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About Project Hope
Cultural Exchange
By working closely with local and provincial officials in the cities of Harbin and Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, China, the New York Islanders have embarked upon an un-precedented multi-faceted educations iniviative that will undoubtedly change the lives of young athletes forever: The Charles B. Wang Ice Hockey Project Hope
The ultimate goal of Project Hope is simple: To provide young Chinese athletes with access to educational opportunities.
Project Hope will endeavor to create opportunities for cultural exchange through international youth hockey events and by promoting Project Hope scholarship placements in the United States
Learning the Language
Project Hope begins by enrolling Chinese scholar-athletes in New York Islanders-affiliated youth hockey programs in and around Heilongjiang Province. Once enrolled, the students must study English as part of their regular curriculum with a goal of achieving fluency in both written and conversational english.
To demonstrate a developing English language competency, students will undergo age appropriate assesments/examinations on a regular basis. Once the students have achieved fluency, they will be eligible to apply for a Project Hope scholarship to continue their education at a high school in the United States.
Charles B. Wang Ice Hockey Project Hope Tournament Blog
Josh Bernstein
Islanders Vice President of Communications
Monday, January 05, 2009, 10:14pm (CST)
Well, except for a possible shopping spree in the morning for souvenirs and a 13-hour flight across the world, it's over.
We saw the Great Wall today, and I even managed to climb to the highest point we could see without passing out or keeling over. OK, there was a little keeling over.
The Great Wall was a great way to end a fantastic trip.
Seeing people from different parts of the world come together in the name of hockey was incredible. My best memory will be the kids. They aren't my kids, but watching how they inter-acted with the kids on the other teams, from Finland and China, made me feel like a proud parent. Watching them get to know each other, watching them communicate on everything from hockey to video games, and watching them embrace one another will be my most lasting image.
A great trip deserves many thanks, but I will try to keep it brief.
First, on behalf of everyone here, I would like to thank Mr. Charles Wang for having the vision of dreaming up this program, and the kindness and generosity to send us all here.
Islanders President Chris Dey deserves a huge thanks for getting us here, and for his leadership in setting up the trip.
Denise Zimmerman did a wonderful job organizing every little detail leading up to our journey, and it wouldn't have happened without her.
Nassau County Hockey Director Mark LaMarr, whose guidance and leadership were vital.
IslandersTV producer Matt Holota, who was there every step of the way with his camera, splendidly documenting all of this for all to see for years to come.
Joseph Fu, our translator and friend, who was instrumental in bridging the communications gaps that were bound to arise.
Jason Lipset, who was there to document the trip for the Nassau Mustangs and was a tremendous help to newyorkislanders.com all trip long.
The great staff of the Project Hope China offices led by Mr. Wang Jin Yu.
The great work of Dan Bedard, who organized things so well, and always found the time to teach the kids every chance he had.
Bryan Trottier, who I have blogged about throughout this trip, and is just a wonderful person. Take all of the greatness you have seen from him on the ice and multiply it by 1,000 and you still wouldn't be able to sum up the grace and class of No. 19! It's been just a thrill to spend this time with him, a thrill this Islanders fan—who grew up in section 107—will never forget.
The amazing maturity of a bunch of 12-13-year-old kids. Eleven days on the road and I did not witness one squabble or meltdown. (It may have happened, but I didn't witness it).
Their parents, a fun loving group of Long Island hockey moms and dads that I look forward to continuing friendships with that were born here.
That is all from China, unless I get delayed at the airport and have Internet access!!
Thanks for reading these blogs over the past 11 days. Hope you enjoyed the trip!
Click Here To Read More Day 8 Blogs...
Mark LaMarr
Nassau County Hockey Director, Father of Mark, Nassau Mustangs (Team USA) Player
Saturday, January 03, 2009, 4:02pm (CST)
The tournament here was outstanding and very well run.
Our referees were great. The accommodations at the rink were superb. It was an excellent facility and the kids had a great time.
Harbin has been absolutely wonderful, cold, but beautiful. People back home should never complain about playing hockey outdoors again until they come to Harbin and play outdoors.
Then they will really know what cold is!
Hopefully my son will take out of this a lot of good friendships, not only with his own teammates, but with the players that he met from Finland, Harbin, QiQihar and Jiamusi.
Click Here To Read More Day 7 Blogs...
Joseph Fu
Communications Coordinator
Friday, January 2nd 2009, 6:42 pm (CST)
Today we got to see the arena and sports complex here in QiQihar and see how much effort they put into winter sports and sports in general.
Seeing the national team on the ice made me want to jump out there.
It was very inspiring seeing these Chinese kids playing hockey at a very serious level.
I think we will be seeing some of them in the National Hockey League in a very short time.
Having the QiQihar translator Charlie there today was great for me. He is better at speaking Chinese to the Chinese delegates and it allowed me to pay attention to more of my surroundings better.
