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Beijing, China - Still dealing with the repercussions of a winless IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (WJHC) back in 2011, team China was one win away in 2012 from jumping back into Division II Group B for the upcoming games in 2013. However, after defeating all of the bottom division, their defeat at the hands of Iceland in the Title game 5-1 has kept them in Division III play for at least one more year. Below are the specifics of the team.
Team China:
IIHF Record: 16-29-0
Division: III
Group: N/A
2012 Final Results: Division III Second Place with 3-1-0 record
Head Coach: Guan Xiaobo (CHN)
Team China has been one of the teams expected to rise up for several years now. In a land of well over 1.3 billion people, there seems to be a blockade as big as The Great Wall that the Chinese just can't seem to break through. The country has been playing competitive hockey for almost 26 years and has continuously fallen short of expectations.
However, amongst those in Division III for the upcoming WJHC, they have a surprisingly quiet history. Never breaking past 20th place, China has been swimming around with the bottom half of international teams in their entire existence; a stark contrast to the Chinese Ice Hockey Association as a whole. The Chinese women are ranked 8th in the world, but for some reason that same discipline has not transpired across the gender gap. This year however, China hopes to earn a bid back into Division II Group B, but they will have to fight off a hungry Mexican team among others.
For yesterday's article about Team Turkey, click here.
Matt Prosser, Featured Writer for JuniorHockey.com. Owner of Fifty8 Productions and freelance writer from the San Francisco Bay Area. Voice of California State University, Sacramento Hockey and host of The Sports Cycle with Matt Prosser on KSSU1580 Sacramento. For comments and writing ventures e-mail Matt@Fifty8productions.com. Follow on Twitter @MattProsser58 or visit www.kssusportsycle.com.
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