Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays

The KRS Vanke Rays (Russian: КРС Ванке Рэйз) are a professional women's hockey team based in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. Founded in 2017 as part of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL), the team joined the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) after the CWHL folded in 2019. The team was known as Kunlun Red Star WIH (simplified Chinese: 深圳昆仑鸿星 or 昆仑鸿星; traditional Chinese: 深圳崑崙鴻星 or 崑崙鴻星; pinyin: Shēnzhèn Kūnlún Hóngxīng or Kūnlún Hóngxīng; Cantonese Yale: Sāmzan Kwānlèuhn Hùhngsīng or Kwānlèuhn Hùhngsīng) during its first season in 2017–18, but changed its name to Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays after the second Chinese team, the Vanke Rays, was shut down and merged into Red Star.

KRS Vanke Rays
2020–21 ZhHL season
CityShenzhen, Guangdong, China
Stupino, Moscow Oblast, Russia (2020–21)
LeagueZhHL, 2019–present
CWHL, 2017–2019
Founded2017
Home arenaShenzhen Dayun Arena
Ice Palace V. M. Bobrova (2020–21)
ColorsRed, gold, black
     
Owner(s)Kunlun Red Star
General managerClaire Liu
Head coachBrian Idalski
CaptainAlex Carpenter
Websitewhl.khl.ru
Franchise history
First franchise (CWHL)
2017–2018Kunlun Red Star WIH
2018–2019Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays
Second franchise (ZhHL)
2019–presentKRS Vanke Rays Shenzhen
Championships
Playoff championships1 (2019–20)

The team is operated by the Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and the home arena is Shenzhen Dayun Arena in Shenzhen.

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. The team's temporary home arena is Ice Palace V. M. Bobrova (Russian: Ледовый дворец спорта им. В.М. Боброва, romanized: Ledovyy Dvorets Sporta Im. V.m. Bobrova), which they share with Kapitan Stupino of the Junior Hockey League (MHL).

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,[1] 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.[2] Red Star announced Digit Murphy, formerly of the Boston Blades as head coach.[3] The team also signed Rob Morgan from Yale as associate head coach[4] 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.[5] The club proceeded to select Alexandra Carpenter in the second round,[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] Räty recorded 37 saves in the game while Stack scored the only goal of the game for the Red Star.[9] 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.[10]

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.[11]

In February 2019, the KRS Vanke Rays announced coach Deraney had stepped down and Mike LaZazzera would take over the rest of the season.[12] 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.[13]

Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL): 2019–present

On 25 July 2019, the team announced it was joining the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) for the 2019–20 season.[14] The team also hired former North Dakota head coach Brian Idalski as the team's fourth head coach.[15]

Players and personnel

2020–21 roster
As of 4 November 2020[16]

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

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
44 Lindsay Agnew F L 22 2020 Oakville, Ontario, Canada
9 Megan Bozek D R 29 2019 Buffalo Grove, Illinois, United States
5 Alex Carpenter (C) F L 25 2018 North Reading, Massachusetts, United States
81 Cui Huo F L 32 2019 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
6 Melanie Jue F L 32 2017 Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
91 Rachel Llanes (A) F R 29 2017 San Jose, California, United States
7 Leah Lum F L 24 2018 Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
34 Hannah Miller F L 24 2019 North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
90 Alena Mills F L 30 2020 Kutná Hora, Středočeský kraj, Czechia
33 Kimberly Newell G L 25 2018 Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
68 Maria Pushkar F L 19 2020 Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia
55 Xueting Qi D R 34 2019 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
41 Noora Räty G L 31 2017 Espoo, Uusimaa, Finland
24 Liang Tang F L 35 2019 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
89 Kaitlyn Tougas F R 26 2020 Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
1 Milena Tretyak G L 20 2020 Moscow, Russia
22 Kaitlin Tse D L 23 2019 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
15 Minttu Tuominen D R 30 2020 Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland
29 Alexandra Vafina (A) F L 30 2020 Almaty, Kazakh ASSR, Soviet Union
8 Kiana Wilkinson D R 23 2020 Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
49 Jessica Wong D L 29 2018 Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
66 Shuang Zhang D L 33 2019 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Coaching staff
  • Head coach: Brian Idalski
  • Assistant coach: Max Markowitz
  • Goaltending coach: Karel Popper

Front office
  • General Manager: Claire Liu
  • Assistant General Manager: Nikolai Feoktistov
  • President: Ao Meng

Team captaincy history

Head coaches

Awards and honours

References
  1. Price, Satchel (5 June 2017). "Canadian Women's Hockey League expanding to China next season". SB Nation. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  2. "CWHL unveils Chinese expansion franchise for 2017-18". Sportsnet. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  3. Berkman, Seth (5 June 2017). "Canadian Women's Hockey League to Add a Team From China". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  4. "Red Star Women's Ice Hockey Name Rob Morgan as Associate Head Coach – Kunlan Red Star". www.hcredstar.us.
  5. "Forward Courtney Turner taken with first pick in CWHL draft". Sportsnet. 20 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  6. Salzano, Grant (21 August 2017). "Kristyn Capizzano And Alex Carpenter Taken In 2017 CWHL Draft". BC Interruption. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  7. "Game #: 5 - Saturday, October 21, 2017". Canadian Women's Hockey League. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  8. McGran, Kevin (25 March 2018). "Laura Stacey's overtime winner gives Markham its first Clarkson Cup". Toronto Star. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  9. "Game # 0 - Sunday, March 25, 2018". Canadian Women's Hockey League. 25 March 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  10. Jay, Michelle; Murphy, Mike (12 June 2018). "Bob Deraney named head coach of Kunlun Red Stars". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  11. Sun, Maura (3 August 2018). "Kunlun Red Stars Announce Team Name Change". Canadian Women's Hockey League. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  12. "Mike Lazazzera to Complete the Rest of the Season as the Interim Head Coach for Rays". Canadian Women's Hockey League. 13 February 2019.
  13. "Final Public Communication" (PDF). Canadian Women's Hockey League. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  14. Jay, Michelle (25 July 2019). "KRS Vanke Rays officially joining the Russian Women's Hockey League". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  15. "Brian Idalski tabbed as next head coach of the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays". The Ice Garden. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  16. "Russia (W) - KRS Vanke Rays, 2020-2021 Roster". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  17. "Raty Named Top CWHL Goaltender". Minnesota Golden Gophers Athletics. 23 March 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  18. Salzano, Grant (24 March 2018). "Kelli Stack Named CWHL MVP". BC Interruption. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  19. Kemmerer, Gillian (4 February 2020). "Ice Diaries: WHL playoffs". en.khl.ru. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
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