As a Chinese-American, I am very proud of what we've been able to do in terms of developing hockey in China. I was looking at the schools and how proud they are of their heritage and hockey. I went to school in Taiwan until sixth grade and I wish that I would have had this chance to go to one of these schools with a hockey background. It's awesome.
Click Here To Read More Day 6 Blogs...
Bryan Trottier
Islanders Executive Director of Player Development
Thursday, January 1st 2009, 4:11pm (CST)
Happy New Year everybody!
We got to sleep in today and then had a wonderful afternoon. We divided up teams with Team Finland and Team USA and had a Winter Classic of our own.
The weather really cooperated and we had a nice clear blue sky. We played cross-ice and had three different games going at a time and then we had a full ice game with the coaches.
I know I'm gonna beat up this phrase, but I felt like I was 8-years-old again. You do this as a kid and then get to do it as an adult and you just can't explain the joy on the faces of these kids. The youthful enthusiasm that I saw and that I felt as a 52 year old hockey player was truly phenomenal.
This was another universal example of the happiness that hockey can bring.
Click Here To Read More Day 5 Blogs...
Josh Bernstein
Islanders Vice President of Communications
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008, 2:18 pm CST
Today we watched the team from Long Island defeat the team from Jiamusi, China, 4-0. The kids from Jiamusi were just excited to be on the same ice as North American kids.
At one point, the Jiamusi goalie made a save, and in the middle of a scramble in front of the net he raised his arms in celebration. You could see that these kids are literally having the time of their lives in this tournament.
After the game we had lunch with officials from the Harbin hockey association and discussed plans for them to visit us on Long Island in February.
We are making friends on the other side of the world, and it's pretty cool.
Click Here To Read More Day 4 Blogs...
Josh Bernstein
Islanders Vice President of Communications
Tuesday, December 30th, 11:23 am CST
Wow, that was something else!
I just had the opportunity to visit one of the rinks that was built by Project Hope. When we left for the rink, I thought we were just seeing a hockey rink, but when we got there and saw all of the kids actually practicing and playing hockey, it was really special.
The kids really lit up when they saw Bryan Trottier. Even though they are all a few generations behind Trotts, they all knew of him and just the sight of someone who has been where they dream to be, really got them excited. Bryan handled it all, as he always does, with grace and class. He knelt down to speak with them, high-fived every single one of them, said hello to them in their own language and like many kids their age in the 1980’s on Long Island, he was their hero on this day.
Even the sub-negative temperatures couldn’t wipe the smiles off of any of the faces. It was awesome.
Click Here To Read More Day 3 Blogs...
Matthew Holota
IslandersTV Producer
Monday, December 29th, 4:10pm CST (China Standard Time)
It's been a fun couple of days so far.
We put a mic on Bryan Trottier at practice both days and the fun part is he's not just out there with Team USA, he's out there with Team Finland and Team Harbin as well.
They're mixing it up with the coaches. The other team's coaches are designing drills. We are covering it all on Islanders TV with daily video blogs and features.
It's fascinating to see the kids follow directions in a language that is not their own. Seeing them watch and follow what the other kids are doing and seeing the teams really bond with each other has been fun.
It's really fun to watch the kids get along and hang out with the kids from the other teams. They are in the stands today banging the thunder sticks and playing with each other, so it's been a great success so far.
Having the TV camera everywhere we go is always interesting. The kids love it. They are always wondering if it's on TV right now like we have some crazy satellite TV hook up that's beaming it back live.
All of the teams so far are loving the camera. I had to tell them I will get them all on camera. It's a long week and there's plenty of time to get them on TV.
That's all for now. I have to go shoot the game between Finland and QiQihar.
Click Here To Read More Day 2 Blogs...
Dan Bedard
Islanders Director of Amateur Hockey Development
Sunday December 28th, 1:03PM (CST-China Standard Time)
We are so excited to be here for this amazing hockey experience in China!
We traveled 13 hours from Newark to Beijing, and then took another flight to Harbin, which was about a 90-minute flight from Beijing. All in all, the travel time from Cantiague Park in Hicksville to Harbin, China was about 24 hours.
The hotel accommodations in Harbin are terrific. Everything has been scheduled perfectly by our hosts from the Islanders offices here in Harbin. When we arrived, all of our room keys were waiting for us and our rooms were all prepared. A fantastic reception meal was ready when the team arrived. We had a late supper at about 11 pm Harbin time and then everyone went to bed and woke to a fantastic buffet breakfast.
We had a quick team meeting on Sunday morning. Several people have already gone out into the city to do some exploring. We all took a bus over to the practice facility where we are going to have a training session on the ice. We pre-arranged with the Finnish team to combine each of our 45 minutes of ice time to make one 90-minute session on the ice together with Bryan Trottier and the U.S. hockey officials leading the charge. It should be an incredible clinic. IslandersTV is here to cover it. We are looking forward to the kids enjoying the cultural experience of having the different coaches sharing their views on skating, puck handling, shooting and passing. It should be an exciting and memorable first day for the kids here in China.
Click Here To Read More Day 1 Blogs...
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