Madness In The Middle Kingdom

One of the longest serving members of the Dalian Ice Dragons has passed away suddenly. Lao Fu (old Fu) also known as Bai Jiu Wang (White Alcohol King) passed away this past Wednesday and we mourn his passing.

Lao Fu was one of the most colourful members of the Ice Dragons to be sure. He had a particular fondness for Bai Jiu which is basically Chinese moonshine that leaves with Biajiu belches for days after consumption. He could often be seen on hockey trips pulling a bottle out of his thick green jacket and when that was finished there was at least several pockets more. In 2002 when Yin Nancheng sprained his ankle in our first game Lao Fu came to the rescue by pouring baijiu into an ashtray, lighting it aflame and then scooped out the flaming hot liquid applying it to Yin’s ankle. Yin would often yelp in pain because of the heat but Lao Fu smiled through it all and kept saying “Chinese medicine” which all the Chinese members of our team would echo in agreement. “He’ll be playing tomorrow” Lao Fu said with a smile and wink. The next day Yin’s ankle was 3 times the size of normal and black as the ace of spades suffering a few burns. When asked about the “Chinese medicine” Yin replied “Monguo Daifu” (Mongolian doctor - akin to a witch doctor). As you can see in the picture below we have a not so healed Yin in the back row far left and a spry Lao Fu in the front row second from the right.

One of the happiest pictures I have

Lao Fu defined the art of “stay at home” defense. In fact after playing with him on and off for 5 years I really am not sure if he could actually skate. He usually parked himself near one of the face-off circles in the defensive zone and wouldn’t move the entire game even when we gained the offensive zone. Somehow this strategy so befuddled the opposing team that when skating in our zone the forwards seemed to be drawn to him like a moth to a flame> More often than not he would poke check the puck away from them and send it up to a forward. He claimed his father learned from the Russians and in turn taught him but this did not exactly epitomize the Russian style.

In the last few years Lao Fu was not able to make it to many hockey trips due to work reasons (he was working as a cook on a ship that was often months at sea) but he usually always made it to Yin’s parties and there we were treated to a baijiu fuelled one man comedy routine. I was worried that I couldn’t understand him much of the time because of my Chinese difficulties but even the Chinese guys said they didn’t understand what he was going on about. He was always good for a demonstration of Chinese Gong Fu (Kung Fu) and would often wind up on his arse on the floor.

I am gonna miss Lao Fu .. there will never ever be another one like him. If Heaven exists I hope when Lao Fu gets there God greets him by saying “There’s a case of baijiu here for you .. it never empties and there are no hangovers. Here are your skates. Lace up because we drop the puck in 5 minutes. Don’t feel the need to leave the zone.”