The Chinese team has been delayed in Auckland and is not expected to arrive in Dunedin until 4pm today.
The game will not start until 8pm, an hour later than planned.
New Zealand ice hockey came of age when the Ice Blacks beat Australia 5-4 at the Winter Games two years ago.
New Zealand first played Australia in 1987 but this was the first time it had beaten its transtasman rival.
Australia drew level at 4-all with just 7min 39 seconds left and Dunedin's Paris Heyd scored the winning goal with 4min 30 sec remaining.
The hero for New Zealand that night was goal tender Zak Nothling, of Auckland, who had an outstanding game and made 44 saves. He was the dominant player in the game.
The winning goal to win the series in the shootout 2-0 was scored by Queenstown's Brett Speirs who was one of the oldest members of the Ice Blacks.
Australia convincingly won the first test 8-2 and looked to have the series sewn up.
But the Ice Blacks came out firing to win the second test and then clinched the series by winning the shootoff 2-0.
The memory of that historic win will be etched firmly in the minds of the New Zealand team when it faces China and Australia over the next four days.
Key players from that win still in the Ice Blacks are Nothling (22), Heyd (20), Speirs (28), Braden Lee (27) and Chris Eaden (20).
Australia won the division 2, Group A, world championships in Melbourne in April this year and New Zealand finished runner-up in the tournament.
It was the first time that the Ice Blacks had won a silver medal in a division 2 world championship.
In that tournament, Australia beat New Zealand 2-0.
A key game for the Ice Blacks was against Mexico, which was won 5-0. Nothling was named the best goal tender of the tournament.
A milestone was reached in the tournament by Corey Down (33) who played his 50th game for the Black Sticks against Mexico.
The Winter Games will be a useful guide for the Black Sticks who play in the division 2, Group D, world championships at Reykjavik, Iceland, next April.
Australia has lost to New Zealand only once and will not be keen for a repeat at the Winter Games.
A key player in the Australian team is Brian Bales, who scored 33 goals and had 29 assists for Newcastle in this year's Australian league.
Another key player is Scott Corbett, who scored 20 goals and had 19 assists in the Australian league.
China should not be underestimated because it was ranked 38th in the world when it finished fifth in division 2, group B, at last year's world championships.
Tonight will be the first time that New Zealand has played China in ice hockey.
The New Zealand senior men's ice hockey team was formed in 1987 to compete in the International Ice Hockey Federation's D Pool Championship in Perth, Australia.
The team won the bronze medal behind Australia and Korea.
For several years New Zealand was in the hockey wilderness with no opportunity to compete and qualification rounds out of reach because of cost.
Since 1995 the New Zealand team has competed on an international level at the world championships or qualifying rounds every year.
In 1999 the team adopted the name the New Zealand Ice Blacks.
Ice hockey:The details
Venue: Dunedin Ice Stadium.
Teams: Australia, China, New Zealand.
Schedule: Tonight, NZ v China (8pm); tomorrow, Australia v China (7pm); Friday, NZ v Australia (7pm); Saturday, semifinal (5pm); Sunday, final (2pm).
