Column: Despite loss in Olympic opener to Switzerland, Korean women’s hockey team celebrates unity
Reporting from Gangneung, South Korea — In a historic moment whose impact reverberated far beyond the happily noisy confines of Kwandong Hockey Centre, diplomacy took the unusual form of ponytailed hockey players and a squadron of identically dressed cheerleaders who sang and swayed and clapped while a unique occasion unfolded on the ice below them.
The unified women’s hockey team of players from North and South Korea took to the ice amid waving flags and smiles of politicians who have long been bitter opponents. Long after the details of Korea’s 8-0 loss to a sound Swiss team are forgotten, the fact that North and South banded together and wore jerseys depicting a joined Korean peninsula will be remembered as a landmark occasion.
“It definitely was a special moment, debuting as a unified team,” said Korea defenseman Marissa Brandt, who was born in South Korea but was adopted and raised by a couple in Minnesota. She’s known here by her birth name, Park Yoonjung.
“Definitely, a situation as small as this goes, being unified through sport, hopefully that can be a small step to something bigger,” she said. “It’s very special to be a part of.”
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, North Korea’s ceremonial head of state Kim Young Nam and Kim Yo Jong — sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — sat together in the crowd of 3,606, a noteworthy display of the harmony that the Olympics are supposed to create and promote. Afterward, they told players basically to keep their heads up, to look at the bigger picture of the goodwill they are promoting rather than the score of one game.
Three North Koreans played Saturday in the lineup chosen by coach Sarah Murray, daughter of former Kings coach Andy Murray. She said she had not been pressured to play a greater number and chose forwards Kim Un Hyang, Su Hyon Jong, and opening ceremony flag bearer Hwang Chung Gum and put them on different lines.
“I have a lot of control,” said Murray, who has shown great poise in blending players from the South and the North after the arrangement was agreed on only a few weeks ago and players who had been with the team for years were consigned to a practice squad. “I thought that I might get more pushback from the North with who I was picking and who I wasn’t picking, but they’ve been nothing but supportive.”
That included telling one North Korean player she would be scratched from Saturday’s game. Murray said she told the North Korean coach of her decision, and he told her to do what it would take to win.
It was all but certain they wouldn’t win. Switzerland earned a bronze medal in the 2014 women’s Olympic tournament and has many North American-trained players. One of them, Swiss forward Phoebe Staenz of Yale, scored two goals in the second period after teammate Alina Muller had scored four in a row. Staenz said her team was aware of the evening’s historic overtones as the game began but fell into a familiar hockey rhythm and dictated play against the smaller but energetic Koreans.
Still, Staenz believes Korea could soon become competitive despite the score and having been outshot 52-8. “Definitely. They showed it. They had chances,” Staenz said. “I feel like they’re a good team. We were always on our toes anyway. On this stage or this level, you can’t let up.”
No one let up in that game, including the cheerleaders. “They’re very in unison, aren’t they?” Brandt said.
That they were, contributing to a lively atmosphere that players appreciated. “There was a really great energy in the arena tonight. It was nice to have so much support,” said Korea forward Randi Heesoo Griffin, the North Carolina-born daughter of a South Korean mother. “It was nice to have so much support. I think there are some nerves that come from that level of energy in the rink and that many people watching us, but it also was great to feel how many people turned up to support us.”
Griffin said the North Koreans had been accepted on the team. “They’re hockey players. And they showed up,” she said. “In two weeks, they’ve had to digest a lot of new information. And I know that’s been challenging for them, but I have nothing but positive things to say about them as teammates. They work hard, they have a great attitude and they’re doing everything they can to connect with their teammates and learn our systems.”
It will take time for significant improvement to come about, but Murray said the North Korean additions have had a positive impact.
“I think the North Koreans are improving dramatically. The chemistry on the team is better than I could have ever predicted,” she said. “They laugh together, and they eat meals together. The chemistry is really good. I’ll walk into the locker room and they’re laughing together and you can’t tell who’s from the North and who’s from the South. They’re just girls playing hockey.”
Better than that. Those girls became a symbol of hope and harmony.
Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen
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