SA: Hello and welcome to Hwa-ting sports! I am Mr.S.
PM: And I’m Paul.
SA: And we are the hosts of Hwa-ting Sports podcast. We focus on sports played in South Korea, their history and other things of interest. You can find this podcast on Spotify and other spots, and show notes on our website, when we make one.
PM: We’re long-time residents who’ve lived here for decades and we’ve been to sooo many sporting events! That makes us your go-to source on all the sports in Korea you shake your training sword at! With that, 1, 2, 3 Hwa-ting!
SA: (record scratch sound) A quick update- due to a schedule change, we are covering a different topic today. The Yon-Ko games we talked about last week will be covered on Sept 27th.
PM: We apologize for any error, though it wasn’t our fault. They usually play before Chuseok but this year it’s after Chuseok. The perils of an early Korean Thanksgiving
SA: And on to the show (reverse record scratch sound).
SA: Today’s sport is the easiest sport to cover, Mr. P!
PM: Why’s that, Mr. S?
SA: There’s only 1 team in the whole country!
PM: So…it’s a national team?
SA: No, and yes.
PM: Well which one is it? You sound like we’re looking in boxes to see if Schrodinger's Cat is dead or alive.
SA: Also like the physics experiment, this sport has been declared dead and alive multiple times! We’re talking about one of your favorite sports!
PM: Competitive music criticism?
SA: What? Try again.
PM: Dunking on conservative grifters who pretend they’re still on the left? Those people are the worst.
SA: Not quite.
PM: Uh…I don’t know. Making fun of earnest ESL teachers here in Korea? I give up!
SA: No. I’m referring to ice hockey!
PM: Of course. Just to be clear, it used to be my favourite sport. Nowadays my affection for it sort of comes and goes. But I’m always happy to talk about it. But let's just get a couple things out of the way. First, it’s a myth that all Canadians like hockey.
SA: I’m sure there’s a colony of hockey haters somewhere in the wilds of the Yukon.
PM: Well, that’s every bit as likely as the “immigrants to Canada either don’t like it or don’t understand it” explanation you sometimes hear when discussing the decline in hockey’s popularity. Pure hogwash. It’s no different than when the majority of people migrating to Canada hailed from Britain, France or other parts of Europe: some really get into it, others don’t. Just like the native population as a matter of fact. Which brings us to a final point about hockey in Canada: not everyone plays it. I played street hockey, floor hockey and even dabbled in underwater hockey but never played organized hockey on ice. Disorganized ice hockey? A wee bit. I’d rather watch than play.
Background
PM: Before we begin, how did you get into hockey, Mr. S? Does it pretty much boil down to San Jose getting an NHL franchise in the early nineties?
SA: Pretty much, I hadn’t learned much about ice hockey until then though I had heard of Wayne Gretzky, and one player who was Swedish and liked fighting all the time. Ulf something…
PM: I think you’re referring to Ulf Samuelsson. Dirty bugger but every team would’ve wanted him.
SA: NOT San Jose!
PM: Of course not. The Sharks were far too virtuous for a thug like him. Bryan Marchment was as far as they’d go in that direction. Also Owen Nolan. Oh and Ron Stern. But no other goons to speak of. Ulf was smart because he’d know when to fight and when to turtle.
SA: Anyway, it wasn’t covered much on TV so I only really saw games when they were playing better teams. A few years later, FOX got the rights and they had a glowing puck for a season.
PM: In my case, I’m Canadian and so it’s my birthright. What a load of drivel. No, I got into hockey when I was 5 and it was mainly down to the trading cards and, especially, the O-Pee-Chee sticker books, which we used to call The Hockey Book. I was too young to care about watching hockey on TV though. It was not unlike my contemporaneous interest in Star Wars which had far more to do with the Kenner action figures than the movies.
SA: I’m sure you played Blades of Steel on NES at least once. That game was made by programmers who watched hockey once on cable and didn’t bother to learn anything else.
PM: Oh absolutely but that wasn’t until I was 12 or 13 because I never had a game system growing up. By then I’d been a hockey fan for several years. No, the only hockey-related game I played was classic table top hockey which I got for Christmas one year. Say what you will about Blades of Steel but having the whole arena go dark while a spotlight was placed on the two players in a fight is an idea that the NHL should have gone with a long time ago. And I don’t even like fighting in hockey.
