’ve run. We’re identifying as many prospective Chinese North Americans as possible who could play for China in the Olympics and are going to make us better. Each one is more intense.

It’s to evaluate them, but at the same time, it’s also to educate them. We’re only going to get a short period of time with them until we get to that centralization year. Each time we’re together, they’re hearing the same message in terms of our style of play in the D-zone, the offensive zone and special teams. If we can connect with them four times throughout the year – our goal is to run four camps each year – then by the time we get to determine who will be invited to centralization, we’ll have a good handle on it, and they’ll know how we want to play the game.

Although we’re currently playing in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, when we eventually get to 2021/22, there’s no doubt that the team for that year will be all Chinese, whether they’re domestic Chinese or Chinese North Americans. It has to be, because we’re getting ready for the Olympics.

Can you break down the decision to create the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays and establish a second affiliated team based in Harbin?

Here’s the Readers Digest version. When we initially started this, when [2017/18 Kunlun and Chinese national team coach] Digit Murphy reached out to me, she wanted me to be her associate head coach. We were only going to have one team. Then folks above us, in the government, in Kunlun, and in the Chinese Ice Hockey Association, said: “If you’re only going to have five, six or seven Chinese nationals on your team, what’s going to happen with the rest of them? Where do they go?” Because there weren’t as many Chinese North Americans available.

I’m in this meeting and [team founder] Billy Ngok asked: “Could we do two teams? Can we be competitive with two teams?” I said: “Absolutely. There’s no doubt in my mind.” We wanted one team to have a legit chance to get to the championship game, and that was Kunlun Red Star. On the other team, Vanke Rays, we strategically placed certain Chinese nationals that had to play a lot. Kunlun had more North Americans, both non-Chinese and Chinese North Americans. They were stronger.

When we got through the year, although both programs did very well, there were enough Chinese players that weren’t playing that people thought, “Well, they didn’t play in the games that much, so we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to accomplish.” Not really, because every one of those players, without a doubt, was way better, because of how they had to practice, who they had to compete against in practice day in and day out. Training now like elite athletes are training at the North American level. Learning from them in terms of, “Here’s how you should be fueling your body with the right foods.” Although in the eyes of some it wasn’t a success because Team China didn’t win the World Championship [Division I Group B], I was there. We could have won. That’s hockey. It didn’t happen.

Anyway, this year we’re going to end up with probably eight Chinese North Americans on our team. We’ll have our six-plus-one non-Chinese. The rest of the team will be made up of China’s best players. And the remaining players are going to play for Harbin. It’s almost like a farm system or a feeder. If we happen to have players who get injured, we can now have players that are on our reserve list. We didn’t have a reserve list last year, because there weren’t any Chinese players we could draw from.

The other thing is, Harbin will play a competitive schedule that is not out of their league. We had some players on our team that didn’t belong in the CWHL last year. Now you have the right players playing. Then you’ve got other players who are chomping at the bit. They’re hungry – they want to get there. They don’t want to play against lesser competition.

How competitive will KRS be this season?

Are the other CWHL teams going to be stronger? Without a doubt. Not only do you have the Canadian Olympians coming back, you also have all those top players who graduated from college this year. You have Americans that have come into the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, like Brianna Decker, Kacey Bellamy and Hilary Knight.

But Kunlun also gets a boost, because for instance, we now have Leah Lum, who was a very good college player with UConn. We have Kim Newell, in addition to Noora Raty. Two great goalies. Kim Newell was involved with Team Canada [2013 U18 Worlds gold] while she played her college hockey, and then after she graduated, she went to Wall Street. She didn’t ever think she’d be back playing hockey again.

The mix of non-Chinese players we have, we think it’s the right mix. At the same time, we have to still put Chinese nationals in positions where they’re going to get better. Our blue line is pretty much all Chinese except for one player. That’s really good. For the next four years, they’ll be playing against the best that are out there. That’s preparation for the Olympics.

Were there lessons that you took away from the fifth-place finish in Division I Group B in April?

Without a doubt. Statistically, we had the fewest goals against. Our defensive team play was outstanding. Even transitioning up the ice, we were able to get the puck into the opponents’ end. But we need to be more creative.

China, for years, has never won a World Championship. A lot of its play has been very structured. When you overstructure the game, you’re taking away part of the game. To score goals, you need to be creative. We’re trying to get that creativity to be more of their identity as a team. That’s probably the biggest challenge with the Chinese national team. The North Americans, they get it. They understand that the positions are interchangeable and play that way, more so than how China’s been playing over the years.

