Kenya Ice Lions

By GEORGE ROSE ‘21

In Kenya, a country better known for its endurance runners—and, to American tourists, its spectacular wildlife and safaris—a group of athletes have come together and added an unlikely new aspect to the country’s image: hockey.

The Kenya Ice Lions, led by their 33-year-old captain Benard Azegere, garnered fame recently as some of the sport’s greatest players, including Sidney Crosby, have become the Ice Lion’s advocates and, for a day, their teammates. As improbable as the creation of a Kenyan hockey team may be, the Ice Lions now embark on a quest to qualify for the 2022 Olympics representing Kenya’s Ice Hockey Team.

Azegere’s first love was soccer, and he played in Kenya’s top league. While watching the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, however, he discovered a new love: ice hockey. Pursuing the sport in Kenya would have been impossible if not for a lucky break at the Panari Hotel in Nairobi. Located just across the street from a national park inhabited by zebras, giraffes, rhinos, and lions, the hotel plays host to what may be the world’s most unexpected sports facility: the only known hockey rink in all of East Africa. This ice rink serves as the home and training center for the Ice Lions.

Right around the time of the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, at the Panari Hotel in Nairobi, a Canadian named Tim Colby was trying to jumpstart Kenya’s first Hockey program. Over time, according to ESPN, representatives from Canada’s embassy in Nairobi began passing through and dropping off equipment for Colby’s program.

Despite forming a team, the Ice Lions still faced the issue of having no other competitors. According to ESPN, this past April, the Canadian coffee and donut chain Tim Hortons heard about the Ice Lions and decided to sponsor the team. In August, the company flew the Ice Lions to Canada and introduced them to two new temporary teammates for a special scrimmage: Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon, stars of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Colorado Avalanche respectively.
The game occured at a venue in Brampton, Ontario, where the Ice Lions faced off against a team of local firemen. Tim Hortons supplied them with a normal set of equipment to play with for the game; following the game, Tim Hortons shipped the equipment back to Kenya for further use—in Kenya, hockey equipment is not easy to come by. Most Kenyans prefer soccer, a sport which requires only a ball and a flat expanse of land. After their trip to Ontario, the team got to see the hockey Hall of Fame and the city of Toronto.

On October 15, Tim Hortons released a brief video about the Ice Lions’ trip to Canada that quickly went viral. In the video, Crosby and MacKinnon surprised the members of the Ice Lions by walking into the Ice Lions’ locker room wearing Ice Lions’ jerseys. One Ice Lions’ player even said to Crosby, touching his cheeks, “Is this you?” Both Crosby and MacKinnon spoke about hockey’s power to bring people together, with Crosby saying: “That’s the best part about the game. It’s just how it reaches so many people and places like Kenya where you wouldn’t think that there is even ice.” Tim Hortons is now funding Kenya’s first youth hockey development program and league.  

Azegere journeyed to Canada for the second time in recent weeks for another hockey experience. He watched the red-hot Toronto Maple Leafs face off against his friend Sydney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 18th. As you can imagine, seeing this high level of hockey in real life was eye-opening for Azegere; he had watched hours upon hours of clips from Youtube but had never seen an NHL game in person, where the speed and level of the game are on a whole other level.

Despite the media attention, the Ice Lions still lack equipment in Nairobi, and Azegere says that only 30 locals have picked up the sport; many Kenyans have preconceived notions that hockey is a violent sport because of the checking and occasional brawls that come along with the game.

Although their chances for making the Olympics in Beijing in 2022 may be slim, Azegere and his teammates know that this is only the beginning of hockey in Kenya. They see the possibility for the growth of the sport in their country and hope to see a new generation of Kenyans continue what they started.