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Jim Paek, Sarah Murray, and the South Korean Hockey Teams


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Going to be very interesting how the men's and women's South Korean ice hockey teams will fare against the best of the best, mostly Canada, the USA, and the European powers, being the second Asian nation to host the Winter Olympics outside of Japan. And how the Seoul-born 2x Stanley Cup winner Paek (with the Pittsburgh Penguins) will lead the men and run the overall KIHA program. Thanks to KIHA presenting a comprehensive four-year plan to intensify the game's development and progress in South Korea, the IIHF granted both the men's and women's team automatic entry as hosts as the last seed partly because of the need to expand and expose further awareness of ice hockey and the growth of the sport there in Asia. Like with the NHL. At least Japan had some serious international practice over the years at the top level by being at the World Ice Hockey Championships getting the sole Asian spot until over a decade. But they always finished at or near last place there. Sure there's a domestic league and an Asian League. But South Korea (and much of Asia), ranked 23rd among 49 national men's teams in the IIHF rankings, has ways to go with South Korea lacking the top level international ice hockey pedigree in its daunting task. Not like field hockey here, where there is some strong international pedigree. In short South Korean ice hockey is behind the eight ball, as Paek says, and prepare.

Obviously won't be medal faves; it's also wise to focus on the grassroots too for the long terms. They just wish to be competitive with minimal blowouts. One issue I read of why South Korea hadn't been at the top level and competitive there is many of its promising players had to enlist in the military service, effectively killing any further opportunity at a time for improvement. Seems as though they always are stuck being with the Australians, the Lithuanians, Chinese, the Brits, the Kiwis, the Dutch, the Kazaks, the Hungarians, the Japanese, and the Croatians. Having an NHL player in it during this span will help, as Croatia just did in Borna Randulic with the Colorado Avalanche. That, like Anze Kopitar for Slovenia as a 2x Stanley Cup winner for the LA Kings, would be a best-case scenario in such a short amount of time.

Because of that serious gap in talent, the women will get hit hard. Korean Ice Hockey Association just named its coach back in November in 27-year old Sarah Murray, daughter of NHL Hall of Famer coach Andy Murray, to a two-year contract. And her big challenge as coach like with any non-traditional and inexperienced women's ice hockey nation is building up a professionalized, competitive team and do everything involved building with the young women's program while focusing on short-term success. Good news for both is time on their side to be competitive.

http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=9122&cHash=2c97e4185e1bbeb22d592cba80b33af4

http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=9182&cHash=9f024abeab1e887de0e2d92aa7d447db

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/sports/hockey/jim-paek-is-building-south-korean-hockey-program.html?_r=0

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  • 3 months later...

South Korea is right now playing in Eindhoven, Netherlands at the Ice Sports Centre for the IIHF World Ice Hockey Men's Tournament D1 Group B division. At 3 games, Jim Paek's guys are 2-1 with very strong wins over Estonia (7-3) and hosts Netherlands (7-1) before falling to Great Britain 3-2. Had a 2-0 lead before standing leaders Team GB stormed back. Next game up is Lithuania Saturday.

The women played in Dumfries, England for the women's D2 Group A level in late March-early April. South Korea finished third behind promoted Kazakhstan and Great Britain. Started rough with the first two losses but got much better with wins against Poland, New Zealand, and Croatia.

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South Korea wins promotion to 2016 IIHF Division 1A after beating 9-4 on Croatia and waiting for Lithuania knock off Great Britain 3-2 with only a point separating the two teams coming in on the final day of competition in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The hosts Dutch, by the way, were relegated.

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  • 8 months later...

Some interesting developments involving South Korean ice hockey have occurred lately since my last post here as we keep look forward to Pyongchang.

South Korea's U20 men's national team, coached by Paek, got relegated to the 2017 Group B Division II last month in Elektrenai, Lithuania after a winless campaign after five games that saw two of its games head into overtime (The Netherlands and hosts Lithuania) in a tournament that saw Hungary dominate on Lithuania, Estonia, South Korea, Croatia, and The Netherlands and win promotion. We may see some of these players came up from these ranks in a couple of years.

