Tapping into a deeper talent pool

National tourney exposes need for naturalized players to go to Olympics

Despite an embarrassing lack of talent on display at the recent national championships, the Chinese Ice Hockey Association remains upbeat that its talent cultivation program will reap dividends at the home Olympics in 2022.

Billed as Chinese hockey's highest-level domestic event, the national championships' six-team men's Group A tournament devolved into little more than a farce, with the slow progress in player development exposed by lopsided matches that underlined the need for the governing body to rethink its lofty ambition for the 2022 Winter Olympics.