Pucksters proving their mettle

Team China builds on Beijing 2022 success with impressive championship promotion boost

From proving the doubters wrong at the Olympics to earning promotion at the worlds, China's men's ice hockey team's steady rise continues to raise hopes for the sport's future in the country.

Just over two months after making its Olympic debut on home ice, the Chinese men's team has taken a solid step toward the next Winter Games in 2026 with its recent victory at the International Ice Hockey Federation Men's World Championship Division II Group A tournament in Croatia.

Playing with virtually the same roster from Beijing 2022, Team China dominated the five-nation tournament－a fourth-tier event in the IIHF world championship system－with four straight wins over Israel, the Netherlands, Croatia and Spain to secure promotion to Division I Group B next year.

The return to Division I for the first time since 2007, when China hosted the tourney in Heilongjiang province, represents a huge boost for hockey's profile in the world's most populous nation, where enthusiasm for winter sports has taken off thanks to the successful staging of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

Having been granted an automatic berth as the host of Beijing 2022, now the national program is targeting reaching future Olympics via the usual qualification route.

"I am very excited and proud that our team could win the championship," said Team China captain Ye Jinguang after beating Spain 4-1 in the final game on April 30.

"My teammates and I have been training and competing together for five or six years. Our hard work paid off."

Ye, known as Brandon Yip in his native Canada, realizes there's a lot more hard work ahead as China attempts to continue to level up.

"It's a long way to Italy (for the 2026 Winter Olympics) and we have a few more championships to win, but we are just gonna take it step by step," said Ye.

"I think playing at the Olympics together, having that momentum, really helped us a lot. We are going to move on to get better this year and hopefully compete well at the next championships."

Ye joined the team as part of the talent search launched by the Chinese Ice Hockey Association and its partner club, Kunlun Red Star, back in 2017 to draft overseas players with Chinese heritage.