SA: Fighting was heavily promoted on all the NHL on ESPN slash FOX ads at the time. But anyway, we’re here to talk about Korean hockey!
History of ice hockey in Korea until 97 financial crisis, HL Anyang surviving the fall, joining the ALhockey,
PM: I like to think that every country that backed the South in the Korean War left something behind. The Americans brought Spam, the Turkish brought Islam (“It didn’t take but it was worth a try!”) and the Canadians brought ice hockey. As I say, I like to think this even if it has no basis in reality. I wonder if the support of the Danes was instrumental in Lego’s popularity over here.
SA: Actually, ice hockey got started during the occupation days. According to International Hockey Wiki, the first recorded game was between Yonsan Railway Club of Seoul and the Tokyo University team in 1928. Let’s tab that Danes theory for a future Korean Toys podcast.
PM: It’ll be called Oppa 장난 Style.
SA: I know how we’ll begin that episode- clutching our feet because we stepped on your nephew’s legos! Anyway, ice hockey in Korea was mainly an amateur sport until the 90s, when the Korean Ice Hockey League got its start. There were college teams in the league, teams sponsored by companies including one that needed good press. And our subject, Mando Winia, which would later become Halla.
PM: When did the league fold? Since it’s not around anymore.
SA: Like many things in Korea, the Asian financial crisis sent the league’s founders into a tailspin. Both it and the Japanese league shut down at the same time. But from the ashes of two leagues, one would rise. Asian League Ice Hockey, with teams in Japan and Korea.
PM: A rare and fairly successful example of Japanese-Korean unity. It’s been around since 2004, which doesn’t seem that long ago. But it’s a plucky league, having survived another financial crisis, earthquakes, and the pandemic - not to mention fickle fans. Attendance seems to be up at the moment but who knows how long that will last.
SA: It’s a survivor, that’s for sure. We’d play the famous Destiny’s child song, but ain’t no way we’re able to afford the rights for it.
PM: Plus, I don’t really like it. I always preferred that one in which they just repeat the title over and over again until it drives you crazy. What’s that one called? Oh I know, every Destiny’s Child song!
SA: Says the guy who listens to The Beach Boys.
PM: Touche. Let’s just say the ALIH is the league that refuses to die, at least in part due to nobody else being around to challenge it.
3 teams in Korea & China Sharks era, then sakhalin rivals anyang halla. Post Covid era.
SA: Korea’s lone surviving pro team the Anyang Halla joined the league in 2004, and it struggled out of the gate. But its fortunes improved when they brought in Otakar Vejvoda from Czechia to coach the team in 2005. They jumped up to 2nd place and made the playoffs.
PM: Not to mention they were aided by several weaker teams joining the league at that time.
SA: Yes, they played a bit more games against the two China teams and the second Korean team the Kangwon High1. High1 was based in Kangwon Land, but played their games all over the place in Chuncheon, Goyang, and Mokdong stadium in Seoul.
PM: They were the Oakland A’s of ice hockey. Although I think that title would belong to Utah’s currently nameless club, right?
SA: Constantly on the move, never getting the trophy. But hey, they never had sewer leaks in their stadium!
PM: The Korean military added their team the Daemyung Sangmu to the league in 2014, and they took second place. Best start to a league I’ve ever seen, until the Vegas-bloody-Golden-bloody-Knights a few years later. I never actually saw them play in the flesh. Did you?
SA: While they didn’t have any foreign players on the team, they had motivation.
PM: I wonder if their drill instructor yelled at them before games? If you give up a short-handed goal, you do a gasser in practice?
SA: Whatever they decided to change next season, it didn’t work because the team went into 7th place. Probably ran too many gassers.
PM: A decade ago there were as many as 9 teams, including the lowly China Sharks. They were in a partnership with the San Jose Sharks for a year, but nothing really came of it other than losses. Lots and lots of losses. I think they’d just about manage one point a season from an overtime loss. And I thought the Quebec Junior Hockey League’s first American team the Plattsburg Pioneers were woeful. Fun fact: that team was so awful that they folded early on in their maiden season and then the league decided that games against them retroactively wouldn’t count.