Seoul could very well get a team in the KHL come 2017 or 2018 after Beijing enters next season as part of the Russian-dominated league's Asian expansion. If done right and can drum sufficient interest, it can be a tremendous boon to the sport's development in the nation with hopes of boosting the program and interest and thus may end up calling the proposed 20,000-seat Seoul Arena home eventually. May serve as first claim for the league before the NHL drums up re-interest in the Asian market by Pyongchang, assuming if the NHL allows its players to compete in the Olympics again.

The South Koreans were competitive but didn't win a game in their Euro Ice Hockey Challenge appearance in Katowice, Poland early November against Poland, Austria (2-1 loss in overtime), and Slovenia.

There's already a KHL and South Korea connection with Vladivostock Admiral selecting Korean forward Chong Hyun Lee, who's currently not on the national team, in the 2013 draft. In the Asia League Ice Hockey, there's 3 teams from South Korea: Anyang Halla, Daemyung Sangmu Seoul, and High1.

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  • 3 months later...

The South Korean men score a historic first-ever win over Japan 3-0 that supplants the Japanese, who are now winless in 3 games and must fight for survival with the likes of Italy and Poland, as the undisputed best East Asian team at the D1 Group A IIHF Tournament in Katowice, Poland today. Certainly the South Korean program came a long way after losing 25-0 to Japan in their first official game together back in 1982 in Jaca, Spain in the C-Pool and moved up gradually since.

What also helps them has been the better and more frequent competition like in the Asia League with more roster for South Korean ice hockey to develop South Korean hockey players (especially younger ones) and the influx of 6 South Korean-based pro hockey players in recent years that were eventually naturalized and short term-wise improves the national fortunes. South Korea is at 2-1, tied with Austria

http://wmia2016.iihf.com/en/games/2016-04-26/kor-vs-jpn/#recap

This is one of these naturalized South Korean players with an eye on Pyongchang. Meet #1 goalie and Clinton, Ontario native Matt Dalton:

http://wmia2016.iihf.com/en/news/koreas-hope-in-the-net/

South Korea's women also improved under Sarah Murray earlier this month. Finishing a strong second in Bled, Slovenia behind Poland (but ahead of Great Britain) in a goal differential tiebreaker despite sharing the same record. Losing only to Poland but beating North Korea, Slovenia, Great Britain, and winless Croatia. But the South Koreans don't get promoted to next year's Division I Group B that their Polish counterparts did.


There are plans to bring a fourth South Korean-based Asia League club in the Pyongchang/Gangneung area to use one of the Olympic venues after the Winter Olympics. Daemyung Sangmu was formed with hockey players having to serve in the South Korean Army. All three South Korean-based Asia League club teams play in Seoul region

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  • 8 months later...

South Korea's men were a surprise winner in the 5-team Budapest Euro Ice Hockey Challenge back in November over Austria, Hungary, Italy, Denmark, and Poland during the international break that month. Beat Hungary in the final:

http://wmia2017.iihf.com/en/news/korea-wins-in-budapest/

Come April, South Korea will take part in the 2017 IIHF World Ice Hockey Championships Division I Group A in Kyiv, Ukraine with hosts Ukraine, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Kazakhstan. All games will be at Kyiv's longstanding Palace of Sport. Given that South Korea just won the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge, with several of these same nations it's facing again, it's increasingly hard not to take South Korea seriously, even if it winds up falling just short of the top two spots for advancement to the top level. If Jim Paek's guys do accomplish this, a great, unprecedented achievement obviously is made in time for 2018 and to further build upon it for Asian ice hockey as a whole.

