TheColorOfHockey

~ Hockey for Fans and Players of Color

TheColorOfHockey

Tag Archives: South Korea

Historic Korea-Swiss Olympic hockey game a family affair for Randi Griffin

10 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

2018 Winter Olympics, North Korea, Randi Griffin, South Korea

Randi Griffin of Korea’s unified women’s Olympic hockey tea (Photo/Korean Ice Hockey Association).

PYEONGCHANG – Presidents don’t usually pay visits to losing teams.

But there was South Korean President Moon Jae-in meeting with the players and coaches of the Korean unified hockey team at their bench after they got routed 8-0 by Switzerland in their opening game at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Moon, accompanied by Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un, and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, chatted and posed for pictures with the team.

Despite the final score, the game was historic – the first time athletes from North and South Korea played on a single team at the Winter Olympics.

The game symbolized the aspirations of many for one Korea – or at least a peaceful coexistence between the North and South.

Thomas Griffin, right, his wife, Elizabeth, and her parents journeyed to Pyeongchang to root for Korean unified women’s team forward Randi Griffin (Photo/Samara Fox).

Randi Griffin bought her family hockey jerseys with her number to wear at the historic game between the Korean unified women’s Olympic hockey team and Switzerland (Photo/Samara Fox).

 

The game was meaningful for the parents of unified team forward Randi Griffin. Thomas and Elizabeth Griffin made the journey from Apex, North Carolina, to watch her play for her mother’s home country.

So did Griffin’s elderly grandparents, who made the trek from Chicago.

Griffin, who played four years at NCAA Division I Harvard University, was recruited by South Korea to play shortly after the country was awarded the 2018 Winter Games.

Embed from Getty Images

South Korean hockey officials sent her an email in 2014 asking if she’d be interested in playing for their Olympic hockey team. She ignored the email for three months, thinking it was a hoax.

Other than their daughter, the Griffins had little to cheer about Saturday night. Swiss forward Alina Muller was a one-woman wrecking crew against the unified squad, scoring four goals.

But that didn’t seem to matter to the partisan crowd of more than 3,000 inside Kwandong Hockey Centre.

Embed from Getty Images

They cheered almost every time the unified team handled or shot the puck.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s hand-picked cheerleaders kept things lively with chants and dances throughout the game.

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey. Download the Color of Hockey podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and Google Play.

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

She’s got Seoul: Toronto’s Danelle Im scores for South Korea’s women’s hockey team

04 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2018 Winter Olympics, IIHF, Ryerson University, South Korea

Danelle Im first thought it was one of those Internet scams, you know, like when the prince from some faraway land sends you a too-good-to-be-true email promising to share his vast stolen fortune if you help him recover it by supplying your bank card or social security numbers.

Danelle Im (Photo/Alex D’Addese).

When Im, a Toronto native, got a message in 2012 inquiring whether she’d be interested in playing hockey for South Korea in the 2018 Winter Olympics, she was a tad skeptical.

Lucky for the 2018 Winter Games host country,  Im did her homework and the former Ryerson University forward joined South Korea’s women’s national team.

She scored a goal Sunday, helping to power South Korea to a 5-1 win over Slovenia in the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship Division II Group A tournament in South Korea.

“Being handed this opportunity – it’s literally been given to me – is extremely humbling,” Im told Ryerson’s Eyeopener in February. “That’s why I want to put up my best effort. This is a gift.”

Her tally was an even-strength goal that came in the third period and extended South Korea’s lead to 4-1.

Im, who recently  finished her first and only season at Toronto’s Ryerson, was one of several hockey players with Korean-sounding last names and living in North America who received invites to help the Asian nation quickly build Olympic-level women’s and men’s ice hockey from teams almost from scratch.

South Korea’s method for filling its Olympic hockey roster isn’t unusual. For example, Jamaica is scouring the United States and Canada for hockey talent of island heritage in hopes of fielding an Olympic ice hockey team in the near future.

Togo, a West African nation, used Facebook to recruit a Togolese-born skier who was raised in the French Alps to be a member of its two-person team for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

And Dominica’s cross country ski team at the 2014 Winter Games was a couple who hailed from Staten Island, New York, not the Caribbean island nation.

Former Ryerson University forward Danelle Im played 20 games for the Rams in 2016-17 (Photo/Alex D’Addese/Ryerson Rams Athletics).

South Korea isn’t known for hockey – its women’s and men’s teams are both ranked 23rd in the world by the IIHF. The country has only 2,591 players, 259 of them women, according to the IIHF

But because PyeongChang, South Korea, is the site of the 2018 Winter Games, the country gets to field men’s and women’s teams to go up against more established hockey powers from North America and Europe.

From Toronto to PyeongChang. Former Ryerson University hockey player Danelle Im is looking forward to facing the world’s best at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea (Photo/Alex D’Addese/ Ryerson Rams Athletics)

So when South Korea put out an all-call to help boost its program pronto, Im was only too happy to sign on  – once she learned that the offer was legit.

“I never dreamed this would happen,” Im, who was born in Toronto to Korean parents, told The New York Times in February.

Im’s goal Sunday matched her output for Ryerson in 2016-17. She had a goal and 3 assists in 20 games for the Rams.

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey.

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • Asian & Pacific Islander heritage players on 2020-21 team rosters in pictures
  • Meet the Black players on NCAA women’s hockey rosters in 2020-21
  • Jaden Lindo adds new chapter to ‘Soul on Ice’ by winning hockey championship
  • Sarah Nurse seeks gold at IIHF world championship after winning Olympic silver
  • Hockey Family Photo Album, Page 2

Archives

  • May 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • April 2013
  • December 2012

Categories

  • John Tortorella
  • nhl.com
  • Uncategorized

Hockey Links

  • American Collegiate Hockey Association
  • Black Ice Book
  • Detroit Hockey Association
  • Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation
  • Fort Dupont Ice Arena
  • Hasek's Heroes
  • Hockey is for Everyone
  • Hockeyland Canada
  • Ice Hockey in Harlem
  • International Ice Hockey Federation
  • Jamaica Olympic Ice Hockey Federation
  • Kevin Weekes Online
  • NHL official website
  • NHL Uniforms
  • Ted's Take
  • The American Hockey League
  • The ECHL
  • TSN
  • USA Hockey

Powered by WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: