Meet the Ice Lions: Kenya's only ice hockey team

STORY: Players in Kenya's only ice hockey team have to get creative about their training.

The equatorial country has just one skating rink, which is not always available.

To make up for a lack of "ice time", architect Benjamin Mburu and his Kenya Ice Lions teammates swap skates for roller blades and train on the rooftops.

"But also we learn from online sites, there are online coaching tutorials and also now for the training we sometimes resolve to inline hockey which is more or less similar to ice hockey and that way we get to learn more stick handling, how to move the ball, how to move the puck, how to position yourself."

When they can, the Ice Lions hone their skills on the ice at Nairobi's Panari Hotel.

But Kenya also has a lack of coaches.

The team relies on expatriate volunteers, like head coach Tim Colby.

"When I coach here I realize the kids pick it up faster, they are a little bit hungrier, they want to succeed, they want to try this new sport, and you know if we have forty or fifty people playing ice hockey, they are one of forty and fifty people in a country of forty plus million, so it's very special, they are very unique."

As the only team in Kenya, games are usually organized between themselves.

Though they have played friendlies against teams from the United States and Canada.

Mburu hopes that eventually Kenya can join the International Ice Hockey Federation - giving the Ice Lions the chance to roar on a more global stage.