There's been one South Korean player who witnessing the positive culture change towards the national team in many ways brought upon by Paek and his fellow Korean-descended former NHL player in Richard Park (Minnesota Wild) as his assistant. And that person is veteran forward and team leader Kisung Kim from Seoul and Asia League's Anyang Halla. Even played pro hockey in the CHL with the Tulsa Oilers and Finland second division team Metsis. His story is nothing new to any rising hockey nation like South Korea's:

http://wmia2017.iihf.com/en/news/part-of-the-change/

To further assure the South Koreans put their best foot forward competition-wise against the pedigreed big boys and avoid being embarassed at home that could negatively impact the sport publicly, it's got six Canadians and one American under South Korean passports to qualify for the national team while playing professionally for South Korean clubs after stints in the NHL, KHL, AHL, and various European pro leagues. They also provide much-needed size to an Asian squad built on speed. And there's emerging younger local talent coming:

http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/hired-guns-south-korea-has-loaded-up-on-canadian-hockey-talent-ahead-of-hosting-the-2018-olympics

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  • 5 months later...

The good times keep rolling for South Korean ice hockey as they continue to improve on the world scene leading up to being the Pyeongchang hosts and hopefully beyond. I will get more details about the latest exploits next week. But South Korea actually won a stunning promotion to the ultimate level of IIHF hockey in Kiev, Ukraine for the first time ever with Austria next year bound for Denmark, becoming the first Asian nation at that level Japan in 1998-2004 with the South Koreans now overtaking the Japanese as the top Asian ice hockey nation. 

South Korea is now ranked 22nd with 1915 points in the IIHF Women's World Ranking, up a spot ahead of the British women who tumbled two spots after the Women's World Ice Hockey Championships in multiple levels.

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  • 7 months later...

Yeah, the story's true about the North Korea sending its women's hockey players to join with their South Korean counterparts in a spirit of unity and potential reconciliation to make it more like just living up the simple Korea name on the front of their jerseys. I'm aware that Ikarus and BTHartner already speak about this in a separate thread and read about their posts. Icy reaction from the public, particularly from older, more conservative South Koreans who bitterly endured the Korean War and its antagonistic legacy afterward toward Pyongyang and even plenty of younger ones, was to happen. Why the women's hockey program selected for this? Jim Paek's men's team don't really need this reunification tactic since the gap between the South Korean men's hockey team and the North Koreans in talent is wider, even when excluding the Canadian and American imports to deepen the team. That team is on the rapid asendency internationally and already is the best Asian team.

Hate to be Sarah Murray right now with all that pressure from the South Korean Sports Ministry, the Blue House, and the Korean Hockey Federation, among others. Such a impossible spot she and her staff are under while trying not to make this a political statement themselves. The team, while improving, is carrying such a bitter burden and certainly caught them by surprise with the announcement and reportedly being displeased over this. I understand why several of the South Korean players would be upset over "this sudden decision" for at this very late stage toward the start of Pyeongchang 2018 having worked so hard for several years with a moment of glory in their grasp as BTH says some young overachievers and teen newcomers who could build upon it in the later years' Olympic afterglow after battling injuries and endured long commutes and punishing training along with the tormenting embarrassment of blowout losses during these 4 years as they got better. What would the team chemistry be like? Turns really delicate more so. Really and realistically, only a few NK players, if any, are reasonably close to being any comparable talent level to the South Koreans when many of the latter are scrapping very hard for a cherished Olympic roster spot and ice time. Now they got these North Koreans coming and joining? Seems unfair to the South Korean players; If they possessed comparable or better talent when stacking up against what's already present in South Korea, OK. This should've been planned better and much earlier, say 2-3 years earlier to better identify promising North Korean hockey talent and allow time for nurturing and improve that said North Korean talent, even though the South Korean women are 3 spots above North Korea with 200 more points just shy of the top 20 in the IIHF rankings at #22 but both are moving up placings:     

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2018/01/16/0401000000AEN20180116010500315.html?sns=tw

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-northkorea-icehockey/plan-for-joint-olympics-team-with-north-gets-icy-reception-in-south-korea-idUSKBN1F50E8

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/sports/olympics/south-korea-hockey-north-olympics.html

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  • 4 weeks later...

