URL:http://www.thestar.com/thestar/editorial/sports/970403SPD21_SP-CHINA3.html April 3, 1997 Chinese women a rising power in world hockey By Randy Starkman - Toronto Star Sports Reporter HAMILTON - The hockey coaches from China and Russia met after the game in a cramped, dingy, smelly dressing room. Their opening game at the 1997 women's world championships at Mountain Arena just concluded, the one came to praise the other. Through interpreters, he spoke of his opponents' superior play, offensively and defensively and in net, and of his own team's obvious deficiencies. Zhinan Zhang thanked his Russian counterpart Valentin Egorov for the compliments, well-deserved after the Chinese team dominated in a 6-2 victory. Asked later where he learned the game, Zhang said he was tutored in methodology by visiting Russian officials in the '80s. It might be time to return the favor. The Chinese men may be also-rans on the world hockey scene, but their women's team has emerged as a force since taking up the game about a decade ago. They will be a strong medal contender at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, when women's hockey makes its debut. The Chinese women, who face Team Canada tomorrow night in Kitchener, have made more progress internationally than any other team. They were mere observers in 1987 at a trial run to the first women's world championship in 1990 and have been coming on strong since, finishing fourth at the last worlds. ``You can see the results at world championships and how much better they're getting and how much quicker they're getting. You can see how skilled they are,'' said Team Canada scout Julie Healy, one of the most interested observers at the China-Russia matchup. ``Every time we see them, they're better than the time before.'' All of the players except one come from the team's home base in Harbin, an industrial city in the northeastern part of China. It must be a tough town, because these women play a hard-nosed - many would say chippy - brand of hockey. Team captain Hong Dang was asked whether they relished the rough going as much as they appeared. ``Sort of,'' she said, after scoring a pair of nifty goals to be named her team's MVP against the Russians. ``We don't like bodychecking, but we're not afraid of that kind of stuff.'' That they're not reluctant to mix it up is obvious, but that aggressiveness could ultimately prove their undoing once they face a team capable of taking advantage of their penchant for bad penalties. ``That will be a disadvantage for them, especially against skilled teams like Canada and the U.S.,'' said Healy. ``Specialty teams will be the deciding factor in a game against China if they're going to spend the whole game in the box. Everybody knows they play a physical game so people are going to be trying to draw penalties against them, too.'' If the well-balanced Chinese team has a star player, it's likely goaltender Hong Guo, named the top netminder last year at the Pacific Rim Championship in Richmond, B.C. An athletic backstopper with strong technical skills, Hong has few weak spots. ``If I had to say, possibly in around her feet six to eight inches off the ice, but that's a tough spot for any goaltender,'' Healy said. ``You can't really say that's a weakness.'' What makes the Chinese success story more remarkable is that there are only about 70 to 80 female players in the most populous country in the world and about four women's teams. The national team players train daily in Harbin in what amounts to a full-time job. Coach Zhinan said that in order to get some competition, they have to play against the Chinese men's team. ``There are no female opponents in our country,'' he said. ``The regulations in female hockey are that there's no bodychecking so it's difficult to train the players (against the men).'' Besides, the Chinese men probably can't take the pounding. Contents copyright © 1996, 1997, The Toronto Star. User interface, selection and arrangement copyright © 1996, 1997 Torstar Electronic Publishing Ltd.