SA: Not surprisingly they got worse when the Sharks ended their partnership, even going 4 straight seasons without a win. Statistically speaking they were worse than Prairie View A&M’s 77 straight losses.
PM: I bet the other teams loved playing them. Practically a guaranteed win. Hell even our friend’s weekend ice hockey team would probably be a significant challenge. The China Sharks were notable for being the club that notorious pest Claude Lemieux started off his aborted comeback with. He played in two games and had an assist, so he was probably one of their leading scorers that year.
SA: While the Sharks and other Chinese teams floated around the bottom, Anyang Halla rose to the top of the league! Buoyed by imported players like Ric Jackman, Brock Radunske, Mike Testwuide, Alex Plante, and Matt Dillon, Halla won the championship 8 times, including two 3-peats! That’s Chicago Bulls' level of winning right there. It wasn’t until PSK Sakhalin of Russia joined the league that Halla got serious competition. Sakhalin even beat Halla to win the championship.
PM: The Killer Whales playing out of Mokdong were also good for a while. They took first place away from Halla once. A pity that they folded just before COVID. But a further note on High1 before I forget. They had a really good center called Michael Swift who was always scrappy. He used to get penalized a lot.
SA: Yeah we called him “Shifty Swifty”. He got into many scraps on the ice, a few of which you can see on Youtube.
PM: He started at High1 then moved to the Killer Whales towards the end of his career. A pity that he never played for Halla. Well, can’t be too surprised since most of his recorded fights are against them.
SA: Yeah we went from 3 Korean teams to one after COVID, and now the league’s down to 5 teams.
PM: I have a soft spot for the league’s newest team, the Yokohama Grits. They’re the drizzling shits. There’s a t-shirt that needs to be made.
Our experiences at games. Where to go to games and learn about the league (Halla games, college games, the websites, the youtube channel, AL Hockey streaming site is bad right now)
SA: We’ve been to a few games over the years. Most recently in January.
PM: That was my first game in about 10 years. It was quite a surprise to go from a half-full arena in 2014 to the jam-packed barn in Anyang that greeted us the last time. Your anal retentive desire to book tickets in advance once again paid off. It’s almost as if you’re a lot better than me at this kind of thing.
SA: I don’t know if you were at this particular game years ago, but I recall a long stoppage because something happened on the ice and the referees got confused. The delay went on for so long that the players started skating around the ice to stay warm. I believe it took over 20 minutes to figure out what to do.
PM: I remember a controversial play in which the refs consulted with the coaches, called a penalty on one player, changed their minds, then they put Michael Swift in the box. Swift shouted What the Fuck Did I Dooo? And hit his stick against the box. We all roared with laughter. Then a fan shouted “It’s because they’re racists! They hate you because you’re white!”
SA: *laughter* While I can’t dismiss the statement out of hand, I don’t even recall him being close to the play in question.
PM: That guy was sitting right in front of us and, like me, I recall he had Calgary Flames gear on. Something tells me “they hate you because you’re white” is something he says an awful lot in Korea. Just a hunch.
SA: It wouldn’t surprise me at all.
PM: We should say that when we first saw Swifty, it was a special series that Anyang Halla and High 1 hosted that weekend. Two games for the price of one. High 1 played a Japanese team, then Halla played another. The next day, they swapped opponents. The more discerning hockey fans in Korea could’ve gone to see four games spread over two days. I believe you and Ms. K went to the Saturday games and then met up with me the next day for the first Sunday match before you two headed home?
SA: Right. Three games was enough for us.
PM: I was just at the Sunday games. Being such a nice arena, it was freezing in there so I went for a coffee between games to warm up.
SA: While it may seem obvious to listeners that hockey rinks ought to be cold, NHL arenas put much more importance on the comfort of fans. They are paying enough for tickets.
PM: I have it on good authority that those warm NHL arenas are terrible to play in. With the ALIH down to just five squads and only one in Korea, the double-header is a thing of the past but hopefully it will make a comeback when and if a second team is granted. But given the packed house last January, perhaps they don’t need to have such special offers.
SA: And less is more.
PM: So anyway, where can fans go to watch games? Obviously this is not a hard answer.
