The Korean women’s ice hockey team, which successfully promoted to the second division (Division 1 League A) of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championship for the first time in history, has two 17-year-old players.
Defender Kim Tae-yeon and goalie Chun Hyo-seo, born in 2006, are the main characters.
Among them, Kim Tae-yeon participated in all 5 games of the 3rd Division (Division 1 League B) of the World Championships held at the Gwanggyo Ice Rink in Suwon last month, helping the Korean national team win all 5 matches.
Kim Tae-yeon, who started playing ice hockey at the age of 6 and was active as a player in Korea, went to Canada to study hockey in her second year of middle school at the insistence of her parents to improve her skills.
She is currently a key player on the team at Rossey Neederwood, a prestigious ice hockey school in New Brunswick, Canada.
In the team’s 32 games this season, he scored 25 offensive points with 11 goals and 14 assists.
Kim Tae-yeon, who was selected as the Korean women’s ice hockey team for two consecutive years from last year to this year, showed an impressive appearance in the competition held in her hometown.
Even though he did not score a goal, he assisted Kim Hee-won’s winning goal in the final game against Kazakhstan, which was promoted to the second division.
Kim Tae-yeon, who recorded two assists in five World Championship games, returned to Canada as soon as the tournament was over.
In a phone interview with Yonhap News on the 2nd, Kim Tae-yeon said, “It’s a pity that we couldn’t show everything we prepared, but the team achieved good results, so I think it was a good time.”
He continued, “I’m shy, so it was difficult to adapt to the national team at first, but my older sisters were really good at it, so I opened my heart.”
At the end of this semester, Kim Tae-yeon will transfer to Shattuck Saint Mary High School, another prestigious ice hockey school in Minnesota, USA.
Shattuck Saint Mary High School is famous for being the home school of numerous North American Ice Hockey League (NHL) players.
Canadian ice hockey hero Sidney Crosby is from here, and coach Sarah Murray, who led the unified women’s ice hockey team between South and North Korea at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, also graduated from this school.안전놀이터
Kim Tae-yeon said, “I will work hard to settle down in hockey at my new school, and the same will be true when I go to university next year. I want to hear people say, ‘You’re Korean, but you’re doing really well and working hard.’ I want to be of any help to the development of hockey in Korea.” revealed
Kim Do-yoon, head coach of the women’s ice hockey team, calls Kim Tae-yeon the ‘future of Korean women’s hockey’ without hesitation.
He explained, “He is a player with tremendous potential. It usually takes three to four years for a female player to show her skills at the adult national team world championships, and that is why Kim Tae-yeon, a second-year player, was included.”
Kim Tae-yeon’s greatest strengths, which Director Kim picks, are her aggressive tendencies and her thick guts.
Coach Kim said, “In preparation for the last game against Kazakhstan, we created a system to give the ball to Hee-won Kim unconditionally during the power play (count advantage due to an opponent’s foul). I passed, and that led to Kim Hee-won’s winning goal, which led to a 2-1 victory.”
The desire to ‘I want to score a goal’ is also necessary for a player.
Coach Kim said, “I’m the type to put pressure on the players, but Kim Tae-yeon rather joked about it, so I can’t do anything about it.”