Far flung hockey

[jonesy]

I was on the elevator in the hotel yesterday in HK. It stopped on the way down and 2 little chinese girls got on with hockey sticks and hockey bags.
I was very shocked, it was kind of sureal.

Turns out they are in a tournament and playing Australia in the finals.

If I recall there are only 2 ice surfaces in HK, and one is in a mall (who copied who?)

Anyways, when I got off the elevator, the next thing I saw was some kid watching hockey videos on youtube at the internet kiosk.

It was very unexpected.

thank you all and good night.

[BlackArcher101]

Shocking.... were they hot?


It wasn't ringette was it? Full blown ice hockey with full gear?

[STeeLy]

Hockey is growing little by little in Hong Kong now, ever since the sons of several rich Business Person studied in North and got hooked on the sport of hockey... I still haven't seen any hockey equipment stores there... but I'll be there could be some very soon (last time I went back was last november)... something relatively new like that could really intrigue the Asian culture

Though weird, when Wayne Gretzky retired, the HK televisions announced it as well... surely no one knew of him in the Asian countries... at least very few people

I think there are more than 2 rinks in HK... but not ALL of them have nets and lines... there are probably more now, I lived there til I was 10 and there wasn't too many back then.

I'll go check things out in June since I'm going back to HK... need to renew my HK Residence ID, maybe I'll see a miracle like u jonesy.

On a side note: I found out that this one guy on a cultural forum (no name) tried out for the Vancouver Giants, who was originally from HK, he was on their protected list the first time around and was with the team in Moncton for the Memorial Cup. Then, earlier this year, he tried out again but got injured, and now plays for UBC I believe.

[troutman]

Dave Bidini has featured this and hockey in other strange places in I Am A Hockey Nomad TV show, and the Tropic of Hockey book.

http://www.davebidini.ca/

[HockeyPuck]

Originally Posted by fotze

Another good read,
Spots on the Wall by Hu Flung Pu.

link?

BTW, Fotze, you are by far the funniest poster on this site...

[JohnnyFlame]

Tianjin where I lived had at least a couple of rinks(one on the eleventh floor of a Japanese department store). Beijing has leagues for all ages. You can certainly play hockey in especially Northern China though it's not at all popular.

[jonesy]

yah, i was in Beijing a couple years ago when the figure skating worlds were there. got lots of nice photos with crazy russian figure skaters, and, good ole' , Emanuel Sandhu. I should post those pictures. some were pretty funny
fotze is not so funny, just crude. ( i hope he doesn't make a genital joke at me for that)

[icarus]

There's hockey here too. One of my baseball teammates plays for the NSW state hockey team. He's a big Mexican-American goalie from San Diego--a Ducks fan--who has played on teams at SD State and Arizona State. How sad is it that with my poor skating I would probably be the worst out of all the Australians and San Diegoans on the team.

Funny also is that in my various travels I have met people from all over the world who have never watched the NHL but know the teams and even the players by name from playing the video games. I'll meet some Polish guy who, when he hears I'm from Calgary, will say "oh... Calgary Flames! Andrew Cassels is good player!"