SA: Fans in Korea can go to HL games at Anyang Ice Arena in where else but Anyang. Closest subway stop is Line 4 Beomgye and a 30 minute walk or 20 minute bus ride, or about 40 minutes from Anyang station. They play from September to March with playoffs around the middle of March. I wonder if they start the season relatively early so as to avoid having to compete with the baseball season, but it could be related to basketball teams needing the domes as well. Or they might need extra time because of national team commitments.
PM: You can get tickets at the door or on Ticketlink. I recommend it in advance because there is a chance of sellouts as we recently experienced. And where’s a good place to find information on the league?
SA: Go to Asiaicehockey dot com but don’t go to alhockey dot com because that site hasn’t been updated since COVID. The current site is in Japanese but your browser should autotranslate to English. On there you can see upcoming games, find player and team stats, and watch highlights from their Youtube channel.
PM: What’s the deal with their media rights? What network covers the team?
SA: The league website had 3 streaming plans as of last season. Dunno about this season- last season’s info is still on the site even though the season starts in three weeks.
PM: You’d figure they’d have that resolved well in advance.
SA: Yeah considering the amount of revenue the streaming service can bring in. At any rate, they have a season pass that’s roughly 150 thousand, a monthly pass of 24 thousand, and single game viewing for 8 thousand won as of last season. You will need a credit card set up for international purchases. You’d have to be a super fan or a scout to want the season pass.
PM: Not a fan of the Japanese teams?
SA: Not especially, though I have met teachers who once taught in Japan and went to games.
PM: And what TV network covers the team?
SA: Your guess is as good as mine. SBS sports has covered the league in the past, but there’s no word on whether they will this season. So, I’d start there. The September schedule hasn’t been made yet, so I’d check Naver Sports or the SBS website for details when the season starts. It’s a shame that they don’t show games on Naver TV anymore.
PM: Yeah Naver TV was handy back in the day.
SA: While Naver isn’t so helpful there are a few sites that are. One is icehockeystream dot net which is a fan-run site. It’s pretty helpful with team pages, schedules, and other things in translated Japanese. Another one I liked was OnTheSports youtube channel. They’ve got video highlights and podcasts, along with video clips from national federation hockey events. And finally if you’re looking for statistics, I suggest EliteProspects dot com since they have some player statistics in English, including nationality and a ‘where are they now feature’.
PM: So, let’s finish this part up with some speculation on pro hockey’s future in Korea. Do you think a second team will return to AILH, either in Gangwondo, Mokdong or another part of this country?
SA: Hard to say in this economy, though I shouldn’t say it’ll never happen. Seeing as how the Gangneung ice arena still gets used for amateur games.
PM: They shouldn’t rush into it though. With just 5 clubs left they need to focus on stability.
SA: I think once the Russian invasion is over, Sakhalin will rejoin the league.
PM: Bold prediction time: within 20 years we’ll start to see East Asian-trained players enter the NHL. A Japanese player may be the first but at some point there will be a Korean.
SA: Whoa! What makes you say so?
PM: I think it’s just the way hockey is headed. I believe there will be an NHL player from the UK before long as well. And no, I don’t mean someone born in Gwangju or Guilford but who grew up in Guelph or Greensboro, because we’ve had players like this already. Anze Kopitar coming from the hockey backwater of Slovenia and being a sure fire hall-of-famer signaled changes ahead. Also Leon Draisaitl being from Germany which has a pretty modest hockey tradition.
SA: As long as the hockey federation exists, it could happen. Nowadays there is a weekend league and school tournaments. We’ll talk about those more on the Ice sports episode.
Ending segment- any famous players we heard about.
SA: Guess what? We’re starting a new final segment that doesn’t involve terrible people!
PM: Finally! I was worried we were gonna get a reputation for being grumpy.
SA: How much is that my fault?
PM: 100%. You write the segments, I just riff off of you.
SA: That’s only because so many of them grind our gears! Fortunately, we don’t have many negative sports stories to cover this week. (Whisper: Badminton Korea Association, you’re next). We can actually focus on famous athletes for once.
PM: You go first.
