September 2005 - Hockey Hong Kong Style

One of things we miss most about Minnesota is watching Laine play hockey so we were thrilled when we read there was an ice hockey tournament going on in Hong Kong. We could go see what Hong Kong hockey parents are like. You know you are not in Minnesota anymore when you arrive at the rink and have to take an elevator to the 8th floor of a shopping mall. Another clue is the dragon roller coaster that travels above the rink. One look at that roller coaster would have any self-respecting MN hockey youth clamoring for a little target shooting.

The rink is not olympic size or even NHL size. The zamboni is half size like the one at NYC Rockerfeller Center if you've been there. So they play 4 plus goalie on a side. Defensemen were scoring from their end. You can't really tell who the parents are because there was no cheering and no one was yelling at the refs probably because there were no penalties until into the third period. What kind of hockey was this? There were even Canadians in this tournament and there was no dirty hockey.