Every member of the team wears the same jersey, from the superstar scoring the game-winner to the backup goalie cheering from the bench. In hockey’s early days, players wore simple sweaters adorned with stripes or chest bands, a far cry from today’s sleek, iconic designs. But even then, jerseys told stories of victory and heartbreak.
From their humble beginnings at Nairobi’s lone rink in 2006, the Ice Lions have shattered expectations and continued to put African ice hockey on the global map. In 2024, Kenya became the fifth African country to join the IIHF, securing its place among the sport’s elite.
The team began informally in 2016, when a few young Kenyans working at the rink as skating instructors grew tired of just watching Western expats play hockey and decided to give it a go themselves. Soon they were recruiting players from Nairobi’s rollerblading community, sourcing jerseys and other apparel from the city’s secondhand markets, and donning a patchwork of donated gear.
“It was super cold, and I couldn’t control my skates,” Mburu says. “As an African, the closest I ever came to ice hockey was mostly Christmas movies on TV.”
It wasn’t long before the feel-good story of hockey on the Equator started to spread. The TV spot raised the team’s profile, but the Ice Lions still had no one to play against-until, later that same year, Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons flew the squad to Canada for training and filmed a documentary in which the players received full sets of gear and Kenyan jerseys, met hockey legends Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon, and competed against a Canadian team. For some of the Kenyans, it was their first time leaving Africa.
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The players came home determined to build up Kenya’s hockey ecosystem. Today, retired Canadian pro Saroya Tinker is helping the Ice Lions launch a women’s league. And the team has begun a Saturday youth clinic to develop a pipeline of talent for future generations. Currently, as many as 70 kids show up for weekend practices. Carol Kagendo is a trailblazer of women’s hockey in Kenya. She’s played for the Ice Lions for five years and recently began coaching in their youth program.
Despite these challenges, the Ice Lions hope to take part in the first ever African Nations Cup, tentatively scheduled for next June in Cape Town, South Africa. And they plan to work their way up through the many-tiered IIHF World Championship divisions, with the goal of eventually qualifying for the Olympics. “Nothing is impossible,” says Mburu.
Since its formation in 2016, the Kenya Ice Lions has become more than just a hockey game for the players and their supporters.
The Team's Background and Aspirations
The team is made up of “people from very humble backgrounds, and people from the worldlier side of life,” says 30-year-old Ice Lions captain, Benjamin Mburu, who works as an architect and construction manager. Many of the team members are still students; some are unemployed. The sport has also been a lifeline for players like 21-year-old Chumbana Likiza Muhusini, who grew up in one of the city’s harshest slums. None of that matters on the ice. “No one cares about who came from where,” Mburu says.
Last year Kenya became the fifth African nation and just the second sub-Saharan nation to join the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the global professional body for the sport. It took nearly a decade for the Ice Lions to achieve that recognition.
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Just out of high school, Hamisi Mwachofu is one of the Ice Lions’ youngest members.
“It’s really growing… I was there when it started. And I am still here for the development and recruitment, we are growing,” said Mburu, who also helps with training the juniors on ice.
“We are just starting out as amateurs, but we have the heart to train, we will rise, we will never give up! We never give up! Until we raise Kenya’s flag on ice hockey rinks abroad.
“As Jayden, I want to play in the Winter Olympics in ice hockey to represent our country,” added another teenager Jayden Keith, who also divides his time between the rink and school.
The ultimate goal of the Kenya Ice Lions is to reach the Olympics, and they are working tirelessly to achieve it. However, the drive to get better has not overshadowed the fun part of their sport.
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Olympics.com followed the inspiring journey of Mike Carlos Otieno from Nairobi’s Korogocho ghetto to Kenya's iconic ice hockey team.
“For me coming from Korogocho to play here, you experience life differently. In the ghetto… There is too much stress. but once you are here there is a relief. It’s just you and your teammates, concentrating on the game.
