Song-ic boom for Chinese hockey

But Beijing-born draft pick realizes he has a long way to go before fulfilling childhood dream of playing in the NHL

"It feels like I'm a star already!"

That was Song Andong's reaction to being followed by a CCTV television crew en route to becoming the first Chinese player selected in the National Hockey League Draft last Saturday in Sunrise, Florida.

"But I still have a long way to go," Song said.

Chosen by the New York Islanders in the sixth round - No 172 overall-the 6-foot, 190-pound defenseman is nicknamed 'Misha'. He started in the sport at age 6 at a shopping mall rink in his hometown of Beijing after doctors said he should breathe cooler air to help treat a throat condition.

Just like that, his mom signed him up for hockey.

Four years later, Song's family moved to Toronto, Canada, and he quickly excelled. At 15, he relocated to New Jersey to play high school hockey.

The fact he has made it this far is a testament to the 18-year-old's lifelong dream of playing professionally.

Song plans to attend Philips Andover Academy in Massachusetts as a postgraduate student this fall. After that, he expects to try out for an NCAA squad.

Playing in the NHL is his ultimate goal - but that's at least a few years away. He needs to get bigger, stronger and faster.

Song has not yet met Islanders owner Charles Wang, who was born in Shanghai and moved to the US with his family in his youth. But if and when that happens, the talented teenager won't be fazed. As a youngster he was on a team that took part in a Project Hope tournament sponsored by Wang that included a team from Long Island that traveled to China.

"My Chinese team, the Cubs, we played in that competition a lot," Song said. "That was the first site of youth hockey in China for our generation.

"I'm really honored to be the first Chinese player to be drafted by the NHL. It's been great so far. Being the first brings a lot of pressure from people back home ... but it's good pressure. I hope it will motivate me to become a better player and I'll make them proud.

"What I want to do is rally people behind me. Not focus on myself but do something good for Chinese hockey."

One of Song's fondest memories is of watching the the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, where Mario Lemieux led Team Canada to hockey gold. Beijing is trying to land the 2022 Winter Games, which is one reason why the game is rapidly gaining popularity in the world's most populous nation.

"When I started playing in China there weren't a lot of other kids playing and not much support for the game," said Song, whose brother still plays in Beijing.

"But last year, when I went back, it had been like eight years since I'd seen Chinese hockey. It's just tremendous how far it has grown. I'm sure they'll keep trying to catch up to North America and Europe and Russia, but there's still a little gap."

Song had 10 points in 26 games at Lawrenceville this past season and said he patterns his game after former Detroit Red Wings defenseman and Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom.

"Song was our go-to guy on the blueline," Lawrenceville coach Etienne Bilodeau told the nhl.comwebsite.

"His game is very 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 business and be very reliable in both ends of the rink."

Li Longmou of CCTV said there was a lot of anticipation in China to see when Song would be picked in the draft. "We didn't go live for the first round but we were live for the second round," Li said. "And on a Saturday night, at 10 pm, I heard our viewership reached 2.5 million people waiting for his news."

While Song develops his skills in anticipation of one day being invited to the Islanders training camp, he will continue to play internationally. He captained China at the IIHF Division II-B World Under-18 championship this year in Serbia and had two assists in five games.

China won one of its five games and finished fifth in the six-team tournament against teams from the host nation, Romania, Spain, Belgium and Australia.