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Preparing For Another Great Moment

By Scott Harrington, 02/16/18, 2:45PM EST

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Former Lumberjack Jim Paek Leads Korea in an Olympic-Sized Challenge

"Success is won by those who believe in winning and then prepare for that moment. Many want to win, but how many prepare? That is the big difference."
--- Herb Brooks

Sanghoon Shin collected the puck at center ice and proceeded in a wide, exaggerated sweep as he crossed the blue line – first right, then left – as if trying to lull the Ukrainian goalie Eduard Zakharchenko to sleep.

Just before he reached the top of the circles, Shin put on a burst of speed and quickened his stickhandling.  He skated directly at Zakharchenko, attacking him, before cutting to the right and snapping the puck up under the crossbar just inside the post to the glove side.

Shin circled triumphantly back towards center ice, pumping his fists and skating towards the Korean bench, as his teammates emptied onto the ice.  His goal had just ended the final game of the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship (Division 1 – Group A*) in Kiev.  

The IIHF promotes or relegates teams one or two at a time after each world championship event.  With the extra point the Koreans earned for winning the shootout - on the last play of the last game of the tournament - they tied Kazakhstan for the second and final promotion spot.

With the tie-breaker already in their back pocket, they earned promotion, and claimed a spot at the table with the top hockey-playing nations in the world at the 2018 IIHF World Championships.

It was the most important win in Korean hockey history, and effectively makes Shin the Mike Eruzione of Korean hockey.

*  "Division 1 - Group A" is actually the second flight - what used to be referred to as the "B Pool".  Division 1 - Group B is the third level...The IIHF could use some marketing help.

Many sports careers are defined by a signature moment - moments plural if an athlete is fortunate.  But, as Eruzione can attest, sometimes you only get one.

For Shin, his teammates, head coach Jim Paek, and Korean hockey fans, they have just witnessed one such moment, but there could very well be more on the way very soon.

2018 is shaping up to be a landmark year for Korean hockey.  The team will be participating in the Olympic hockey tournament, as a spot is reserved for the host nation in every event.  But what may have initially sounded like a one-time, made-for-TV novelty act like the Jamaican Bobsled team, or Eddie the Eagle, assumed a different tone with Shin's goal and the promotion that came with it.  The Koreans are climbing the world rankings and making some noise in the IIHF. 

THE GODFATHER OF KOREAN HOCKEY

The man largely responsible for Korea’s improved fortunes on the international hockey stage, and tasked with overseeing their performance at the Pyeongchang Olympics, is former NHL defenseman and Cleveland Lumberjack Jim Paek.

Paek is well-known to hockey fans in Northeast Ohio.  He spent four years towards the end of a 16-year professional career manning the blue line for the Lumberjacks of the International Hockey League (1996-2000), and hoisted the Stanley Cup with Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins not once, but twice (1991 & 1992).

As he skated around the ice with The Cup over his head – at the absolute pinnacle of the hockey world – he probably tried to appreciate that moment, maybe even reflected on the past, but it is safe to assume the furthest thing from his mind was the path on which the game of hockey would eventually take him.

Paek left Cleveland to make a side trip to Houston in 1999, part of a late-season trade along with teammates Jason Ruff and Lane Lambert.  They helped the Aeros win the Turner Cup, giving Paek another ring to go with the ones he collected in Pittsburgh, as a 19-year-old with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in 1987, and with the then-Muskegon Lumberjacks in 1989.

I say "trade", but it's not clear what Lumberjacks owner Larry Gordon received in exchange for three veteran players that contributed to a championship run.  No bodies came back to Cleveland in the deal.

This is a man who once traded veteran Dale DeGray for hotel rooms and another respected player, defenseman Dave Baseggio, for a "player to be named later" that ended up being...Baseggio.

"You have to give up talent to get talent," he quipped upon his return.

After a return to Cleveland for a final year with the Jacks in 1999-2000, Paek found himself in a position every professional athlete faces eventually – staring down the reality of life after playing.

There would be six years between his final season playing at the “AAA” level of the pro ranks and his return to that level as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings’ farm team in Grand Rapids, MI.

“As I was coming to the end of my career I knew I wanted to stay in hockey at any capacity,” said Paek.  “I enjoyed working on skills after practice and taking the younger guys to do those drills and it seemed like a logical transition if I could coach.”

But there are only so many professional coaching, management and full-time scouting positions to go around in the pro ranks.  Not every player can make a seamless transition to life after playing.

