Pucksters primed to up the intensity

Revamped domestic women's league designed to raise standards on the ice ahead of world championship challenge

With more games to play and foreign players involved for the first time, the Chinese Ice Hockey Association has relaunched its women's league in a move designed to prepare the national team for a step-up in class next year.

Three months after earning promotion to the top tier of the IIHF World Championship, the Chinese women's program hopes the rebranded and extended domestic league system will help hone its young talents for their elite international challenge.

The puck will drop on the new-look 2023-24 women's league on Saturday in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province, where seven clubs open the regular season's phase one in a round-robin format. With two more legs scheduled from Dec 9-16 in Harbin and Dec 30-Jan 6 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, the league will wrap up with a final phase in Beijing, where the top four will slug it out in best-of-three semifinal and final series from Jan 19-26, according to the CIHA.