Yes, you’ve got to defend and have great goaltending, but you’ve got to score goals. If you can’t score goals, you’re not going to win.

Bob Deraney spent 19 years as the head coach of the Providence Friars women’s hockey team. He also worked as an advisor with the 2018 U.S. Olympic women’s selection camp. How did you choose him as Digit Murphy’s successor as the KRS coach in June?

We had a number of candidates that reached out. We put the feelers out in terms of who would be interested. It’s not easy to leave your family if you have family, but it’s definitely rewarding for sure. It just so happened that while we were going through the process and interviewing other candidates, the change at Providence happened. I didn’t call right away, because I knew Bob would need some time. But probably within three or four days, I was on the phone to him because out of all the candidates, in my opinion, without a doubt he was the best coach.

He’s got experience at the international level with USA Hockey. He’s had a tremendous amount of success at Providence over 19 years as a coach. Philosophically, there are a lot of similarities there, in terms of how you communicate with your team. So I think he’s going to do a great job for us. I know he’ll do a great job.

What do you say to people who are sceptical about China’s Olympic hopes?

We definitely can’t predict the future. We can only focus on what we’re doing right now. As long as we keep getting better every day, we’re going to be one hell of a lot better by the time the Olympics roll around.

There are all kinds of examples in sport that you can draw on where the underdog found a way to win. At the start of last year, who would have thought that the Vegas Golden Knights would get to the Stanley Cup final? I’m not sure too many people picked them. Maybe this is, as Digit put it once, “China’s great miracle.” It could well be. But we’ll just focus on getting better each day and be ready when it eventually happens.

LUCAS AYKROYD

Henrik Zetterberg, the 21st member of the vaunted Triple Gold Club, has been forced to retire because of a back injury that won’t heal. The four-time Olympian spent his entire 15-year NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings and represented Sweden many times on the international stage.

Detroit GM Ken Holland explained that Zetterberg’s injury is degenerative. There is arthritis and pain, and no surgery can fix the problem. Rest and rehab also won’t work, and after a couple of years of increasing pain, the decision has really been made for Zetterberg. He retires as one of the team’s greatest players of the modern era.

In looking back, one can see a career that would be the envy of every hockey player, but as a teen his future was anything but assured. He wasn’t drafted in 1999 until the 210th selection, a low position that would suggest “long shot” more than “sure thing.”

Indeed, after that draft, Zetterberg went back to his tier 2 team in Timra for another season and then played two more years with that team’s senior squad before coming to the NHL.

While in Sweden he was developing into a star player, and at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake he was one of only three non-NHLers to be named to Tre Kronor’s team. A year earlier he had helped Sweden win bronze at the World Championship.

Zetterberg joined the Red Wings when they were near the peak of their powers. The team was Swedish-heavy and one of the most international in league history, and the Wings were a perennial presence in the playoffs.

Zetterberg was one of the team’s top scorers, and a sporting player as well. He had his finest international year in 2006 when he helped Tre Kronor win Olympic gold in Turin and just a few weeks later World Championship gold in Latvia. This was the first time a team had achieved this double, and Zetterberg was one of only seven players on both teams.

In the NHL, he reached the top in 2007/08. He had a career year in the regular season, scoring 43 goals and recording 92 points, and in the playoffs he was the most dominant player, leading the post-season in scoring and guiding the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup. For his great play he was named winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy.

That Mike Babcock-coached team had 12 Europeans on it, more than any other Cup-winning team in league history, and Zetterberg became just the seventh European to score the Cup-winning goal.

That Cup win made him a member of the IIHF’s Triple Gold Club, and although the Wings didn’t come particularly close to winning the Cup again after that, they made the playoffs every year Zetterberg was with the team excepting the last two (when that back injury made him a bit slower and less effective than in his prime).

In all, Zetterberg played in 1,082 regular-season games in the NHL (and another 137 in the playoffs) and recorded 960 points. For his country, he played at one World Junior Championship, six World Championships, four Olympics, and the 2004 World Cup.

ANDREW PODNIEKS

What does it mean when your country is preparing for its first top-division appearance in quarter of a century? For Team GB defenceman Ben O’Connor, it’s the catalyst for a season of new challenges for club and country.

