Lancers hosting Chinese national team

The Windsor Lancers have been granted special permission to play an exhibition game against the Chinese national team Saturday night at the Capri Recreation Complex.

"Anytime you can play a team that wears their flag on their jersey it's an honour," said Lancers' head coach Kevin Hamlin. "I expect it to be a competitive game and it'll be a great experience for our student-athletes.

Head coach Kevin Hamlin during a game in December

According to Hamlin, OUA teams are only allowed to play six exhibition games a season. The Lancers played five during the pre-season and added Michigan State to their schedule in mid-October.

Hamlin says the national team reached out a year ago asking if there would be any interest in playing an exhibition game. He followed up a few months ago with the game confirmed Friday.

"I think this is one of their evaluation opportunities," said Hamlin who senses the team is playing in a U.S. tournament and included Windsor as part of their journey. "Most of their team is coming from China but there's a handful of guys that are from North America that are meeting the team. They've got six or seven guys that played in the KHL. I'm sure they're going to be pretty decent."

The Lancers won eight of their last ten games to head into the holiday break at the top of the OUA West division with a 10-7 record. They resume their regular season schedule January 10th at home against Concordia. Eight of their remaining eleven games are at home.

The puck drops at 7:30. Admission is $5.