Cleve Dheensaw / Times Colonist
AUGUST 28, 2018 10:15 PM
He was only eight years old, but Eddie Yan vividly remembers being taken to a soccer game and watching Lionel Messi score for Argentina in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
Some youngster in the stands might also be left with an indelible impression in 2022 of watching Yan score in the Olympics. The Victoria Grizzlies prospect has played at the IIHF U-18 Div. II and III championships for his native country and will likely be on the long list as China looks to put together its host hockey team for the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
“That would be a dream come true. I get goosebumps just thinking about it,” said Yan.
China is not familiar territory for hockey.
“There were two or three rinks when I was growing up in Beijing . . . not a lot, for sure,” said Yan.
Yan would sit in one as a kid watching his sister, Emily, figure skate. There was a kiosk with hockey skates to rent, and well, the rest of the story is that he is now in the Grizzlies’ B.C. Hockey League training camp.
“Hockey is getting bigger and more popular and there are a lot more kids beginning to play it in China,” said Yan, noting how the next Olympics are already starting to have an effect in the growth of winter sports in China.
“But it’s still rare and uncommon to see it [hockey].”
Yan and others involved in Chinese hockey hope that changes in a dramatic way following the 2022 Winter Olympics. Much as Yao Ming influenced the wildfire growth of basketball in China, where retired two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash of Victoria remains highly popular.
Hockey was rarer still when Yan was coming up. So much so that his family would ask friends travelling overseas to bring back hockey gear for the young Yan.
The family then made the ultimate move to a country where the sport is akin to breathing, and Yan arrived in Toronto at age nine.
“One thing led to another, and suddenly I was playing for the Toronto Marlies in the Greater Toronto [youth] Hockey League.
He went on to star in high school at Upper Canada College and was noticed by Grizzlies GM and head coach Craig Didmon during a Grizzlies prospects camp in the spring.
“Eddie has an abundance of skill and skates well,” said Didmon.
“He is showing he belongs at this level [BCHL], no question.”
Yan turns 18 next month and would like nothing more than to pursue his ambitions through the B.C. Hockey League.
“I’m a playmaker who creates chances with good speed and vision,” said the fleet and slippery five-foot-11, 180-pound left-handed shooter.
“I know I need to get stronger and faster and quicker.”
But that’s what junior hockey is all about. So it appears Yan’s great hockey adventure, spanning the Pacific and two continents, has landed him in just the right place at the right time.
And when the 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony commences in the Bird’s Nest Stadium, who knows who might or might not be marching in?
This is the second China-connected storyline of recent seasons in the Island Division of the BCHL. Defenceman Simon Chen played for the Cowichan Valley Capitals the past two seasons and is now in the NCAA. Chen, the son of Capitals owner Ray Zhang, is also from Beijing and also harbours dreams of playing for China in his hometown 2022 Winter Olympics. Chen, who drew considerable media coverage when he was invited to the Vancouver Canucks development camp in 2017, became fascinated with hockey after accidently coming upon a game taking place in a rink mall in Beijing.
The Grizzlies close out their BCHL preseason campaign Friday night at Island Savings Centre in Duncan against the Zhang-owned and Mike Vandekamp-coached Capitals before hosting Cowichan Valley in the matinée return engagement Saturday at 2 p.m. at Sooke Arena.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Grizzlies on Tuesday named their alternate captains to go along with previously named captain Alex Newhook. Sporting an ‘A’ this year for the Grizzlies will be veteran forwards Cam Thompson and Ryan Nolan, and defenceman Carter Berger.
