Shenzhen KRS

The Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star (Chinese: 深圳昆仑鸿星; pinyin: Shēnzhèn Kūnlún Hóngxīng) or the Shenzhen KRS (Russian: Шэньчжэнь КРС) are a Chinese ice hockey team that has suspended operations during the 2023–24 season. The team played at the professional level from 2017 to 2023, most recently in the Russian Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL). They are based in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China and their home is Shenzhen Dayun Arena.

Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star
CityShenzhen, Guangdong, China
Mytishchi, Moscow, Russia (2021–2023)
Stupino, Moscow, Russia (2020–21)
League
Founded2017 (2017)
Home arenaShenzhen Dayun Arena
ColorsRed, gold, black
     
Owner(s)HC Red Star
General managerNursultan Otarbayev (2022–23)
Head coachScott Spencer (2022–23)
CaptainHannah Miller (2022–23)
Franchise history
CWHL
2017–2018Kunlun Red Star WIH
2018–2019Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays
ZhHL
2019–2022Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays
2022–2023Shenzhen KRS
Championships
Playoff championships2 (2019–20, 2021–22)
Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star
Traditional Chinese深圳崑崙鴻星
Simplified Chinese深圳昆仑鸿星

The Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star were founded in 2017 and joined the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) in the 2017–18 season. During their inaugural season, they were distinguished from other Kunlun Red Star teams with the name Kunlun Red Star Women's Ice Hockey, abbreviated to Kunlun Red Star WIH. The other CWHL team in China, the Vanke Rays, merged into Shenzhen KRS in 2018, prompting the team to rebrand as the Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star Vanke Rays (Chinese: 深圳昆仑鸿星万科阳光; pinyin: Shēnzhèn Kūnlún Hóngxīng Wànkē Yángguāng) or Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays ahead of the 2018–19 season.

The Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays (Russian: Шэньчжэнь КРС Ванке Рэйз) joined the ZhHL ahead of the 2019–20 season, after the CWHL unexpectedly folded in 2019. In an effort to reinforce the link between the Kunlun Red Star men's and women's programs, the team returned to its original name, Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star (KRS), in 2022.[1] In 2023, the team ended participation in the ZhHL in order to develop the domestic game within China.[2]

History

Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL): 2017–2019

The Kunlun Red Star women's ice hockey team was established on 5 June 2017, in an effort to improve the China women's national ice hockey team in preparation for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics,[3] in association the Kunlun Red Star men's team that had joined the Kontinental Hockey League the previous year. The team signed two players prior to the official announcement of the team in Finnish goaltender Noora Räty and American forward Kelli Stack.[4] Red Star announced Digit Murphy, formerly of the Boston Blades as head coach.[5] The team also signed Rob Morgan from Yale as associate head coach[6] but soon after became the head coach of the second Chinese team, the Vanke Rays.

With their first round pick in the 2017 CWHL Draft, the Red Star selected Noora Räty.[7] The club proceeded to select Alexandra Carpenter in the second round,[8] while the third round saw the franchise select National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) All-Star Shiann Darkangelo.

On 21 October 2017, the Red Star competed in their first game, facing the Markham Thunder. Kelli Stack and Baiwei Yu both earned assists on the first goal in Kunlun Red Star history, scored by Zoe Hickel.[9] During the regular season, teams that traveled to China played a three-game series against the Red Star in an effort to reduce travel costs.

By season's end, Noora Räty was the CWHL's regular season goaltending champion, leading the league in goals against average. In addition, she tied for the league in shutouts with goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer of Les Canadiennes, with six. Räty also won the CWHL Goaltender of the Year award, the first European-born goaltender to capture the honor, and Kelli Stack led the CWHL in scoring, the first American-born player to win the Angela James Bowl.