O’Connor, 29, has been a mainstay of the British blue line since he made his senior international debut in 2010 Winter Olympic Qualification action. It’s been a journey of ups and downs: minutes away from clinching promotion to the highest level in Kyiv in 2011, then enduring a string of near-misses following relegation to Division IB. The last two seasons, though, have been triumphant. Blistering in Belfast to return to the second tier, then brilliant in Budapest last April to stun the pre-tournament favourites and take gold ahead of Italy and Kazakhstan.

That means a trip to Slovakia in May and the Brits back at the top of the game for the first time since 1994. This time, O’Connor insists, it can be a foundation for the game’s long-term future.

“I think it’s fair to say we have more of a home-grown team than in 1994,” said the D-man. “We’ve got the odd import but the majority of the team is British born. Those additions have come where Pete [Russell, head coach] feels that they will help the team, but if you look over the last couple of tournaments it’s been mostly British-born players.

“That’s something to be proud of. It’s definitely very promising for the British game, the British system. We’ve got to build on that and try to go forward. It’s exciting. Just talking about it now puts a smile on my face, thinking back to Budapest!”

Exciting, but also challenging. The summer saw O’Connor reluctantly move away from Sheffield Steelers, the club where he won back-to-back British championships and a play-off title, and where his father Mike is commercial manager. A planned move to Barys Astana of the KHL fell through when the Kazakh team changed owners, but O’Connor was in demand and got a move to ambitious Leksands IF, a traditional club in Sweden that battles for promotion to the top league.

O’Connor is no stranger to playing his hockey abroad. In his teens he played Midget, OPJHL and OHL hockey in his dad’s native Ontario. As an adult, he’s had seasons in France and Kazakhstan, winning silver and bronze medals with Saryarka Karaganda and Arlan Koshektau. And there are all those trips away with GB. Even so, moving to Sweden has been a new experience with the Leksand club enjoying a place at the heart of its community in a way that teams in Britain’s Elite League struggle to match.

“It’s a bit different,” O’Connor admitted. “Sheffield’s a big club, but the city has two football teams, the rugby, everything else that’s going on with sport there. Leksand is a smaller town so it’s really just the hockey. That’s great to be a part of.

“We had 500 people come to our first practice, which was a bit nerve-wracking! But in the end that was great, it was really good fun and I’m really enjoying playing with that level of support.”

Ironically, O’Connor made his Leksand debut back in Sheffield, where his former Steelers colleagues welcomed the Swedes for two friendly games. A 2-3 loss was followed by a 7-0 drubbing, with O’Connor among the goals.

“It was my first game for a new team, so I was nervous about that. And my family was there, it was like a home game so there was a lot of emotion in the build-up,” he said. “But I got a great reception from the fans [in Sheffield] and in the second game especially I felt more at ease. I wanted to play well, get a win against my old club and I ended up with two goals so I can’t complain!”

Is Swedish hockey very different from the British game? “Big time!” smiled O’Connor. “It’s a lot different, a new mentality, a different style of play. It’s taking a little bit to get used to, but I’m coming on leaps and bounds.

“With the World Championship coming up I wanted to put myself in the best league that I could. I’m going to be playing against quick teams and skilled players every week and that can only stand me in good stead.”

O’Connor’s appetite and enthusiasm grow with each passing season – and he’s an evangelist for British players willing to take the challenge of honing their skills overseas.

“I think we have shown that British players are good enough. It’s time for people to take that leap, maybe go outside their comfort zone. I’ve always been willing to do that, I’ve got the support of my family which is massive, but at the same times some guys might not want to move for their own reasons.

“UK hockey has come on so much and we’ve proved that with the national team. Now I hope that more people will be able to take the chance of going abroad and taking their skills to a new level. It’s challenging, but that’s something to embrace and enjoy. I spent three-and-a-half years in Kazakhstan, I picked up the language there. The whole experience is something to tell the grandkids about. Right now my daughter is 10 months old so it’s great time to be able to do this with her.”

O’Connor is not alone in trying to change Britain’s insular reputation. Prospects like Sam Duggan, 20, played four seasons in the Orebro system before heading to the NAHL with the Jamestown Rebels this summer. Liam Kirk, a team-mate at Sheffield, hit the headlines when he was drafted by Arizona and is now preparing for a season in the OHL with Peterborough Petes. It’s forming a new wave of young British talent looking to mix it with the best.

“Things are starting to change,” O’Connor said. “The young guys are taking those chances. It’s often easier to do it when you’re young, before you have a wife and a family. Liam’s doing great in Peterborough right now, Sam’s been picking up experience here in Sweden.

