Canadian professional ice hockey player Emma Maltais (right) speaks during an interview during the 2024 Collision Conference in Toronto, Canada, June 19, 2024. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)
Martina Fuchs
TORONTO, June 19 (Xinhua) — Canadian professional ice hockey player Emma Maltais praised the Chinese national team for “doing a great job in developing players” at the Toronto Collision.
Maltais is a forward for Toronto in the Professional Women's Hockey League and a member of the Canadian women's national ice hockey team.
She has helped the team win gold medals at the 2021, 2022 and 2024 IIHF Women's World Championships, as well as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
“We played against the Chinese national team at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and they did really well there. Since then, Chinese ice hockey has really developed. They've been really successful in developing players. I'm excited to see where their team goes and how they perform at the next world championships,” Maltais told Xinhua on Wednesday, referring to Team Canada's gold medal win in women's ice hockey at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Maltais continued: “I really enjoyed going to Beijing. Competing at the Olympics is an unforgettable memory. The opening ceremony was absolutely amazing. Overall it was a great experience and I hope I can compete there again one day.”
Speaking at Collision, one of the world's largest technology conferences being held in Toronto from June 17 to 20, Maltais said of the winter season to be held in Canada from November 2024 to May 2025, “Of course we'd like to win, but it's going to be a tough season. It's going to be even more competitive and even more fun and enjoyable to watch.”
The event, part of the Web Summit conference series, attracted 37,832 participants from 117 countries and regions this week. It is also the final Collision in Toronto before moving to Web Summit Vancouver in May 2025.
The IIHF has announced Ceska Budějovice in the Czech Republic as the official host city for the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship, which will be held from April 9 to April 20 next year. ■
