Breaking new ice

"It's disappointing that we didn't achieve what we set out to do (to win a medal on home ice again). At the moment, it just sucks that we are still not good enough to beat them, even though we did all that we could," Team China's co-captain Zhang Zesen said after a 5-2 loss to South Korea in the men's bronze-medal match at the Harbin Games last Friday.

"We won't give up, though. Even finishing without a medal, we've shown quite an improvement here," said the Harbin native, who was born in 1996 just a few months after his predecessors won bronze in the men's hockey at the 3rd Asian Winter Games, also held in the Heilongjiang provincial capital.

"We tried, and we failed again, but I think it's obvious that we failed better," said the 28-year-old forward, who contributed 10 points, the team's second-highest tally, from four goals and six assists in all eight games.

Firing in 10 goals while conceding 22 across five games against the Asian top-three in Harbin, the Chinese men have, at least, well outperformed themselves, compared to the 2017 edition, where they were held scoreless against the same three opponents, while conceding 32 goals in three games.

Currently ranked 26th in the world and fourth in Asia, China's men had approached the home Winter Asiad on a mission to prove they were underrated, drawing confidence from a third-placed finish at November's Asian championships in Kazakhstan, where they beat South Korea for the first time in 18 years — 2-1 in overtime — to claim bronze in Almaty.