Räty was also the starting goaltender for the Red Star in the 2018 Clarkson Cup finals in Toronto. Facing the Markham Thunder, the final went into overtime, where Laura Stacey scored with 2:11 left in the 4-on-4 overtime as Markham prevailed by a 2–1 score for its first Clarkson Cup win.[10] Räty recorded 37 saves in the game while Stack scored the only goal of the game for the Red Star.[11] Head coach Digit Murphy left the team in May and Kunlun Red Star named Bob Deraney, formerly the head coach of the Providence Friars women's ice hockey team, as the new head coach on 12 June 2018.[12]

Prior to the 2018–19 season, the CWHL shut down the other Chinese team, the Vanke Rays. On 3 August 2018, Kunlun Red Star changed its name to Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays. Rob Morgan, who served as the head coach of the Vanke Rays during its only season was named as the general manager for the consolidated club. Kunlun Red Star brand was continued to be used by a separate hockey team for the Chinese national players as part of the national team's development in preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympics.[13]

In February 2019, the KRS Vanke Rays announced coach Deraney had stepped down and Mike LaZazzera would take over the rest of the season.[14] The team missed qualifying for the final playoff spot via tiebreaker with the Toronto Furies.

Following the season, the CWHL ceased operations citing the financial infeasibility of the league, but that the Chinese partnership had kept the league operating during the previous seasons.[15]

Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL): 2019–2023

On 25 July 2019, the team announced they were joining the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) for the 2019–20 season.[16] The team hired former North Dakota head coach Brian Idalski, the team's fourth head coach, while retaining veteran players Carpenter, Räty and Rachel Llanes.[17] In their first season in the ZhHL, the Vanke Rays finished second overall in the regular-season table behind HC Agidel Ufa. In the playoff round, the Vanke Rays swept their playoff games against HC Tornado and Agidel to win the ZhHL Cup, becoming the first non-Russian team to win the ZhHL championship. In addition, Carpenter was named the league's scoring champion of 2020.

In response to heightened entry restrictions in Russia amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the team temporarily relocated to Stupino, a Russian town in Moscow Oblast, for the 2020–21 season. While in Stupino, the team's temporary home arena was the Ice Palace V. M. Bobrova (Russian: Ледовый дворец спорта им. В.М. Боброва, romanized: Ledovyy Dvorets Sporta Im. V.m. Bobrova), which they shared with Kapitan Stupino of the Junior Hockey League (MHL).

They relocated to Mytishchi, another town in Moscow Oblast, for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons. Their temporary home was Mytishchi Arena, which they shared with Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).[18]

On July 28, 2023, the club announced that they would not play in the ZhHL during the 2023–24 season, "due to the participation of players of the Chinese national team in the domestic championship of the country."[2]

Records

CWHL
Year GP W L OTL GF GA Pts Standing Playoffs
2017–182821619652432ndWon Clarkson Cup Semifinals (Inferno) 2–1
Lost Clarkson Cup Finals (Thunder) 2–1
2018–1928131327968285thDid not qualify

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime loss, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points.

Zhenskaya Hockey League

Sources: [19]

Year GP W OTW OTL L GF GA Pts Standing Playoffs
2019–20282021510939432ndWon Semifinals (Tornado) 2–0
Won Finals (Agidel) 3–0
2020–21282420213029761stWon Semifinals (Biryusa) 2–0
Lost Finals (Agidel) 2–1
2021–2236244269653822ndWon Quarterfinals (MSMO 7.62) 2–0
Won Semifinals (Tornado) 2–1
Won Finals (SKIF) 3–0
2022–233210301988131366thLost Quarterfinals (Dinamo-Neva) 2–1

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime win, OTL = Overtime loss, L = Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points.

Players and personnel

2022–23 roster
As of 24 October 2022[20][21][22]

Note: Player names are displayed using western name order (given name, then family name) to preserve the sorting function of the table.

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
19 China Sijia Du D L 21 2022
23 China Xin Fang F L 29 2021 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
13 China Siye He G L 24 2021
28 Canada Ryleigh Houston F R 25 2022 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
83 Russia Irina Kostina G L 25 2022 Roslavl, Smolensk, Russia
66 China Qianhua Li D L 21 2021 Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China
93 China Zhixin Liu (A) D L 30 2021 Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China
34 Canada Hannah Miller (A) F L 27 2022 North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
14 China Yunlin Pi F R 23 2021
57 Russia Alexandra Pyrkova D R 18 2022 Moscow, Russia
17 China Yue Qu F L 19 2022
89 Canada Kaitlyn Tougas F R 28 2022 Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
4 Russia Irina Tsatsyna D L 21 2022 Saint Petersburg, Russia
67 China Jiaxin Wang F L 17 2022
15 China Jinyan Wang D L 16 2022
24 China Yuqing Wang G L 29 2021 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
94 China Lu Wen F L 29 2021 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
8 Canada Kiana Wilkinson D R 26 2022 Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
68 China Lixue Xing F L 24 2022 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
18 China Liying Yang F R 25 2022
2 China Baiwei Yu (C) D R 35 2021 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
16 China Shuqi Zhang D L 18 2022
87 China Qinan Zhao D L 26 2021 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Coaching staff and team personnel

