Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK

Minnesota Wild affiliate makes history with Japanese-born captain

Originally posted on Hockey Unplugged | By Axel Williams | Last updated 10/17/24

Japan is not a country you think of when the word hockey pops up in front of you, however, there are plenty of players in the Asian country.

In fact, Japan has been at the Olympics before and their International players have had success in the professional leagues. Perhaps the country's best player right now is Yuki Miura, who plays for the Iowa Heartlanders of the ECHL. The team is part of the Minnesota Wild farm system and in 184 games, Miura has notched a total of 84 points.

Well, according to new reports, it has been confirmed that Miura was made the captain of the team. This is a significant move as Miura now becomes the first Japanese-born player to become a captain in the league.

This is huge for representation in the game of hockey around the world. While some may not care about the milestone, those who grew up loving hockey in Japan will certainly appreciate it. It could go a long way in inspiring Japanese youth to pick up the game of hockey. The more people that play this beautiful game, the better.

We wish Miura the best of luck this season. Grinding it out in the ECHL is no easy task. These are players who truly love the game of hockey, and we would love to see him in the AHL some day. Either way, this is a very cool accomplishment and he should be very proud of what he has done.

This article first appeared on Hockey Unplugged and was syndicated with permission.

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