Song Andong becomes first Chinese player selected in NHL draft

Song Andong, a teenager born in Beijing, became the first Chinese-born player to be drafted into the National Hockey League.

The New York Islanders chose the defenceman in the sixth round, with the 172nd pick of the entry draft on Saturday in the annual draft which showcases the best college and junior players from leagues in North America and Europe.

The selection of Song, 18, drew much media attention from China and he admitted that being "the first" put pressure on him.

"I am really honored to be the first," he said. "Being the first Chinese player is a lot of pressure from people back home.

"Good pressure. It will motivate me to be a better player. Make them proud."

Song started to play ice hockey at the age of six when doctors suggest he'd better more inhale cool air for his fragile throat, so his mother decided to take him to play ice hockey.

At age 10 he moved with his family to the Toronto and at 15 he went to New Jersey to play high school hockey for Lawrenceville School.

Lawrenceville coach Etienne Bilodeau said Song stepped into a major role not long after he arrived at the school and was named captain this season.

"Given the composition of our team this year, in a lot of ways he can relate to how many minutes Duncan Keith logged during the (Stanley Cup) Playoff," Bilodeau said. "He was pretty much on a similar ratio minute-wise for our squad. He was our go-to guy at the blue line. His game is steady. He has good edge work, handles the puck well and really is very well-positioned all the time in the context of anticipating and knowing how to support the offense and knowing how to take care of his end and to be very reliable on both sides of the puck."

Song has played both defence and forward but prefers defence as his favorite player is recently retired former Detroit Red Wing Nicklas Lidstrom.

He graduated this year and next season will play at Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, another top prep school, as a post-graduate.

Song will also continue to play internationally. He's captained the Chinese team in the past two years at the IIHF Division II-B World Under-18 Championship.

As Beijing is bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics, winter sports have become the important in the country which are traditionally in summer Games events like weightlifting, diving, gymnastics and shooting.

Song said he noticed the sport is growing rapidly back in China.

"When I started playing there weren't a lot of people there," he said. "There wasn't much support for the game.

"Last year when I went back, it had been eight years since I had seen Chinese hockey and it was tremendous how far it's grown. I am sure they will keep trying to catch up to Europe and North America and Russia. There's still a gap between them, but I'm sure if we focus on hockey we can catch up."

The Islanders are owned by Chinese-born Charles Wang who was not at the draft table on Saturday.

The Edmonton Oilers took Connor McDavid with the first overall pick on Friday. Endi