ICE HOCKEY STARS
TWO local Olympic hopefuls of the future are in South Korea this week as part of a major international ice hockey tournament.
Owen Winters and Conor Daly are part of the 16 strong Irish under 13 Junior Development Team - “The Saints” - who have travelled to Seoul for the inaugural 2018 Commemorative Imjin-Pyeongchang International Youth Ice Hockey Tournament, ahead of the Pyeongchang 2018 winter Olympics in February.
The team, made up of boys and girls will compete against teams from countries such as Russia, Japan, Canada and Korea, despite the fact that they have no permanent ice rink in the Republic of Ireland.
Indeed, their only ‘on ice’ practice takes place for a few weeks each year when the pop up ice ranks appear for Christmas!
But that does not stop the dedicated crew from training and during the winter they can be on the road at 5am to grab some ice time somewhere in the country!
The international tournament runs from 18-21 January and also marks the 65th anniversary of the end of the Korean War. The event has been organised by Somang Hockey who are based in Terrebone, Canada.
The Saints have been partitally sponsored by Kiwi Media in Korea and local businesses around Ireland have also given great support to the team - without this support travel would simply not be possible.
The venues for the tournament will be Paju and Goyang with the Saints playing their games in Goyang.
The sport of Ice Hockey is not supported or funded by the Irish Government even though numerous applications have been put forward over the years and since the closure of Dundalk Ice rink almost eight years ago the players can only look forward to limited ice time.
For most of the year, they have no choice but to practice in-line hockey in order to develop their skills and feed their hunger for the sport.
Along with the IIHA, the coaches and parents alike tirelessly promote the sport and the need for permanent ice in Ireland through fundraising and constant campaigning in the hope that one day Ireland may have at least one rink to play professional Ice Hockey on home soil.
The association would love to see an ice rink built in Ireland - and given the Drogheda connection - this might be an ideal location!