Earlier this month, the Boston Bruins took a whirlwind trip to China to begin their training camp preparing for the upcoming NHL season and to play a pair of exhibition games.
The team, which is owned by Delaware North Chairman Jeremy Jacobs, traveled more than 16,000 miles during the nine-day trip, which not only provided a once-in-alifetime experience for Bruins players but also served as an important way to engage Chinese fans and grow the game of hockey in Asia.
The team’s roster was split in half, with 23 players making the trip to China and the remaining players staying in the United States for training camp sessions and preseason games. The group in China played two exhibition games against the Calgary Flames – one in the city of Shenzhen and the other in Beijing, the site of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
While in China, the team won both its games against the Flames and took time to visit cultural sites such as the Great Wall of China. During the trip, the team also signed Derek Dun, a Canadian goalie with Chinese heritage, to a tryout contract. Dun was the backup goalie in one of the team’s games.
“The Boston Bruins are excited to be part of the 2018 NHL International Games in China,” Bruins President Cam Neely said earlier this year when the games were announced. “Over the past three years we have collaborated with Mr. Zhou Yunjie, the chairman of ORG Packaging, on growing the game both within the Chinese community in Boston and with youth hockey players in China. We look forward to continuing these efforts by bringing Bruins hockey to China with these two preseason games.”
The two exhibition contests marked the organization’s fourth visit to the country, dating back to 2016 when the organization entered into a five-year partnership with Beijing-based ORG Packaging. The three previous journeys were summer trips that included several current Bruins players, alumni, and staff, all of whom helped conduct youth hockey clinics in an effort to grow the game in China.