  • Head coach: Scott Spencer[1]
  • Assistant coach: Myles Fitzgerald
  • Assistant coach: Alexander Petrov
  • Video coach: Igor Gorbenko

Front office
  • General manager: Nursultan Otorbaev
  • Sporting director: Melanie Jue[1]
  • President: Ao Meng

Team captaincy history

Head coaches

Awards and honours

References
  1. "New look for KRS women". HC Red Star. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  2. "«КРС Шэньчжэнь» не выступит в чемпионате ЖХЛ сезона 2023/2024" ["KRS Shenzhen" will not perform in the ZhHL championship of the 2023/2024 season]. Zhenskaya Hockey League (Press release) (in Russian). 28 July 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  3. Price, Satchel (5 June 2017). "Canadian Women's Hockey League expanding to China next season". SB Nation. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  4. "CWHL unveils Chinese expansion franchise for 2017-18". Sportsnet. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  5. Berkman, Seth (5 June 2017). "Canadian Women's Hockey League to Add a Team From China". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  6. "Red Star Women's Ice Hockey Name Rob Morgan as Associate Head Coach – Kunlan Red Star". www.hcredstar.us.
  7. "Forward Courtney Turner taken with first pick in CWHL draft". Sportsnet. 20 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  8. Salzano, Grant (21 August 2017). "Kristyn Capizzano And Alex Carpenter Taken In 2017 CWHL Draft". BC Interruption. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  9. "Game #: 5 - Saturday, October 21, 2017". Canadian Women's Hockey League. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  10. McGran, Kevin (25 March 2018). "Laura Stacey's overtime winner gives Markham its first Clarkson Cup". Toronto Star. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  11. "Game # 0 - Sunday, March 25, 2018". Canadian Women's Hockey League. 25 March 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  12. Jay, Michelle; Murphy, Mike (12 June 2018). "Bob Deraney named head coach of Kunlun Red Stars". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  13. Sun, Maura (3 August 2018). "Kunlun Red Stars Announce Team Name Change". Canadian Women's Hockey League. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  14. "Mike Lazazzera to Complete the Rest of the Season as the Interim Head Coach for Rays". Canadian Women's Hockey League. 13 February 2019.
  15. "Final Public Communication" (PDF). Canadian Women's Hockey League. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  16. Jay, Michelle (25 July 2019). "KRS Vanke Rays officially joining the Russian Women's Hockey League". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  17. "Brian Idalski tabbed as next head coach of the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays". The Ice Garden. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  18. "«Лучшие в ЖХЛ девушки заслуживают более комфортной арены». «Ванке Рэйз» переехали в Мытищи" ["The best ladies in the ZhHL deserve a more comfortable arena." The Vanke Rays moved to Mytishchi]. Zhenskaya Hockey League (in Russian). 3 August 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  19. "Russian Women's Hockey League 2019–20". eurohockey.com. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  20. "КРС Шэньчжэнь > Состав" (in Russian). KHL. 10 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  21. "Состав «КРС Шэньчжэнь» на сезон 2022/2023" (in Russian). KHL. 15 September 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  22. "KRS Shenzhen, 2022-2023 Roster". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  23. "Raty Named Top CWHL Goaltender". Minnesota Golden Gophers Athletics. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  24. Salzano, Grant (24 March 2018). "Kelli Stack Named CWHL MVP". BC Interruption. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  25. Kemmerer, Gillian (4 February 2020). "Ice Diaries: WHL playoffs". en.khl.ru. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
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