The joint Korean women's hockey team's Olympic journey is almost over with all the controversy and rank underdog status against higher level talent surrounding them. Getting clobbered in goal differential. But they finally scored a goal against Asian rivals Japan thanks to Randi Griffin in the first period that brought tremendous celebrations in Kwandong. However, it was the more top internationally experienced Japan that got the better of them 4-1 in the classification round. One more match is ahead for Korea as they face (and will certainly lose to) a very disappointing Sweden, heartbroken following an overtime loss to said Japan, to avoid the dreaded 8th place cellar. There will be more to come here about my thoughts on the joint Korean squad including before the politics even emerged; you just know a book will be soon written about them... 

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  • 1 month later...

South Korea's time hosting the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics may be over for a couple of months now. But that doesn't mean the South Korean men's and women's hockey journey certainly isn't. In fact, it's still continuing and hopefully use what they recently learned. On May 5, there's just as big a test with South Korea making its IIHF top level debut now as the best Asian team placed in Group B for the Jyske Boxen Arena in Herning, Denmark facing even tougher competition than what they endured with many fresh from the NHL regular season. Jim Paek's team is grouped with Finland, hosts Denmark, Canada, USA, Norway, Germany, and Latvia. Its hope here? Just avoid relegation back to Division I and perhaps steal a win or two.

As for the women, the team, now just South Korea again instead of the controversially-assembled unified Korean women's team, are already playing in Asiago, Italy to further build upon what they did in February--and score more than two goals versus Japan and Sweden. And none of those designated North Korean cheerleaders! And, yeah, the goals are certainly there for South Korea with wins to Kazakhstan (2-1) to start the comp and hosts Italy (3-2) today with a loss to a perhaps inspired China (2-1, all scoring in the second period) in between. Latvia and Poland are next and can leapfrog over leaders Italy. Far cry from what they dealt with elite squads, but this young team is gradually getting better.

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South Korea's women were the only team to defeat hosts Italy in this Asiago-hosted tournament...but they fell short by one point from earning their second straight promotion and building further from the Pyeongchang experience and coming out of it on fire. They had to settle for second place behind promoted Italy that won 1-0 over China. Italy now goes to the IIHF WWC Division I Group A. Captain Jongah Park (4 goals, 3 assits) and goal-scoring leader Yoonjung Park (5+0) finished behind Italy's Eleonora Dalpra in overall player points. The South Koreans actually came into Saturday after its big thrashing on Poland 11-2 to be ahead of Italy at 11 points at and a record of 3-1-0-1, putting Italy in a must-win situation in the evening versus China. Before that, they also clamped down on Latvia 5-1.

For South Korea, there will be a brand new opponent next year for them to pounce with the Dutch to easily defeat in heading back to the higher level:

http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=12513&cHash=8d2e28393d2fd4d964079cd0ee436229

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  • 3 weeks later...

South Korea lands in Herning, Denmark and--in a welcome to the IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship elite level competition moment--get blasted and almost blanked by the Finnish today on Cinco De Mayo, save for naturalized Canadian-South Korean Michael Smith's breakaway. Team Finland (or Suomi, if you prefer) led by game star Sebastian Aho tied a IIHF WC record in having three shorthanded goals in one game as South Korea gave up too many power-play and shorthanded goals for them to stay competitive with getting outshot at goal by Finland 45-9 on goalie Matt Dalton. Needless to say, they're getting a major dose of what this level is like, what it takes to stay there, and what this team needs to improve and be deeper in the future. Pedigree matters here:    

https://www.new-iihf.com/en/events/2018/wm/news/2343/aho-s-star-shines-bright

No depth or firepower to seriously match what the bigger, better, and far more experienced powers have in their group to make it impactfully competitive in this level, even with the motivation that coach Jim Paek can muster. Their sudden rise leading up to Pyeongchang 2018 in international ice hockey is impressive, and that preparation from that and before will help them better somewhat here when they plan to attack in Denmark as debutants. Speed and pace are other aspects they still can't cope with even having Dalton as the last line of the South Korean defense:

https://www.new-iihf.com/en/events/2018/wm/news/2206/korea-wants-to-stay

 

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  • 3 years later...

