Luc Tardif had only been in office for a few hours when he felt it necessary to formulate a warning call, with which he distanced himself from some of the phonies in his own ranks.
The Frenchman prevailed in the vote against the German Franz Reindl and was elected head of the Ice Hockey World Federation (IIHF) on September 25 of the previous year.
Marc Heinrich
sports editor.
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In one of his first speeches in his new role, the successor to the Swiss René Fasel struck a different tone and pointed out to his organization a problem that many had previously turned a blind eye to.
Tardif worried about Chinese players' ability to compete at the Olympics at home: "Watching a team beat 15-0 isn't good for anyone.
Not for China and not for ice hockey,” he stated and immediately set up a working group to get an idea of the sporting class of the problem children, who were even duped by second-rate opponents.
The verdict of the commission was ruthless.
However, the option of leaving the Chinese out was not chosen.
Instead - as is so often the case in top-class sport, which is shaped by political interests - a compromise was found that enabled the hosts to save face and ensured their participation in the Olympic tournament.
The Chinese resorted to an option that used to be the habit of many clubs in this country (which took some getting used to).
In order to secure the services of foreign temporary workers, they diligently made use of the possibilities offered by the naturalization laws in cooperation with the authorities.
No fewer than 14 players with North American roots are in the squad that will face off against the United States in Thursday's group stage opener.
On Saturday the Germans are waiting as opponents.
Jake Chelios is one of those set to compete in the red flag jersey against the star-studded US banner squad.
The 30-year-old was born in Chicago on March 8, 1991 – the son of NHL legend Chris Chelios, who had won the Stanley Cup three times.
Chelios Junior only made a handful of appearances for the Detroit Red Wings.
He has been earning his money with the Kunlun Red Stars since 2019.
The club was founded in 2016 in preparation for the Olympics and was originally based in Beijing.
In the absence of possible opponents, Chinese head of state Xi Jinping agreed at a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the Red Stars should be allowed to participate in the Continental Hockey League (KHL), which was launched in 2008 as an Eastern European counterpart to the NHL.
A year and a half ago, the Kunlun Red Stars moved to a Moscow suburb, where they have played their home games ever since.
The reason for the change of location was the corona pandemic, which made travel between the two countries impossible.
Despite numerous committed legionnaires, the Asian KHL offshoot has no chance in the league.
Nevertheless, and for lack of alternatives, his ranks now form the complete Chinese Olympic formation.
And Jake Chelios thinks it's "exciting".
A “great adventure” is ahead of him and the others.
Recently, Jake Chelios, like all the other newcomers to the team, also has a Chinese name: Jake Chelios has become Jieke Kailiaosi, which he finds "funny", as he says after training at the national stadium.
He himself can pronounce "two or three words" in Mandarin.
The lingua franca between them is English, so it's easy for coach Ivano Zanatta to give his commands without an interpreter.
The Canadian has no misconceptions about the difficulty of his task: "It's going to be really tough."
Goalkeeper Jeremy Smith - or Jieruimi Shimisi - who has played for Kunlun for three years, says it has been a "challenge" to adapt to the environment, but he has no regrets about the move: "The culture, the history - there's it here Getting to know so much.” As far as ice hockey is concerned, he also sees a “seed in the ground” planted: “Russia and Canada have been playing against each other for 100 years, and something is just growing in China,” said the keeper, who went from “to about 2000" ice hockey surfaces that are to be built by the host of the Olympic Games.
With the Nashville Predators, Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche, goaltender Jeremy Smith never rose above reserve status.
As a Jieruimi Shimisi, he can get over the fact that he won't see many former colleagues from home again at the Olympics: He is spared two sporting performances.