Bruins grooming Chinese talent

NHL squad signs partnership deal to help boost youth development

The sound of skate blades carving the ice was punctuated by pucks thudding off the boards.

The scene was the Pingfangxiang ice rink in Beijing's Chaoyang district, home of the Little Wolf Hockey Club, as Beijing-based ORG Packaging Co Ltd joined forces with the NHL's Boston Bruins to host a series of youth camps from July 11-23.

"I think we're all happy to be here on behalf of the Bruins, whether we're alumni, current players or working in some other capacity with the club," said former star center Bob Sweeney, who now serves as director of development for the Boston Bruins Foundation. "It's a unique situation, and we're very fortunate to have a partner like ORG."

The company's new five-year partnership with the Bruins was made in the hopes of "building a bridge between Chinese and American hockey," said ORG chairman Zhou Yunjie.

In addition to attending the contract-signing ceremony with the metal packaging enterprise, the Bruins contingent - current players David Pasternak and Matt Beleskey, along with alumni Sweeney and Andrew Raycroft - visited The Great Wall and Forbidden City.

"There's so much history here," Sweeney said. "We knew we would be on the ice teaching kids in Beijing and Shanghai, but this is also a great opportunity for us to experience some of the history of China."

The Bruins coached two sessions at the Pingfangxiang rink, one for kids aged 6 to 9 and another group of 10-to 14-year-olds. Skating, shooting and puck-handling were the main focus, along with off-ice drills.

"Hockey is a new sport for these kids, so this is a good chance for them to see us and pick up some tips," said Pasternak, a 20-year-old Czech forward who was Boston's first-round pick in the 2014 NHL draft. "I really hope hockey in China will get better and better."

Sweeney agreed, adding: "When you look at a rink, it's pretty much the same anywhere ... but this is an opportunity to grow the game a little bit more. That's why we're here, to try to teach these kids a few fundamentals. Hopefully, it catches on."

Richard Zhang of Ocean 24 SE, a marketing agency under ORG Packaging Sports, said hockey is getting a much higher profile in China since Beijing/Zhangjiakou was awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics.

"Right now the Chinese national team is not strong enough to compete at the world level, so we're trying to grow hockey through the grassroots, through coaching exchanges and the tournaments we're playing," Zhang said, noting Beijing alone hosts more than 100 teams, many of them sponsored by ORG.

"We're trying to get ready for the future, so we're going to learn from whoever is doing this the best in the world."

To reach that goal, the company is setting up multiple exchange programs between China, the US and Russia. In February, ORG sponsored 22 kids for three days of training and playing in Boston, culminating in a Chinese-themed night at TD Gardens for a Bruins home game.

Sweeney said he can see the potential: "They are trying to get as many people involved on the ice as they can. Some of these kids might have the opportunity to represent China one day."

Their dedication impressed Beleskey, a 28-year-old Canadian winger who notched 37 points in 80 games with Boston last season.

"When you see these kids, they have all some skills," Beleskey said.

"Watching the coaches do drills with them, you see they know what they're talking about. They've done their due diligence on the game, and I think this partnership is huge.

"China is a big country and if we can expand the game here and bring NHLers over and give the game a bigger profile, it will be great for the NHL and great for the sport."

(China Daily 07/23/2016 page11)