The Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star () or the Shenzhen KRS () are a professional ice hockey team in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL). They are based in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China and their

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

is Shenzhen Dayun Arena. In response to heightened entry restrictions in Russia amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the team temporarily relocated to Mytishchi, a town in

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...

, for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons. Their temporary home is Mytishchi Arena, which they share with Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). 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 () or Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays ahead of the 2018–19 season. The Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays () 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.

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 The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

, 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 Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Kelli Stack. Red Star announced Digit Murphy, formerly of the Boston Blades as head coach. The team also signed Rob Morgan from Yale as associate head coach 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 2017 CWHL draft was the eighth in the history of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. It took place on August 20, 2017, marking the first time that the Draft involved Kunlun Red Star WIH, one of two expansion teams in the league, who are also ...

, the Red Star selected Noora Räty. The club proceeded to select Alexandra Carpenter in the second round, while the third round saw the franchise select National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) All-Star

Shiann Darkangelo Shiann Darkangelo (born November 28, 1993) is an American ice hockey player who currently plays with the Toronto Six of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She has played at the international level with Team USA and won gold at the 2016 IIHF Wo ...

. On 21 October 2017, the Red Star competed in their first game, facing the

Markham Thunder The Markham Thunder was a professional women's ice hockey team in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). From 1998 through 2017, the franchise was known as the Brampton Thunder and Brampton Canadettes-Thunder before relocating from Brampton, O ...

. Kelli Stack and

Baiwei Yu Yu Baiwei (, also romanized as Yu Beiwei; born 17 July 1988), also known by the Western name Berry Yu, is a Chinese ice hockey player and captain of the Chinese national team and the Shenzhen KRS in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL). A th ...

both earned assists on the first goal in Kunlun Red Star history, scored by

Zoe Hickel Zoe Hickel (born July 10, 1992) is an American ice hockey player who currently serves as assistant coach to the Ohio State Buckeyes women's ice hockey program. She most recently played with Linköping HC of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL ...

. 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

, 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. Räty recorded 37 saves in the game while Stack scored the only goal of the game for the Red Star. 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 The Providence Friars women's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the Providence College. The Friars are a member of Hockey East. They play at the 3,030-se ...

team, as the new head coach on 12 June 2018. 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 The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

. In February 2019, the KRS Vanke Rays announced coach Deraney had stepped down and

Mike LaZazzera Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

would take over the rest of the season. The team missed qualifying for the final playoff spot via tiebreaker with the

Toronto Furies The Toronto Furies were a professional women's ice hockey team that played in Toronto, Ontario, as members of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. The Toronto Furies played their home games at the Mastercard Centre in Toronto. The team was establish ...

. 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.

Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL): 2019–present

On 25 July 2019, the team announced they were joining the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) for the 2019–20 season. The team hired former North Dakota head coach

Brian Idalski Brian Idalski (born January 23, 1971) is an American ice hockey coach, currently serving as head coach of the St. Cloud State Huskies women's ice hockey program in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) conference of the NCAA Division ...

, the team's fourth head coach, while retaining veteran players Carpenter, Räty and Rachel Llanes. In their first season in the ZhHL, the Vanke Rays finished second overall in the regular-season table behind

HC Agidel Ufa Agidel Ufa () are a professional ice hockey team in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL). They play in Ufa, Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia at the Ice Palace Salavat Yulaev. The team was founded in 2010 and competed in the Russian Women's Hockey ...

. In the playoff round, the Vanke Rays swept their playoff games against

HC Tornado Hockey Club Tornado Moscow Region (), often shortened to HC Tornado, Tornado Moscow Region or Tornado Dmitrov, is an ice hockey club in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL). The team is based in Dmitrov, Moscow Oblast, Russia, and they play at th ...

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

, for the 2020–21 season. While in Stupino, the team's temporary home arena was the Ice Palace V. M. Bobrova (), which they shared with

Kapitan Stupino Kapitan Stupino is an ice hockey team in Stupino, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internation ...

of the

Junior Hockey League Junior Hockey League is a term used to refer to an ice hockey league in which junior hockey teams compete. List of junior hockey leagues {{Expand list, date=October 2013 * Alberta Junior Hockey League * British Columbia Hockey League * Canadian Ju ...

(MHL). They remained in

for the

2021–22 ZhHL season The 2021–22 ZhHL season was the seventh season of the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) since the league was established in 2015. It was the 27th season in which the women's ice hockey Russian Championship was contested. SKIF Nizhny Novgorod were ...

, relocating to Mytishchi Arena in Mytishchi.

Players and personnel

2022–23 roster

Note: Player names are displayed using western name order (given name, then family name) to preserve the sorting function of the table. Coaching staff and team personnel * Head coach: Scott Spencer * Assistant coach: Myles Fitzgerald * Assistant coach: Alexander Petrov * Video coach: Igor Gorbenko

Front office

* General manager: Nursultan Otorbaev * Sporting director:

Melanie Jue Melanie Jue (born March 30, 1988) is a Canadian ice hockey defenceman and coach. She served as an assistant coach to the Chinese national ice hockey team during the 2021–22 season. Career From 2006 to 2010, she studied at Cornell Universit ...

* President: Ao Meng

Team captaincy history

Qi Xueting Qi Xueting (; born 7 November 1986), also known by the Western name Snow Qi, is a Chinese ice hockey player and coach. She was a member of the Chinese women's national ice hockey team during 2003 to 2015 and served as the team's assistant c ...

, 2019–20 *

Alex Carpenter Alexandra "Alex" Carpenter (born April 13, 1994) is an American ice hockey player and member of the United States women's national team. She most recently played in the 2020–21 season of the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) with the KRS Vanke R ...

, 2020–21 *

Yu Baiwei Yu Baiwei (, also romanized as Yu Beiwei; born 17 July 1988), also known by the Western name Berry Yu, is a Chinese ice hockey player and captain of the Chinese national team and the Shenzhen KRS in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL). A th ...

, 2021–

Head coaches

* Digit Murphy, 2017–18 * Bob Deraney, June 2018–February 2019 *

, February 2019–March 2019 *

, 2019–2022 * Scott Spencer, 2022–

Awards and honours

* Noora Räty, 2018 CWHL Goaltender of the Year * Kelli Stack, 2018 Angela James Bowl *Kelli Stack, 2018 CWHL Most Valuable Player *

, 2020 ZhHL Top Scorer

References

External links

Official site
(in Russian) * {{Canadian Women's Hockey League, state=collapsed Women's ice hockey teams HC Kunlun Red Star Ice hockey clubs established in 2017 2017 establishments in China Women's ice hockey in China Ice hockey teams in China Women's ice hockey in Russia Zhenskaya Hockey League teams Sport in Shenzhen Canadian Women's Hockey League teams