“We want more people to go away. We’ve shown that we’re good enough and now we’re at the Worlds, the biggest shop window. We know it’s going to be very difficult, but hopefully the guys can play well and then you never know who is watching and taking notes. Training with the guys from GB this summer, that’s definitely something that’s in front of us. It’s making everyone work harder.”

Some of that motivation is very close to home. Dad Mike was a stalwart defenceman in the British league in the 1980s and 1990s. A Canadian-born dual-national, he was part of the last GB team to reach the top table in international hockey. Now Ben has the chance to follow in those footsteps.

“Dad’s had plenty to say about it,” he smiled. “There’s a lot of banter going back and forth and he never misses a chance to talk about how he played against Canada in the Elite Pool. He did it back then but hopefully everything will work out this season and I’ll get to do it myself in May.”

ANDY POTTS

IIHF President René Fasel kicked off a trip to China this week with an opening ceremony to inaugurate the new offices of the Chinese Ice Hockey Association.

Fasel – along with President Cao Weidong of the CIHA, IIHF Vice-President for Asia Thomas Wu, IIHF Council Member Franz Reindl, and IIHF General Secretary Horst Lichtner – was in Beijing to inaugurate the new CIHA offices, which will serve as the primary center for ice hockey development in the world’s most populous country.

Also present for the inauguration were major representatives from China and Chinese ice hockey, including CIHA Deputy Secretary-General Mr. Xu Chengxiang, Director of Foreign Affairs Mr. Si Liang, Director of Training Mr. Wang Xiaoliang, Director of Liaison Ms. Hong Bin, along with officials of various CIHA departments. Coaches and student representatives of China Ice Hockey College also attended the unveiling ceremony. The ceremony was hosted by Ms. Wang Chunlu, Deputy Secretary-General of CIHA and Executive Director of China Ice Hockey College.

“This is a landmark moment in the development of Chinese ice hockey,” said Fasel. “Prior to the creation of the CIHA ice hockey was under the stewardship of a general ice sports association, but now ice hockey under the guidance of the CIHA has the potential to grow bigger than ever before.”

“The CIHA is prepared with good leadership and good staff. Looking ahead to Beijing 2020 I think we are starting on a very positive way forward.”

CIHA President Cao Weidong, who also presides over the Beijing Sport University on which the new buildings are located, also introduced to the guests the Chinese Ice Hockey College’s talent transfer and cross-sport selection programs, aimed at increasing the number of ice hockey players in the country. He also said that China Ice Hockey College is now fully focused on preparing for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, while at the same time remaining devoted to cultivating a large number of talented players for the development of China's ice hockey.

While actively preparing for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese Ice Hockey Association will aim to develop the sport of ice hockey in a sustainable and healthy way in China and in Asia, with assistance and cooperation with the IIHF office.

The visit also coincided with the NHL’s China Games, an exhibition series launched by the league last year as part of a long-term effort to raise the profile of the sport in the country. The Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames played their first game on Saturday at the Universiade Sports Center in Shenzhen on Saturday and will play again on 19 September at Beijing's Cadillac Arena.

The Stanley Cup also made the trip and will be on display at events in the two cities, including at the Great Wall and Hockey Day in Beijing festivities.

With the next Olympic Winter Games happening in Beijing four years from now, the new CIHA offices and the NHL coming to town are encouraging milestones in the push to take Chinese ice hockey to the next level.

President Fasel looked forward to having Chinese ice hockey represented in the Olympic Games. He gave some words of encouragement to the 200 students of China Ice Hockey College who were present at the unveiling ceremony.

“Chinese President Xi Jinping has encouraged 300 million Chinese people to be involved and take part in winter sports, only one percent of the 300 million people participate in ice hockey sport, and the number of 3 million people in ice hockey will be huge. I am proud of all of you as ones among the 3 million people.”

Earlier this summer, the IIHF hosted for the first time an Asian women's training camp in Beijing to help kickstart the development of the sport in the region. A total of 58 players and 12 coaches from nine IIHF member countries participated at the camp in the Chinese capital. The IIHF Facilities Working Group also held an Ice Making Seminar in Beijing in July, in cooperation with the CIHA.

On the pro side, the men's team with China's Shenzhen-based Kunlun Red Star club is currently playing in its third season in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and its women's team the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays plays in the Canadian Women's Hockey League.


With files from CIHA
 

A magical date and a long-awaited moment! Today organizers of next year‘s ice hockey championship in Bratislava and Kosice launched the public sale of tickets for the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

From the Stastnys to the Sutters to the Sedins, hockey history is full of world-renowned brother acts. Will Quinn and Jack Hughes add their names to that list?

