The Shenzhen Vanke Rays () were a women's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team that played in the 2017–18 season of the

Canadian Women's Hockey League The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; french: Ligue canadienne de hockey féminin ‒ LCHF) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league ...

(CWHL). They were based in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, China and played at the

Shenzhen Dayun Arena The Shenzhen Dayun Arena is an arena located in Shenzhen, China. It was completed in 2011 for the 2011 Summer Universiade. It is used for the basketball, ice hockey and gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercise ...

. The team was developed along with the Kunlun Red Star WIH as part of the

Chinese Ice Hockey Association The Chinese Ice Hockey Association (CIHA) is the governing body of ice hockey in the People's Republic of China. It has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) since 1963. It also covered bandy in China and joined the Fed ...

(CIHA) in an effort to grow interest in ice hockey in China 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 ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Both teams debuted in the 2017–18 CWHL season. The general manager was Shirley Hon, who was named to the position on August 18, 2017. In 2018, the CWHL contracted the Rays' membership after one season to focus solely on the Kunlun Red Star team in China. Shortly after, Kunlun Red Star was rebranded as the

Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays 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 is Shenzhen Dayun Arena. In response to heightened ent ...

as the CWHL integrated the two teams.

History

Inaugural draft class

The following players were selected by the Rays in the 2017 CWHL Draft.

References

External links

* (Archived) {{Canadian Women's Hockey League Defunct ice hockey teams in China Ice hockey clubs established in 2017 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2018 2017 establishments in China 2018 disestablishments in China Canadian Women's Hockey League teams Women's ice hockey teams in Asia