Amagasaki, Hyogo Pref. – This year, Reo Kurosawa got the best birthday present the owner of a fledgling professional hockey team could ask for: a win.
Kurosawa, who owns Stars Kobe, the newest entry in Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH), would have surely preferred it if his club’s first-ever victory didn’t coincide with his Jan. 10 birthday, but growing pains were always going to be the reality for Kansai’s first pro hockey team.
The Stars’ nail-biting 5-4 win over the Yokohama Grits snapped a 19-game losing streak and was met with jubilation — and a touch of relief — from the club’s growing number of supporters. Fans wearing team uniforms — numbering a couple hundred — were invited onto the ice for a photo with the players and coaching staff in the clearest sign yet that Kurosawa’s club is making some inroads into the hearts and minds of Kansai sports fans.
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