BEIJING — All of the Russian athletes had been kicked out of the Paralympics earlier than the Video games started final week, however there may be nonetheless a Russian right here, and he has an opportunity to win a medal.
Nikolay Sharshukov, the little-known Russian coach of China’s nationwide para ice hockey group, has reworked the fledgling squad right into a contender in lower than 5 years on the job, molding it within the picture of the previous Soviet hockey powerhouses.
Gamers like Shen Yifeng, the main scorer within the event, crisscross in entrance of teammates as they velocity up the ice, management possession, use drop-back passes in basic Russian model and play a good, disciplined sport. China’s program didn’t even exist earlier than 2017, however now, and after years of secrecy and intrigue, it has exploded onto the Paralympic sled hockey scene as an prompt sensation.
“I’m actually impressed by what they inbuilt simply 5 years,” goalie Dominic Larocque of Canada mentioned after watching two of China’s video games right here. “We performed them in 2019 in Montreal, and I hadn’t seen them since then. They’re approach higher now.”
Ken Babey, Canada’s coach, mentioned that watching China was so paying homage to Soviet hockey that in case you tore off China’s crimson, black and orange jerseys, you may discover the previous crimson C.C.C.P. sweaters beneath.
Sharshukov has made gamers like Shen, Wang Zhidong and Lyu Zhi appear like Fedorov, Larionov and Konstantinov, and turned China right into a sled reflection of the previous Russia-tinged Detroit Purple Wings.
“The Russian affect is unquestionably there,” Babey mentioned. “It’s the previous Soviet Union model of play.”
Andrea Macri, a defenseman for Italy, which was trounced by China, 6-0, within the group stage on Tuesday, mentioned earlier than the Paralympics started that the Chinese language had been a “huge thriller,” partly as a result of as hosts, they didn’t must play qualifying video games.
“We simply didn’t actually know what they had been doing in that point,” Macri mentioned.
Apparently, they had been training. In its Paralympic debut, China is 4-0 and can play america, the three-time defending champion, in a semifinal match on Friday, hoping to tug off a reverse “Miracle on Ice,” and with a Russian coach as well.
In China’s first sport, it pounded Slovakia, 7-0, behind Shen, a speedy sharpshooter whose nickname is Little Whirlwind. Shen scored 4 objectives in that sport and has emerged as the most recent wunderkind within the sport. He’s 23 and has been taking part in solely since his late teenagers.
“He’s Connor McDavid on a sled,” ahead Martin Joppa of Slovakia mentioned.
That comparability to McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers star, is apt as a result of Shen is a quick, stickhandling wizard with a scorching shot. However he additionally has 4 assists and, together with Wang, leads the event in factors, with 10.
However Shen could remind Sharshukov extra of Valeri Kharlamov, the Russian speedster who died in a automotive crash in 1981. Sharshukov assigned Shen to put on Kharlamov’s No. 17, which is sort of a sacred jersey quantity in Russian hockey.
Shen is from Hebei Province, close to one of many group’s coaching websites. In keeping with CGTN, the state-run Chinese language broadcaster, the ability is constructed for para athletes, and meals is specifically procured and inspected for them. The group practices 3 times a day, and the gamers dwell and prepare beneath Sharshukov.
“He’s the religious assist of this group,” Shen mentioned in Chinese language. “If he’s not with us in the course of the video games, I may not play very properly.”
If China’s group was a thriller to Macri, the Italian defender, then Sharshukov is the enigma it’s wrapped in. Some opposing gamers thought Sharshukov was the pinnacle coach of Russia. He was not. One thought he coached in Russia’s skilled league, the Okay.H.L. He didn’t.
And though Russia’s delegation to the Winter Paralympics was barred due to the nation’s invasion of Ukraine, that didn’t apply to Sharshukov as a result of he’s not representing Russia.
However there may be scant data in English about Sharshukov on the web, and he was not obtainable to fill within the particulars. Even after China beat the Czech Republic, 4-2, on Wang’s game-winner with 1 minute 51 seconds remaining on Wednesday, it was just about inconceivable for a reporter to talk to him, including to the puzzle.
It was not the primary time he breezed previous reporters within the combined zone, a setting the place reporters and contributors can chat. After China beat Italy, Sharshukov appeared keen to talk because the group’s supervisor and translator whisked him by. He stopped 3 times in an try to speak with a reporter, however the group official mentioned he was not allowed to speak as a result of there was one other sport the following day.
That might amuse N.H.L. coaches, who’re required to talk to reporters earlier than and in spite of everything 82 regular-season video games. Sharshukov lastly threw up his arms apologetically, as if to say it was out of his arms. Wednesday was totally different. He simply pointed to his watch and continued previous. No time to talk, apparently, not with the mighty American group ready for his group in two days.
Anton Politov, a venture supervisor for Russia’s Adaptive Hockey Federation, which develops youngsters’s sled hockey packages and different hockey occasions for blind and particular wants athletes, was in a position to fill in some holes on the coach’s résumé. He labored alongside Sharshukov in junior para hockey from 2012 to 2017.
He mentioned Sharshukov attended an institute in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and accomplished a complicated coaching diploma titled, “Hockey Idea and Strategies of Sports activities Coaching.” His gamers, Politov mentioned, are his pupils.
In 2012, Sharshukov turned the pinnacle coach of the sled hockey group Phoenix in Moscow and gained championships in his first three years there. Lots of his gamers went on to play for the nationwide group, which he joined as an assistant in 2013.
Politov mentioned Sharshukov was a visionary who deliberate years upfront and carefully monitored his gamers’ vitamin, coaching and workloads.
“He believes that self-discipline ought to first be within the head after which it is going to undoubtedly be on the ice,” Politov mentioned in a textual content message.
He additionally has the benefit of the beneficiant funding and reservoir of expertise offered by China.
“It’s so a lot concerning the cash to seek out and develop gamers,” Joppa mentioned. “I can solely think about what it should be like for them.”
When China started its program in 2017 there was a lot to study. David Hoff, the coach of the closely favored U.S. group, additionally knew little or no about China lately. He remembered that at a event in South Korea, members of the China delegation had been videotaping the Individuals stepping into their sleds.
“I believe they had been within the newest expertise of the sleds,” Hoff mentioned of his subsequent opponent. “They put lots of assets into their program with a watch towards internet hosting the Video games, and it exhibits. I believe they did that with lots of sports activities. They undoubtedly belong within the high tier of para hockey.”
Seemingly out of nowhere, they may already belong on a medal stand.
Amy Chang Chien contributed reporting.