Maple Ridge’s Brandon Yip will captain China’s first ice hockey team to compete in the Olympics.
The former NHLer, 36, is the leader of the Kunlun Red Star, which represents the Chinese national team competing in Russia’s continental hockey league.
He certainly had one of the most interesting hockey trips in Canadian history.
Yip had an NHL career that spanned the 2009-2010 season through the 2013-2014 season and saw him skate for the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and two games with the Phoenix Coyotes in his final season.
He climbed the hockey ladder with his hometown Junior B Ridge Meadows Flames and rose to stardom with Junior A Coquitlam Express, NCAA Boston University and then was drafted by the Avalanche in the eighth round, 239th overall. He played 174 regular-season NHL games, scoring 29 goals and 56 points.
When his NHL career ended, Yip jumped to Europe, with a few stints in the German DEL.
From 2017 to 2018 he played in the Russian KHL, mainly with the Beijing-based Kunlun Red Star.
He’s Mr. Everything for the team – the captain, the first in the franchise to score 100 points and the second to complete 200 games. He reached the latter milestones in the last few months.
His mother Gale said she and husband Wayne watched him play in Shanghai in 2017 and it was pretty obvious the people were new to Canada’s national sport of winter.
As Brandon and the opposing team’s captain lined up on center ice for a ceremonial opening faceoff, a dignitary was presented with the puck to officiate the faceoff and officially start the contest. However, he didn’t know he should drop the puck.
“He threw it across the ice,” Gale said, laughing. “It’s a new sport over there.”
She and her husband were born in Canada, but her son is eligible to represent China under international rules as he has grandparents on both sides who were born in China. She said it was a memorable trip.
“It’s a fantastic country with fantastic cities.”
The NHL will not allow its players to compete in games beginning February 4 in Beijing, China, so tournament teams will consist of retired NHL players, European pros, college players and small-time pros.
The Chinese team ranked 32nd in the world and is bottom of the KHL rankings this season. However, Kunlun coach Ivano Zanatta says the Chinese team will be on par with the likes of Norway and Denmark. With the announcement that the NHL would not be participating, their chances of playing competitive games increased. However, Yip could face Canadian Eric Staal and Russian Pavel Datsyuk again.
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