South Korea warming up to hockey as Games near
As the Pyeongchang Olympics approach in February, South Korean organizers and fans are pinning most of their attention on a handful of sports. South Koreans have been dominant in short-track speedskating, and they have one of the world’s best twoman bobsled teams. Many eyes also will be on figure skating, which has been a sensation here since Yuna Kim won gold in 2010. But ice hockey? Suffice it to say South Korea doesn’t have much of an international profile in the sport. This will be the first Olympics for the men’s hockey team, and South Korea qualified for the tournament because it’s the host nation. A respectable showing for the world’s 21st-ranked team should be the most anyone could expect.
Just don’t tell that to Jim Paek, the South Korean-born former NHL player who has been running the nation’s hockey program since 2014. He’s willing to set the bar higher.
“We just prepare to try to win every game, just like any team does,” Paek, 50, said after opening the team’s offseason training camp in May. “I think if we go in with the mentality of, ‘Let’s just be close,’ we’ll never be able to compete in the Olympics.”
South Korea finished second in Group A in the IIHF Division 1 world championships held in April in Kiev, Ukraine, winning four games and losing one. Group A is the second tier of international hockey but features established programs such as Kazakhstan and Austria. The South Koreans’ top-two showing resulted in an automatic promotion to the top level of international competition — the realm of giants such as the USA, Canada, Russia and Sweden.
That surprising result has made hockey a hot topic in South Korea and started earning Paek comparisons to Guus Hiddink, the Dutch soccer coach revered for bringing host South Korea to the 2002 World Cup semifinals. (Women’s hockey also has been gaining a higher profile, especially after the South Korean team won a highly publicized game against North Korea in April.)
“I think it’s safe to say that the sport of hockey has never been more popular in this country than right now,” said Yoo Jee-ho, a sports writer for South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
“When the team returned from the world championships, the media throng covering their return was huge. And at the center of all that is Jim Paek. He’s a really no-nonsense guy, straightforward with the players. They love playing for him.”
Paek was born in Seoul, but his family emigrated to Toronto when he was 1. He became the first South Korean-born player to appear in the NHL when he made his debut with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990.
He went on to win Stanley Cups with the team in 1991 and 1992 and stuck in the NHL until 1995. After he retired as a player in 2003, Paek began coaching, eventually becoming an assistant for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League.
But South Korea had always been in the back of Paek’s mind. When he got an invitation from the Korea Ice Hockey Association in 2014 to mold the program into something Olympics-worthy, it was hard to refuse.
“It’s always been kind of a dream to come back to your homeland and be a part of the national team program,” Paek said.
Conditions in South Korea were a far cry from those of the NHL when Paek arrived. There were about 120 players, according to the Korea Ice Hockey Association, split between three professional teams in the Asian league and a handful of university squads.
Six U.S.- and Canadian-born players, who were given South Korean citizenship after playing in the nation, were added to the roster. But Paek is quick to point out that the workload is evenly spread out on the team.
Using what he terms “Konglish” — a mix of Korean and English — Paek said his first task was installing a system and a structure for the South Korean players, many of whom had physical skills but lacked a true understanding of the team game.
“They all can get the puck and go a thousand miles an hour, but how do you play away from the puck, how do you play together as a team and how do you play a system?” Paek said. “So I had to start from scratch there.”
Helping Paek behind the bench is another marquee name: Richard Park, the second South Korean-born player in the NHL, who followed Paek into the league in 1994 and played for 14 seasons for six clubs.
Park, 41, was playing professionally in Switzerland when Paek called. Park accepted the offer to join Paek as an assistant.
“I’ve known Jim pretty much the majority of my life,” Park said. “We’ll always be connected because he was the first Korean player in the NHL, and I truly am of the belief that he made the pathway for myself a lot easier and smoother.”
While the Olympics are the main focus for the coming months, Paek also is looking further afield, dreaming of developing South Korea into a nation of hockey players.
There are nearly 1,800 boys and girls younger than 12 playing hockey in South Korea, and Paek is hoping the Olympics will spark a new craze.
“There’s lots of interest now. There’s lots of kids playing hockey,” Paek said. “We just have to find a way to keep them playing. This area is untapped. When I look at minor hockey here, there’s a lot of skill. If you develop it the right way, I think they could be very good hockey players.”
The men’s team has taken bigger strides than anyone might have imagined a few years ago. But still, is the dream of a Miracle on Ice for the South Koreans on their home soil too far-fetched?
“We have nothing to lose,” Paek said. “Just to go and say, ‘ Ah, it’s good enough to be close.’ That’s not good enough for them anymore.”