HC Kunlun Red Star

HC Kunlun Red Star (simplified Chinese: 昆仑鸿星; traditional Chinese: 崑崙鴻星; pinyin: Kūnlún Hóngxīng) is a Chinese ice hockey club that joined the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) prior to the 2016–17 season.[2][3][4]

Kunlun Red Star
CityBeijing, China
LeagueKHL
ConferenceEastern
DivisionChernyshev
Founded2016
Home arenaShougang Ice Hockey Arena, Beijing [1]
Alternate:
Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre
(capacity: 3,000 (Beijing)
14,000 (Shenzhen))
Colours              
Owner(s)Billy Ngok
General managerScott MacPherson
Head coachAlexei Kovalev
CaptainBrandon Yip
Affiliate(s)KRS-BSU (VHL)
ORG Junior (MHL)
Websitehcredstar.com
Franchise history
2016–presentHC Kunlun Red Star

History

Preparation of the team

In March 2016, representatives of Kunlun Red Star and the KHL signed a protocol of intent to have a Chinese-based team enter the KHL. The protocol was signed by the representative from the Russian Ice Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretiak, the chairman of the KHL Gennady Timchenko and the board of Kunlun Red Star. In mid-April, the president of IIHF, René Fasel, shared his opinion about the intention of the Chinese club to join the KHL, expressing hope that this would help China bring their hockey to a higher level.[5]

The club was required to meet contractual economic conditions by 30 April 2016 in order to join the KHL.[2] According to Roman Rotenberg, HC Kunlun Red Star applied to fulfill its obligations, but there was a coherent number of formalities for the final decision about team to be taken by June 2016.[6] In early May, the KHL president Dmitry Chernyshenko considered the affiliation of the club to the league as an already done deal: "The club has provided all the documents on the scene, the structure of the club, finance, and they have the permission of the Chinese Ice Hockey Association."[7]

It was announced on 25 June 2016 that the KHL board of directors had officially accepted the club's application and that they would be participating in the upcoming 2016–17 KHL season.[3] The Beijing announcement ceremony included Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.[4]

Home games were to be played at the LeSports Center in Beijing and at the Sports Center Pavilion in Shanghai.[8] In November 2016, it was reported the team was playing its games at the Feiyang Skating Center in Shanghai as the Beijing facility was booked full with concerts and basketball games, though plans were to return to Beijing in December.[4]

There were early rumours that Ilya Kovalchuk would join the team as a player, and that Mike Keenan would be the first head coach[9] but both proved false, as Kovalchuk remained with SKA Saint Petersburg, and Vladimir Yurzinov Jr. was named the first head coach of Kunlun.[10]

2016–17 season
Kunlun Red Star players prior to a match in 2017

On 24 July 2016, the team played its first pre-season game, in which it was defeated 2–0 by Traktor Chelyabinsk.[11]

In a later exhibition match, on 8 August 2016 against Barys Astana, a fight broke out minutes into the game when defenceman Damir Ryspayev punched Kunlun forward Tomáš Marcinko in the face, then attacked three other Kunlun players before trying to jump into the Red Star bench. The attack appeared to be retaliation for a Kunlun hit in an earlier game that had left Barys forward Dustin Boyd with a broken leg. Officials cancelled the game, and Ryspayev was suspended and eventually given a lifetime ban from the KHL.[4]

The Kunlun Red Star won its regular season KHL debut against Amur Khabarovsk by a score of 2–1.[12] The first goal in franchise history was scored by Sean Collins at 14:00 of the first period.[4] The team also won its second game, a home game in front of a crowd of 7,832 people, defeating Admiral Vladivostok by a final of 6–3.[13]

On 27 October 2016, Chinese-Canadian defenceman Zach Yuen, a Vancouver-born draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets, became the first player of Chinese descent to score in a league game, in a 1–0 win over Khabarovsk. There were also four Chinese-born players on the team. KHL roster guidelines required that Red Star has any combination of at least 10 Russian and Chinese players.[4]

After the team's first home game in Beijing, the team had to play its home games during the fall in Shanghai, as the arena in Beijing was not available. However, the interest in Shanghai for games was poor; average attendance was only 1,100 for the first 14 games in Shanghai. The team returned to Beijing in mid-December.[14] After returning to Beijing, attendance improved and the team began attracting crowds of around 7,500, comparable with the more established KHL teams.[15] Red Star finished the season with an average attendance of 2,952, the highest of any team in Asia. Games in Shanghai averaged 1,280, while their matches in Beijing saw an average of 5,137 spectators.[16]

