Chinese hockey player drafted by NHL

Song Andong, 18, has become the first Chinese-born player ever to be drafted by the National Hockey League.

The New York Islanders chose Song, who goes by the name "Misha", in the sixth round with the 172nd pick on June 27 in Sunrise, Florida.

"I was really nervous until my name was called," Song said. "I knew that the New York Islanders were interested in me, but noting had been decided."

The New York Islanders, which won four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1979 to 1983, is owned by Shanghai-born Chinese American Charles B. Wang.

"The selection of Song means a lot for ice hockey in China as the sport is dominated by Westerners," said Yu Tiande, head of the Chinese national team.

"It's a great boost and will give our young players hope," Yu added.

Born in 1997 in Beijing, Song began playing hockey at age 6 since his mother and doctor believed cold air and exercise would help is his pharyngitis, or persistent sore throats.

Song tried ice hockey out "and fell in love with it," he said.

At 9, Song captained the Cubs at the first site of youth hockey in China for his generation and won the Bell Capital Cup, a youth hockey tournament held in Canada with 11 participating countries.

Song was snapped by the Oakville Rangers to play hockey in Canada, where he got systematic training for five years with his mother accompanying him. "I'm really happy today since I can share this special moment with my parents," Song said at the draft.

At 15 years old, Song offered a scholarship to the Lawrenceville School, a prestigious prep school with strong ice hockey traditions in New Jersey. As school team deputy captain, Song played both defense and forward. He was honored as New Jersey's best forward in the 2014-2015 season.

He will spend the 2015-2016 school year as a postgrad at Philips Academy in Massachusetts and hopefully attract the attention of some top college teams.

"After prep school, I want to play four years NCAA as a college student," said Song. "I'll start my [NHL] hockey career after my academics are completed, which will probably be five years from now."

Despite his overseas training and education since an early age, Song has never grown estranged from his mother country.

In 2014 and 2015, he played in China's National Youth Hockey Tournament for the Beijing Team as captain and helped them win the A Division championship in 2015, which made a history for the team.

Song has also played the past two years for China at the International Ice Hockey Federation Division II-B World Under-18 Championship.

In this year's tournament in Novi Sad, Serbia, Song served as team captain and was honored as MVP in the game against Romania.

As a non-traditional sport in China, hockey has been relatively unknown in recent decades, but all that's changing, according to Song.

"When I started playing, there weren't a lot of people playing there," Song said.

"But last year when I went back, it had been eight years since I'd seen Chinese hockey and it's just been tremendous how far they've grown. I'm sure they'll keep trying to catch up to North America and Europe and Russia," Song said.

Hong Xiao in New York and Lei Lei in Beijing contributed to this story.