It is a challenge complicated by cultural mores as foreign as the Korean alphabet to the North Americans, who recognize that Koreans do not like to lose, especially by lopsided scores that could cause chemyeon, or loss of face. The imports, as the North American men are commonly called, feel an urgency to make the national team more competitive on the world stage. The Korea Ice Hockey Association has a four-year, $20 million plan to accelerate the development of its men’s and women’s national teams. The reality of it is one of Team Canada’s player salaries is probably the entire budget we have for players’ salaries and everything for the Olympic run.” “They think, ‘We brought you guys in here so we can compete with Canada,’ and that’s where it’s hard. “There’s a lot of people in Korea who aren’t as educated about the game they don’t really know what we’re up against,” said Testwuide, who signed an entry-level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers and played for the Adirondack Phantoms and Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League before moving to Korea. That was how long he needed to gauge his comfort level with two prospects: Could he hold his right hand over his heart during the playing of a national anthem that was not “The Star-Spangled Banner” and not feel like an impostor - or a traitor? And how would one of the world’s most homogeneous cultures react to a towering, pale-skinned forward representing them on the world stage? But it took him a week to agree to become the first men’s hockey player to become a dual citizen of the United States and the Republic of Korea. The prospect of joining the Olympic fraternity thrilled the 30-year-old Testwuide. On a men’s squad that includes players with a wide range of abilities, Testwuide, a strapping 6-foot-5 center out of Colorado College, offers the big, physical presence in short supply here. Mike Testwuide, a Colorado native, was approached by the national team coach, Jim Paek, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, during his second season with Anyang Halla of the Asia League.
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They offered naturalization to a handful of players from the United States and Canada - none of whom have any Korean ancestry. She is now a forward on South Korea’s national team.įor the men’s team, they recruited several North Americans playing on one of the three South Korea-based teams in the Asia League.
“I never dreamed this would happen,” said Danelle Im, who was born in Toronto to Korean parents and was attending Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario in 2012 when she received the curious email. But hockey here is an afterthought, so the country had to get creative if it wanted to field teams that would not be humiliated. They were on a shopping spree to assemble Olympic hockey teams from scratch for the 2018 Winter Games.Īs the host of the next Olympics, next February in Pyeongchang, South Korea has automatic berths in the men’s and women’s ice hockey competitions, which are premier events at any Winter Games. Officials in South Korea had apparently scoured online rosters for North American college hockey programs, looking for women with last names that looked as if they might be Korean.
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SEOUL, South Korea - Some female college students received emails a few years ago that sounded like a phishing scam, offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for free travel and a spot on South Korea’s Olympic women’s hockey team.
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