From the Ghetto to the Ice Hockey Rink
Otieno grew up in this shanty area, which is estimated to be home to close to 200,000, packed into an area of about 1.5 square kilometres. According to the Global Hunger Index, it is one of the most overpopulated slums in the Kenyan capital.
“Back home, there are people who would never believe me if I told them I play ice hockey. But after I watched it on TV, I was keen to try it, also because it wasn’t popular here.
“My boys back in my hood tell me, ‘Big up man, remember us!’ And indeed, once I make it, I must take the game back to the ghetto. For them to know that if you put in the hard work, it pays off… But what also makes me like ice hockey more is the ability to bring people together.
“Everybody has a different dream when it comes to something so special as this. For the Kenyans, they want to go places with this. They want to get to higher levels, compete internationally.
In recent years, roller skaters have become a common sight on streets in Kenya’s sunny capital of Nairobi. Almost all of them have mastered the art at a car park in downtown Nairobi, where every Sunday flocks of skaters gather to skate and play ball hockey.
“Then a few more of them, the same year [2018], went to Canada and played with the best ice hockey players in the world, and the interest went through the roof. It sparked the desire to develop ice hockey in Kenya, a tropical country known for its long distance-running prowess, to the ‘next level’.
“Why ice hockey?
“It’s the uniqueness of the sport.
“I did roller speed skating and won many national titles.
“We have about 30 seniors and the kids programme is growing. We had about 12 kids.
He continued: “A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. This is our first step. When I started playing hockey, I only had my shin guards. But I am now all kitted.
“I remember there was a time a puck hit me here, and I nearly blacked out. Watching the players go through their paces, they, in so many ways, embody the commitment, patience, and responsibility needed to grow the game.
“It wasn’t easy getting started as I was still a student. I couldn't even afford the bus fare from home to the ice rink.
He enjoyed watching players skate down the middle of the makeshift ice hockey rink. “I was like, ‘So we also have ice here [in Kenya]!’ But that’s when I began dreaming of playing on ice. I didn’t stand a chance, though. Whenever I came to the rink here, they would ask me, ‘So who are you?’ I’d say, ‘I am Carlos, and I really like this game’.
“I am now 21, I still have a chance.
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Much of the team's gear comes from donations.
The team has won various club tournaments and friendlies against a local group of expats.
In the past year, team captain Benjamin Mburu has led the squad to three wins at international tournaments.
Coach Tim Colby spent a decade leading minor leaguers in his native Canada.
As with many of the Ice Lions, Mike Otieno’s hockey career began on in-line skates as a kid. Now he works as a skating instructor at the Panari ice rink when he’s not training.
Neha Wadekar divides her time between London and Nairobi, where she reported this story.
On a recent Wednesday, the arena echoed with the thud of hockey sticks and bodies colliding with the boards. From the bench, players shouted at their teammates in Swahili as they faced off in a five-a-side scrimmage on a rink just a quarter of the size of a regulation National Hockey League rink.
A vast divide exists in Kenya between the rich and poor, but here in Nairobi ice hockey is helping to bridge the gap.
Coach Tim Colby spent a decade leading minor leaguers in his native Canada. Unsurprisingly, Colby says the group’s greatest hurdle comes down to the cost of ice time in Nairobi: At $100 an hour, it’s too expensive. And the rink is too small. On top of that, the Ice Lions-both players and staff-are all volunteers, and it’s tough to run a full-time, professional sports team on a volunteer basis, Colby says.
The feeling of elation was beyond words.
This table summarizes the key milestones and achievements of the Kenya Ice Lions:
| Year | Milestone/Achievement |
|---|---|
| 2006 | Beginnings at Nairobi’s lone rink |
| 2016 | Team informally formed by skating instructors |
| 2018 | Team travels to Canada for training and documentary |
| Last Year | Kenya joins the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) |
| Recent | Benjamin Mburu leads the team to three wins at international tournaments |
Lions on ice: How hockey came to Kenya - BBC Africa
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