New Hamburg native on Olympic home team
Radunske suits up for South Korean hockey team
When the Canadian and South Korean Olympic men’s hockey teams face off on Feb. 18, who will you be cheering for?
A simple question for Canadians but a complicated one for anyone who knows New Hamburg’s Brock Radunske. The 34-year-old forward, a veteran star of South Korean team Anyang Halla in Asia League Ice Hockey, will suit up for the Games host after getting citizenship in 2013.
“I’m cheering for Brock, but rooting for Canada,” said Shirley Koehle, a former teacher of his at Forest Glen public school.
“I’ll be conflicted watching that one,” added Fay Steckley, his aunt, who will be in Pyeonchang.
Another person in attendance for the game — as well as all others preceding and following the Canada showdown — is Brock’s brother, Chadwick.
“I am truly in awe of Brock’s dedication, through hardship and extreme recovery to compete at the highest level in the world,” said Chadwick.
From a recent hockey-related standpoint, Radunske’s dedication to the game was seen during his recovery from hip surgery months prior to the Olympics. But, as audiences of the W5 and TSN feature that aired on Feb. 3 know, Radunske’s biggest recovery has been a personal one.
In 2001, the Radunske family faced a terrible tragedy. Connie, the mother of Brock, Chadwick and their two sisters, was struck by a vehicle while out for a run. She lost the vision in her right eye and took significant damage to the frontal lobe of her brain.
Brock came home from university in Michigan as fast as he could, when he heard the news, to find his mother a significantly different person.
She struggled to deal with other people and with making decisions. She would suffer from severe anxiety. She could remember her family, but no longer felt the same loving connection for them.
“It was such a tragedy the day she was in the accident,” said Koehle. “It was a lot to deal with as a family, but they had such wonderful support from their father, Bob.”
Six months after the accident, Bob and Connie travelled to Toronto to see their son chosen in the third round of the NHL draft to Edmonton.
Radunske struggled in the minor leagues for a number of years before getting an offer to play professionally in South Korea in 2008.
During this time, Connie continued to struggle with her brain injuries. She eventually moved out and left her family behind. Even though she was still alive, they were told by doctors to treat this as if the person they knew had passed away.
“Bob made sure to get and keep the family together during those tough times,” said Steckley, Connie’s sister. “All the siblings and their families will and still get together every summer at their cottages.”
Then, years later, Connie started to show signs that she was coming back.
The family could tell her sense of humour had returned by how she laughed over the phone. She started to reach out to them more. Both Brock and his wife, Kelly, were astonished when she sent Christmas cards to them and their grandchildren, signed: “Love Grandma.”
But, in April of last year, tragedy struck again with the passing of the family’s rock, Bob Radunske.
“Not only did he provide such great support for the family, he was Brock’s hockey coach growing up,” said Steckley. “It’s very sad that he wasn’t able to see Brock play in the Olympics.”
This past September, Connie travelled to Austria with the help of Chadwick to watch Brock compete in a pre-Olympic tournament with the South Korean team. Travelling was always something she struggled with after the accident, so to make this trip was “a sign that she had come around,” according to Brock.
While she won’t make the trip to South Korea, Connie will still be watching from her home in Ontario, rooting for Canada, but cheering on her son.