SHENZHEN, China — Yu Baiwei darted across the red line, under the arena’s bright lights, and winged a long wrist shot toward the opposing goal.
When the puck sneaked past a Toronto Furies goaltender, many of the 1,850 fans at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Center celebrated to the pulse of a Chinese pop song. Nearly 14,000 others were watching online, and the moment went viral on Chinese social media.
Yu’s Nov. 19 game-winner — the first goal by a Chinese national in the history of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League — came during a weekend of back-to-back victories for Kunlun Red Star, one of two new professional women’s ice hockey teams in Shenzhen, a subtropical Chinese megacity.