Quinn, 18, and Jack, 17, are both poised to star for the United States at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship in Vancouver and Victoria. It’s an exciting and rare opportunity for the two brothers to compete side by side at an elite level.

This year, Quinn, a smooth-skating offensive defenceman who had 34 points as a University of Michigan freshman, was drafted seventh overall by the Vancouver Canucks. After winning gold at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship, he added bronze medals at this year’s World Juniors in Buffalo and the World Championship in Denmark.

In 2019, Jack is expected to become the seventh American ever drafted number one overall. The shifty, explosive centre racked up 12 points en route to MVP honors at the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship in Russia (Magnitogorsk and Chelyabinsk). After torching the Toronto minor hockey system, Jack will return for a second season with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Michigan.

The brothers come from a sports family. Both their parents starred as college athletes. Their father Jim has worked as a Boston Bruins assistant coach (2001-03) and the Toronto Maple Leafs director of player development (2009-2015), among other hockey jobs. Their mother Ellen was named a tournament all-star on defence at the 1992 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Finland. It’s no surprise that the Hughes boys not only play the game well, but are also articulate and thoughtful about their roles.

We recently caught up with both Hughes brothers at the World Junior Showcase in Kamloops, British Columbia. Here’s some of what they had to say.

Quinn on his past history of playing with Jack:

He always played a year up with 2000’s. Then one game he got called up with the 99’s, so he was playing two years up. That was pretty fun. I was a little nervous for him, though, because all these guys had hit puberty and he hadn’t. But he ended up scoring that game. It was pretty funny. That was the only time I played with him, besides mini-sticks and stuff like that. I enjoyed it. It was fun.

Jack on which NHL players he models himself on:

Guys like [Patrick] Kane and [Connor] McDavid, high-skill players. I wouldn’t say I play like them, but I for sure take things from their game and try to implement them into my game. I emulate certain things, but I wouldn’t say I’m a certain player. Everyone sees how fast the NHL is these days, so to have that extra gear, it’s super-important. Not many guys can skate like McDavid, of course. He’s kind of one-of-a-kind.

Quinn on the communication between the two brothers:

I have a lot of respect for him. I always say when we’re training, even though I’m the older brother, he pushes me too and I respect his opinion. He has a very smart hockey mind, so it’d be dumb for me not to really listen to him. He’s got his ideas and things that work for him. When we’re bouncing off ideas, and stuff like that, I think that’s when we start to work.

Jack on the telepathic connection he enjoys with Quinn on the ice:

We learned from the same people. We think hockey the same way. He’ll get an idea and I’ll be like, “Man, I was just thinking that!” I defer to him a little bit and he listens to me as well.

Quinn on the possibility of playing with Jack in the NHL:

I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not. I hope the Canucks have a really good season. I’m sure Jack will be going pretty early. It’s something all brothers dream of. That’d be pretty fun.

Jack on whether the brothers competed with each other while growing up:

Oh yeah. Whatever it was, basketball in the driveway. When we were younger, we’d go to the outdoor rink with each of the three brothers [including the youngest, Luke]. We’d have two friends each. We’d go play outdoor hockey till like 12 noon, and then come home and play mini sticks for another hour or two. Whatever you do, it’s competitive with three boys in the house. It’s a really good childhood.

Quinn on why he decided to return to the University of Michigan instead of turning pro:

I think being patient here and following the [Zach] Werenski and [Charlie] McAvoy path isn’t going to hurt me. With the set-up we have at Michigan with the coaching staff, teammates and facilities, I think there’s no reason I shouldn’t get five, 10 percent better over the year.

Quinn on how he sees 2018-19 unfolding beyond the World Juniors:

My focus is just going back to Michigan and getting stronger, continuing to develop my game, and hopefully winning some hockey games at Michigan. Then after that year, I can hopefully crack the Canucks’ lineup, or join them in April.

Quinn on which NHL players he might be likened to:

Brian Rafalski was a little before my time. I got to catch the back end of his career at the 2010 Olympics. Whenever I ask older people who I remind them of, it’s him. It’s actually funny. I sat down with Lou Lamoriello at an Islanders meeting and he loved that. He spent a lot of time with him in New Jersey. Duncan Keith I love to watch, because his intensity – not only in the offensive zone but also in the defensive zone – is second to none. He’s fun to watch. Maybe a guy like Kris Letang.

LUCAS AYKROYD