No unified women's hockey team this time with the North Koreans. Plus this South Korean women's hockey team has changed lots since hosting in Pyeongchang with of course the coronavirus pandemic forcing them not see the ice together for a lengthy stretch (two years). The team is now much younger--at 25 Jongah Park is the oldest player on the roster--and filled with some talented teenagers and early twentysometings like Sihyun Kang, Seohyung Kwak, and 16-year old goalies Inhye Jang and Yejin Lee while maintaining some Pyeongchang holdovers like Hee Won Kim with her strong performance from 2019. Kang and Kwak already have tasted some hockey time in Canada and the USA, so that helps. Also bring the passion and tenacity. Ice hockey's South Korean national profile is bigger thanks to Pyeongchang hosting the last Winter Olympics and earning support but still limited. Starting today through Sunday in Nottingham, England they will face Great Britain, Slovenia, and Iceland at the Olympic Pre-Qualification Round 2 Group F tournament in Great Britain's Midlands region for continuing on the road to one of the final 3 Olympic open spots and will likely face even stronger comp in Germany, Norway, and Hungary. This tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Gangneung, South Korea before being moved to Nottingham due to COVID-19. South Korean women are hungry for more Olympic action and build upon Pyeongchang:

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/ogqp2f/news/29014/hungry_for_more

UPDATE: South Korea just won their first game against Slovenia 3-0 today.

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South Korea's women get to play some more games in the final stage before Beijing despite Great Britain, the hosts and top seed, winning the final game 1-0. The British lost out in Nottingham because of goal differential that required them to win by at least two goals to prevent a tiebreaker favoring South Korea:

South Korea is now in the group with Sweden, France, and Slovakia--good luck with that, especially Sweden that regressed recently but motivated to regain its international women's ice hockey prominence: 

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/ogqp2f/news/29194/kor_gbr

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  • 8 months later...

As expected with the significant roster turnover on the South Korean women's national ice hockey team, they did not qualify of course for Beijing and build upon their Olympic ice hockey debut. Sweden, France, and Slovakia were all just too strong and experienced for them. Having three East Asian teams in the mix would've been not just historic but also a statement about women's ice hockey development in the region. 

Some sad news from the South Korean ice hockey community: long-time South Korean national team forward Minho Cho died of lung cancer today at the age of 35 after an 8-month battle. He competed for the men’s national team between 2008 and 2021 including 11 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments and one Olympic Winter Games. Between 2008 and 2019 he only missed one event, in 2009. After graduating at Korea University, Cho spent his pro career in the Asia League with Anyang Halla and Sangmu and was considered one of the best centers in South Korean hockey history. He won five Asia League championships and was among his club teams’ scoring leaders during the peak of his career.

Cho was part of the historic team that earned promotion to the top level at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A as first-line centre. The year after he was part of the first South Korean men’s ice hockey team at the Olympic Winter Games on home ice in Pyeongchang and months later at the top-level 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Denmark. Was South Korea’s best face-off player by the numbers, and on February 15, 2018 he wrote history in his team’s first game at the 2018 Winter Olympics watched by thousands of fans at Gangneung Hockey Centre and many more on TV. At 7:34 of the first period he became the first South Korean player to score a goal in Olympic men’s ice hockey history when his shot went past a screened Czech goalkeeper Pavel Francouz to give Korea the lead in a tight 2-1 loss, cementing his legend status in the South Korean game. Like Sidney Crosby, Cho wore number 87 on his jersey, signifying his year of birth. In his last international games he represented South Korea as team captain in the Final Olympic Qualification for Beijing 2022 at the group played in Norway in August 2021 despite his mounting health issues. Only a few weeks later his teammates would learn that he was suffering from the lung cancer that would later claim him following a diagnosis after returning from a hockey camp in the United States in October.

https://www.iihf.com/en/news/37091/remembering_minho_cho

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