I've come to realize that hometown sports are defining objects to many people, and no matter where they are located they will go to extremes to either participate or watch. So the Canadians seek out hockey games and gather for beer, coffee or both in hotels and bars around the world come June and the Stanley Cup finals. Americans congregate for the SuperBowl. Europeans pull out their national team jerseys and find their fellow countrymen during the major rugby and football championships. I was in Amsterdam two weeks ago during the Champions League final and ran into a British friend in town on business and away from his Bangkok home. I hadn't seen him in ages and we agreed to get together for the single evening we were both free. But...we had to find a bar with the Liverpool/AC Milan match. "Haven't seen you forever, would love to catch up, but I really need to watch this game, mate."
About 15 years ago some Canadians got together and launched a hockey league at Hong Kong's only rink at the time. Not only was it far away from downtown, but it was, get this, L-shaped. Not to worry--the water was frozen, the guy from Calgary had a couple of pucks and the folks were gladly shipping over the equipment that had been in their closet for 12 years. A new rink opened at the Dragon Center in a highly suspicious district called Sham Shui Po.
The rink was small, but decidedly O-shaped as a good slab of playing ice should be. One small distraction--The indoor roller coaster that whizzed kids past during games. You think I'm kidding? It's the prominent yellow track arcing above the goalie in the picture. A full time sports management company, Asiasports Ltd., evolved from aftergame discussions with the real enthusiasts with real money to put up. It was a labour love--During my MBA program we studied a business case on Asiasports and the class decided it was a bad idea. One thing they forgot was that businesses produce more than just financial returns. I had to explain that these guys just love hockey. The founder named his first son Cooper, and it wasn't until later that he confessed to his wife that it also happens to be his favourite brand of hockey equipment.
Hong Kong has five ice rinks, and unbelievably I need to count on my fingers to get to that number. It's not "the" ice rink we visit here in tropical Hong Kong, but "which" ice rink. Just tonight my wife and I took two of our boys to the latest rink at the Megabox, which is the first purpose-built hockey rink in town. We finally have a nicely shaped rink with the proper dimensions, smooth ice and all the trappings like red and green goal lights, curved glass walls around the corners that lets the puck whiz smoothly around, and the theme from Hockey Night in Canada blasting between AC/DC over the speakers. If it weren't for the new Japanese burger joint and nearby noodle shops I could be in Toronto.
There are hundreds of adult hockey players in Hong Kong, and the same number of youth players. Women, mainly Chinese, love the game even though they have to get dressed in a small, private closet and are probably tired of seeing half naked fat guys sitting around with steam rising off their backs after a game. And more people are joining up. The current rink is booked solid with hockey training and games, every night, seven days a week. Unlike previous rinks, the new ice is dedicated to hockey and hasn't gone through a "hockeyization" remodelling to take out handlebars around the rink and to install nets so that onlookers don't take a puck in the teeth.
One of the five rinks doesn't even allow hockey skates to be worn on the ice. For some reason the managers equate skates with fistfights and deadly slashing attacks by 100 kilo gorillas. Where I grew up, figure skates were considered, let's just say "unmanly" and when I've had no other option I reluctantly strap them the darn things on and wait for the inevitable face plant after toe points dig in.
In the old days an L-shaped, tiny rink was good enough for desperate hockey players. Today, we're not satisfied until the corner glass is rounded, the ice is like glass, the entire Highway to Hell CD is available on demand, and I'm not forced to drag myself around in figure skates that my mind tells me is equivalent to wearing a bridesmaid's dress.
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