The search for the Yao Ming of hockey began in Beijing, on makeshift rinks tucked in the basement of a shopping mall or on the sectioned-off corners of a speed skating oval. It’s as unlikely an origin story as you will ever hear, with players learning to toe-drag on figure skates while wearing equipment inside out. AnDong (Misha) Song learned to skate when he was six years old after doctors told him that breathing in cold air would cure his respiratory problems. Rudi Ying discovered hockey on shopping trips with his mom, deciding from an early age that the strange sport was far better than being dragged from store to store. At the time, neither player knew a slew foot from a...
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