SA: As I was reading up on the hockey league, I read about a coach who brought the joy of hockey to Korea. See, hockey had been here for a while in Korea, but the style of play was very robotic and individualistic according to Manos Volikakis. While working at Chadwick Intl School, he started an ice hockey team and created practice sessions at affordable prices and set kids of all ages and gender up with free gear, all thanks to his love for the game. Or in his words, “[because] hockey is religion, a lifestyle.” After a few seasons, the team became popular and parents begged him to put their kids on the team. In 2020 his team made it to the big time- the PeeWee tournament in Quebec. There they played their hearts out and got to experience hockey as it was meant to be- with joy and cheering crowds. It’s an inspirational expat story. Who doesn’t want to bring something joyous from home to our new countries? Sniff…
PM: You’re not going to start crying, are you?
SA: …nooo… Anyway, you can read up on his story at Medium. Link’s in the…snifff…description,
PM: OK, mr waterworks. My turn. So, I was going to talk about the diminutive goaltender we saw back in 2013 until I realised that he was on the Nippon Paper Cranes and not a member of the club formerly known as Anyang Halla and, thus, doesn’t qualify. He was barely taller than the crossbar and like a lot of small goalies he had a knack for making routine saves look spectacular. Oh the heyday of the Battle of Alberta when you could see a duel between sub-six footers Grant Fuhr and Mike Vernon over who could over-embellish their stops rather than the trifle matter of winning a freaking game. Tip of the hat to our height-deprived Japanese friend who remains nameless - because I couldn’t be arsed about finding his name.
SA: And the Korean pro player you’d like to wax poetic over?
PM: I'm going to have to go with 김원중, a now retired player who toiled mostly for Halla but also had spike season during that first year for Daemyung Sangmu putting up the best stats of his career and finishing third on the team in scoring. Though his production was otherwise pretty ordinary he nonetheless made the 2018 Winter Olympic Team. My reason for choosing him is far less inspirational than your pick but it could’ve turned out differently. Picture it: he’s a rugged hockey player accustomed to manly pursuits; she’s a delicate figure skater who can’t stand these brutes with sticks; they argue over ice time as the arena they train at has been double-booked; but slowly they grow close and love blossoms. Of course, there’s no way this is how he and Kim Yuna actually met but this is how the movie of their lives would have gone. It could’ve been this country’s answer to The Cutting Edge, that rarest of Winter Olympics movies which doesn’t involve loveable losers at the 1988 Calgary Games.
SA: So, I take it they aren’t together anymore?
PM: No, she married an opera singer, I think. For someone who is still in way too many commercials, the public doesn’t know a great deal about The Queen.
SA: Good on her for keeping a low profile.
PM: I know, right? But that potential film of their romance is the one thing I wish we could’ve got from their relationship. What do you think of Love on Ice as a possible title?
SA: No, that’s no good. How about Rink Rats: A Love Story?
PM: I know! Two for Roughing! Nice one, eh guv’nor?
SA: Maybe it’s for the best that they didn’t stay together.
Ending
PM: Thank you for tuning in today. Please share this podcast with your friends & family, anyone you think would be interested in knowledgeable takes on all Korean Sports.
SA: Especially give this to rookies. They need alllll the help they can get.
PM: Don’t forget to rate our podcast, if the site you’ve got has a rating system. But don’t do it if you don’t like us.
SA: You can email the show at hwatingsportspodcast at gmail.com or leave a comment on our various podcast sites. Hate mail will be read aloud on special episodes and ruthlessly mocked.
PM: Fan mail will be mocked but in a more wholesome way.
SA: Our next episode will be Sept 20, and we’re going to cover the next minor leagues- Volleyball and Handball. Don’t forget to protect your face!
PM: And wrists!
SA:
PM:
SA: Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to our live-in cycling expert James! Until then, sports fans! Have a happy and relaxing summer vacation!
PM: Guests of the Hwa-ting Sports Podcast stay with the Barraclough family of Penticton, BC. They’ve been billeting young hockey players for decades and have been named the family least likely to expose youngsters to alcohol, drugs, hazing, sex and violence seven years running by Freightful Hockey Moms magazine. Enjoy Dana Barraclough’s wonderful casseroles and play endless games of crokinole in the family rumpus room.
Notes
https://medium.com/@brentyoo/from-one-man-to-a-nation-a-spark-of-ice-hockey-in-korea-b342a6fa733c
Asia League Ice Hockey - Wikipedia
https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/asia-league
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea_men%27s_national_ice_hockey_team