Canadian-born Jason Fram brings U Sports experience to China's Olympic hockey team

When the horn sounded on March 17, 2019, Jason Fram left the ice in Lethbridge, Alta., for the final time as a University of Alberta Golden Bear.

The 26-year-old Vancouver native's team had just fallen 4-2 to the University of New Brunswick Reds, losing the 2019 U Sports men's hockey national championship final.

Three years later, and alongside fellow U Sports alumnus in UBC grad Luke Lockhart, he will face the Canadian men's Olympic hockey team as a member of Team China Sunday in Beijing at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Without a thriving domestic league, the Chinese hockey program draws from foreign nationals, including 11 Canadian-born players, all of whom play for Kunlun Red Star, China's lone team in the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League. China recruited foreign nationals to play for its men's and women's hockey teams at these Olympics.

The Chinese team was shut out 8-0 by Team USA in its Olympic debut game on Wednesday, but scored two in a 3-2 loss to Germany on Friday.

For Fram, Red Star and the potential of playing for China was tantalizing from the first moment he heard of the opportunity during the summer while at home in Richmond, B.C.

After his final year in 2018-19, Fram left for Beijing, embarking on his post-U Sports career and Olympic adventure, while finishing his degree online due to COVID-19.

Originally from British Columbia's Lower Mainland, Fram had never been to China. However, when he arrived in Beijing it felt familiar. Growing up in Richmond, where 56 per cent of its population is of Chinese heritage, made the transition easier.

"When I showed up, it reminded me of home a little bit." he said. "There are places [in RIchmond] where you are walking down the street and people aren't speaking English, and the signs are in Mandarin and that helped me settle quite a bit, but there was still a bit of a culture shock moving to a city with 27 million people."

Lockheart, also on Team China, played against Fram in U Sports with the UBC Thunderbirds and grew up with him in Vancouver.

"I think U Sports doesn't get the attention for how good hockey it is," he told CBC Sports. "Fram and I always go back and forth when UBC and Alberta played each other, we were going to make a bet when UBC beat them in the [2019-20] playoffs."

A former San Jose Sharks prospect, Fram still has NHL potential. Stan Marple, the Golden Bears' general manger thought as much when he recruited the defenceman into an Alberta program that helped develop Edmonton Oilers forward Derek Ryan.

Back to school

After five seasons with Spokane in the Western Hockey League (WHL), Fram tested himself at the American Hockey League and ECHL levels, but Marple kept a keen eye on him, knowing the qualities he could bring to U of Alberta's team.

"He had a great WHL career, and he was a player that I had looked at for a few years, so I kept in touch with him when he was playing in San Jose and in Allen [with the ECHL's Americans], and said that he can come to play in the second semester having already been accepted into school," Marple told CBC Sports.

After helping the school to a U Sports title in 2018 and earning U Sports Defenceman of the Year honours in 2018 and 2019, Fram cut his university career short to head to China, leaving Alberta after just three seasons.

"I was trying to say to him that I thought he had the potential to play in the NHL," Marple said. "He's just that good, and maybe he'll get looked at after the Olympics."

When Fram takes the ice against Team Canada and former Kunlun teammate Adam Cracknell, he will be a part of a team that isn't poised to win a medal, but still wants to show well.

"We have to just be full, aware of where we are, enjoy the experience and take it all in — but at the same time, we're here to play hockey games, and we know how to play hockey."

Catch Fram, Lockhart an the rest of Team China when they face Team Canada on Sunday at 8:10 a.m. ET, streaming live on the CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports' Beijing 2022 website.