Kunlun Red Star qualified for the 2017 KHL postseason and faced the defending Gagarin Cup champions Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the conference quarterfinals.[17] Defenceman Tuukka Mäntylä scored the first two playoff goals in the Beijing club's history in a 4–2 loss to Metallurg.[18]

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime/Shootout Wins, OTL = Overtime/Shootout Losses, L = Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

SeasonGPWOTWOTLLPtsGFGAFinishTop scorerPlayoffs
2016–1760244329831391445th, ChernyshevChad Rau (40 points: 20 G, 20 A; 60 GP)Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1–4 (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
2017–1856154829611031467th, ChernyshevGilbert Brulé (35 points: 17 G, 18 A; 47 GP)Did not qualify
2018–19621911131511421905th, ChernyshevBrandon Yip (36 points: 21 G, 15 A; 62 GP)Did not qualify
2019–2062206828601391585th, ChernyshevBrandon Yip (31 points: 15 G, 16 A; 50 GP)Did not qualify

Players

Current roster

Updated 30 June 2020.[19]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
17 Gilbert Brulé C R 33 2019 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
7 Jake Chelios D L 29 2019 Chicago, Illinois, United States
15 Spencer Foo RW R 26 2019 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
55 Jason Fram D R 25 2019 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
30 Simon Hrubec G L 29 2019 Vimperk, Czech Republic
67 Yang Hu F R 23 2017 Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
42 Garet Hunt LW L 32 2019 Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada
19 Brandon Magee C R 26 2019 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
71 Andrew Miller C R 31 2019 Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, United States
22 Trevor Murphy D L 25 2019 Windsor, Ontario, Canada
12 Alex Riche C R 24 2019 Oakville, Ontario, Canada
40 Jeremy Smith G L 31 2019 Dearborn, Michigan, United States
91 Tyler Wong RW R 24 2019 Airdrie, Alberta, Canada
18 Brandon Yip (C) RW R 35 2017 Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada
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See also

References
  1. https://en.khl.ru/clubs/kunlun/arena/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. "KHL and RIHF sign a Protocol of Intention with a Chinese Club". khl.ru. Kontinental Hockey League. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  3. "It's Official! Kunlun Red Star joins the KHL". Kontinental Hockey League. 25 June 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  4. Pinchevsky, Tal (November 7, 2016). "China, Meet Hockey. Russia, Meet a Huge Untapped Market". The New York Times. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  5. Фазель: я был бы счастлив, если бы русские помогли китайцам в развитии хоккея (in Russian). 16 April 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  6. "Ķīnas klubs iesniedz oficiālu pieteikumu dalībai KHL" (in Latvian). sportacentrs.com. 1 May 2016.
  7. Чернышенко: недостатка в ярких звездах с уходом Радулова, Зайцева у КХЛ не возникнет. rsport.ru (in Russian). 6 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  8. "Nya KHL-laget kommer spela flera matcher i Shanghai" (in Swedish). August 15, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  9. Lerner, Matt (13 April 2016). "Russian Hockey Comes to China". The Diplomat. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  10. "It's Official! Kunlun Red Star joins the KHL". en.KHL.ru. Kontinental Hockey League. 25 June 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  11. "Гатиятулин: "Куньлунь" уже в первой игре показал, что в КХЛ они не мальчики для битья". www.rsport.ru. July 24, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  12. "Red Star shines bright on debut". www.khl.ru. September 1, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  13. "Box score, Kunlun-Admiral". September 5, 2016.
  14. "China Wants to Be the Next Hockey Heavyweight". November 22, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  15. "Red Star ready to shine". February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  16. Merk, Martin (2017-03-14). "Swiss lead attendance study". IIHF.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  17. "Enter the Dragon - Kunlun brings playoff hockey to China!". February 20, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  18. "Early excitement, late drama - day two of the playoffs". February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  19. "Kunlun Red Star Roster". en.khl.ru. 2018-09-01. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  20. Maura Sun (3 August 2018). "Kunlun Red Stars Announce Team Name Change". Canadian Women's Hockey League. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
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