The Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star () or the Shenzhen KRS () are a professional

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 h ...

team in the

Zhenskaya Hockey League The Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL; russian: Женская хоккейная лига, translit=Zhenskaya khokkeynaya liga, translation=Women's Hockey League), officially called the Women's Hockey League (WHL), is a professional ice hockey leagu ...

(ZhHL). They are 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 their home is

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 ...

. In response to heightened entry restrictions in Russia amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the team temporarily relocated to

Mytishchi Mytishchi ( rus, Мыти́щи, p=mɨˈtʲiɕːɪ) is a city and the administrative center of Mytishchinsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which lies 19 km northeast of Russia's capital Moscow on the Yauza River and the Moscow–Yarosla ...

, a town in Moscow Oblast, for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons. Their temporary home is

Mytishchi Arena Mytishchi Arena (Russian: ) is a multi-purpose indoor sporting arena that is located in Mytishchi, which is 5 km (3 miles) outside of Moscow, Russia. The arena is used to host events such as: ice hockey, figure skating, basketball, volley ...

, which they share with

Kunlun Red Star HC Kunlun Red Star () is a Chinese ice hockey club that joined the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) prior to the 2016–17 season. History Preparation of the team In March 2016, representatives of Kunlun Red Star and the KHL signed a protocol o ...

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

(KHL). The Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star were founded in 2017 and joined 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 leag ...

(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 The Shenzhen Vanke Rays () were a women's ice hockey team that played in the 2017–18 season of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). They were based in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China and played at the Shenzhen Dayun Arena. The team was develo ...

, 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 The Chinese women's national ice hockey team () represents China at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Women's Championships, the Asian Winter Games, and other international competitions. The women's national team is governed by ...

in preparation for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, in association the

men's team that had joined the

the previous year. The team signed two players prior to the official announcement of the team in Finnish

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

Noora Räty Noora Helena Räty (born 29 May 1989) is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender, playing in the Naisten Liiga (NSML) with HPK Kiekkonaiset. She is affiliated with the Minnesota chapter of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) and ...

and American forward

Kelli Stack Kelli Allison Stack (born January 13, 1988) is an American former ice hockey forward, who played for Kunlun Red Star in the Canadian Women's Hockey League. She is a member of the United States women's national ice hockey team. Stack competed ...

. Red Star announced

Digit Murphy Margaret Pearl "Digit" Murphy (née Degidio; born December 7, 1961) is an American ice hockey coach, administrator, and former college ice hockey player. She is president of the Toronto Six of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL). Murphy h ...

, formerly of the

Boston Blades The Worcester Blades were a professional women's ice hockey team in the Canadian Women's Hockey League, based in Worcester, Massachusetts, and played their home games at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center. The team began play in the 2010–1 ...

as head coach. The team also signed Rob Morgan from

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

as associate head coach but soon after became the head coach of the second Chinese team, the

. 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

. The club proceeded to select

Alexandra 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 ...

in the second round, while the third round saw the franchise select

National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and ha ...

(NWHL) All-Star Shiann Darkangelo. On 21 October 2017, the Red Star competed in their first game, facing the Markham Thunder.

and Baiwei Yu both earned assists on the first goal in Kunlun Red Star history, scored by Zoe Hickel. 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 Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending ...

. In addition, she tied for the league in shutouts with goaltender

Emerance Maschmeyer Emerance Maschmeyer (born October 5, 1994) is a Canadian ice hockey goaltender for Team Bauer, playing from the Montréal hub of the PWHPA. She is a member of Canada women's national ice hockey team (Team Canada), with whom she won the 2021 II ...

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 The Angela James Bowl was a women's ice hockey trophy introduced in 2007-08 to recognize the top points scorer in the newly formed Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). The trophy was donated in order to help preserve the statistical history of th ...

. Räty was also the starting goaltender for the Red Star in the 2018

Clarkson Cup The Clarkson Cup (french: La Coupe Clarkson) is a women's ice hockey trophy, which from 2009 to 2019 was awarded to the winner of the Canadian Women's Hockey Championship (CWHL champion). With the folding of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CW ...

finals in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. Facing the Markham Thunder, the final went into overtime, where

Laura Stacey Laura Rachel Stacey (born May 5, 1994) is a Canadian ice hockey player, currently affiliated with the Montreal chapter of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) and a member of the Canadian women's national ice hockey team. ...

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 Bob Deraney is an American ice hockey coach. Playing career Deraney was a member of the Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey team from 1984 to 1987. During his rookie season in 1984–85, Deraney was named the Terriers' Most Improved Playe ...

, 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-seat ...

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

. 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

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

(ZhHL) for the 2019–20 season. The team hired former

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

head coach Brian Idalski, 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. 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

, 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 (), which they shared with Kapitan Stupino of the Junior Hockey League (MHL). They remained in Moscow Oblast for the 2021–22 ZhHL season, relocating to Mytishchi Arena in Mytishchi.

Players and personnel

2022–23 roster

Note: Player names are displayed using western

name order A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known, ...

(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 * President: Ao Meng

Team captaincy history

* Qi Xueting, 2019–20 * Alex Carpenter, 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 thre ...

, 2021–

Head coaches

, 2017–18 *

, June 2018–February 2019 * Mike LaZazzera, February 2019–March 2019 * Brian Idalski, 2019–2022 * Scott Spencer, 2022–

Awards and honours

, 2018 CWHL Goaltender of the Year *

, 2018

*Kelli Stack, 2018 CWHL Most Valuable Player * Alex Carpenter, 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