A decade ago, when sporting interests in Beijing gravitated toward the coming 2008 Summer Olympics, a small group of boys began China’s hockey revolution by happenstance.

Misha Song started playing hockey because a doctor thought the cold air would cure a nagging cough. Tora Liu was a chubby child looking for ways to exercise indoors, away from the summer heat.

They played on small rinks, like the one inside the China World Mall or a crude sheet built in a decommissioned war bunker. The boys used discounted hockey gear that their parents had collected during business trips abroad. With no one to teach them how to suit up, the boys at first wore their hockey socks inside kneepads to keep their legs warm.

Today, those boys have graduated from their curious beginnings to New England preparatory schools and top junior programs in North America, getting ready for the chance to display the evolution of Chinese hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.