from Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com,

SHENZHEN, China -- 7The teenager stood, half his body suspended over the railing. He waved his arm, over and over, calling for attention.

"Brad Marchand!" he yelled. "Brad Marchand!"

In front of him, the Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames had just taken the ice for warmups at Universiade Sports Center in Shenzhen, China, their usual routine transformed for their first preseason game of the 2018-2019 season. Instead of an arena in North America, the Bruins and Flames were halfway around the world, 30 minutes away from the start of the first game of the 2018 O.R.G. NHL China Games, which the Bruins would win in a shootout, 4-3.

The kid wore a Bruins jersey with a No. 15, Milt Schmidt's retired number. Next to him stood a man in a newly minted John Tavares Toronto Maple Leafs sweater, and nearby a neon P.K. Subban Nashville Predators edition. A Grant Fuhr Edmonton Oilers jersey could be seen a few sections over, and the concourse revealed Daniel Alfredsson and Ken Dryden and Milan Lucic and Joffrey Lupul.

These were the people who already knew, and loved, the game.

But there were others, the ones with no history and no allegiances, with no sense of hockey's past that the NHL wants to be part of its future. For them, there came an announcement after the two teams left the ice: They would be explaining the rules of hockey to the assembled crowd.

continued

Check out the game highlights below (not normal for KK to post from a preseason game, but since it is China....)