Hockey Night in Nairobi: Team Kenya harbours Olympic dreams

While the World Cup of Hockey winds down to its Canada vs. Europe final pairing this week and the NHL preseason gets rolling, there’s hockey out there in the world in the most unlikeliest of places – like Kenya.

Despite myriad challenges and idiosyncracies – lack of adequate equipment and infrastructure, mostly, and a rink that's well below international and NHL size but still requires thousands of dollars a month to maintain – every Wednesday night at Nairobi's Solar Ice Rink has for the last 10 years been hockey night, when a mixed bag of locals and expatriates get together in East Africa's only ice hockey venue for an informal pickup game.

CCTV Africa reports that Kenya missed out on the recent inaugural African Ice Hockey Championships in Morocco, but the biggest obstacles are much more basic.

"Most of the (players) lack some good hockey skates and equipment as well – because it's been a challenge. They're quite expensive, they're not locally available, so some of us guys take a risk playing without a full set of equipment," Kenya Hockey Team captain Bernard Azegere told CCTV Africa.

Street hockey on in-line skates remains the more popular game in Nairobi, Mashable reports. But with players from that realm trying out the ice version of the game, KHT captain Ben Azegere and his friends are hoping for more someday.

"Our future dream is for our Kenyan team to be featured in the Winter Olympics," Azegere told Great Big Story. "I know we don't stand a chance but just being there, we might prove the world wrong."

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