Six years is a long time to be wandering, for lack of a better word, trying to find your footing in a post-playing career.  Paek spent four of those years on the ice – three in England and one in Alaska.  Then came another two years transitioning behind the bench - including spending time as an assistant under Ohio high school coaching legend Bob Whidden at St. Edward of Lakewood.  That season would see the Eagles claim their 10th of 11 state championships.

Paek could afford to spend some time working things out but, as time passed and he hadn’t found the right opportunity, it was probably time to start entertaining other options outside of hockey.

Jim's father Bong-hyeon, a doctor who made the decision in 1968 to leave South Korea with his wife and four children, periodically encouraged his son to get a college degree despite his success as a professional athlete, but Jim resisted.

“I really didn't think of other things to do,” he said.  “I wanted to try and stay in the game first after I retired from playing and was blessed to be able to coach in the WHA2 to get my foot in the door.”

Instead of going after a degree, Paek took his first head coaching job with the Orlando Seals of the World Hockey Association 2.

The WHA2, like many fledgling professional hockey leagues, was a great idea on paper...

The Seals were actually a successful team on the ice, but the league was falling apart around it.  The franchise actually competed in three different leagues in a three-year span before ceasing operations for good in 2006 in Kissimmee.  But, despite the off-ice challenges in the WHA2, Orlando provided Paek with a valuable year of professional coaching experience. 

“That transition is always stressful for player, but stress is man-made.” He said.  “I had great people around me supporting me in anything I wanted to do."

While his career path may have temporarily drifted into some unconventional territory after leaving Cleveland, Paek’s personal life was well on track.  He married his wife Kortney in May of 2001.  Daughter Megan was born in January of 2003 and son Kyler followed in February of 2005.

“I am truly blessed to have a family that supports my career,” he said.

Eventually, former Lumberjacks general manager Mike Mudd, who later served as senior vice president of the Cleveland Barons, helped Paek make a connection in Grand Rapids through former Lumberjacks executive Bob McNamara.  It resulted in an interview with Griffins head coach Greg Ireland.

That interview represents yet another pivotal moment in Jim's life, as it resulted in an assistant coaching job in Grand Rapids.  The Griffins are the Detroit Red Wings farm team, making Paek a part of a model NHL organization.  You couldn't ask for a much better environment to learn the ropes.

“I am very thankful to him for giving me an opportunity to coach with him," Paek said of Ireland.

It was the beginning of a nine-year run in Grand Rapids that included winning the American Hockey League's Calder Cup in 2013.

Nine years is a long time to stay in one place in the hockey world, and Paek was ready for a different challenge.  South Korea's successful bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics presented him, not only with the next step in his coaching career, but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. 

He accepted the job as Korea's director of hockey in 2014, but the connection with the country in which he was born went back many years.  He was an ambassador for the game on both sides of the ocean, going to South Korea to run hockey clinics and welcoming youth hockey teams that traveled to Ontario for tournaments.

When he was playing in Cleveland he arranged for Korean hockey executive Yang Seung-jun, now chief officer of the national team, to spend time working in the Lumberjacks front office learning the various aspects of the business side of running a professional hockey franchise.

There are currently fewer than 2,000 boys and girls under 12 years old playing hockey in South Korea, but the Olympics could provide a significant boost.

Your author can speak from experience, he was a very impressionable 10-year-old boy when Eruzione scored his legendary goal against the Soviets in Lake Placid.  It sparked a life-long passion for the game that continues 38 years later.

Some of the elite young players are given development opportunities that include exposure to training in more traditional hockey environments.

“We had young players go to Finland to play and develop which was a great program,” said Paek.  “The more experiences the player gets from other great hockey countries the better for development. We are building relationships with other countries to help develop and grow hockey in Korea.”

OUT FROM UNDER THE WING-ED WHEEL

When he accepted the position, the team was coming off a win-less, last-place finish in the Division 1 - Group A tournament.  They were relegated to the IIHF's third level - the murky depths of the international hockey underworld where they would play the likes of Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, Great Britain and the Netherlands.  That’s the level they found themselves at four years away from Pyeonchang – about as far as you can get from playing against the Czechs and Canadians in the Olympics.

Basically, the Olympic Hockey Tournament is to winning a Stanley Cup with Mario Lemieux as the IIHF 1B tournament is to coaching the Orlando Seals.

The metamorphosis since Paek took charge has been nothing short of remarkable.  A lot of that change was stimulated by Pyeongchang securing the Olympic Games.  Money and resources were poured into many sports – including hockey – but you can put as much money as you want into a team.  That does not mean it will win.  You can’t just snap your fingers and create a pool of talent or the culture necessary to compete in the upper echelon of a niche sport like ice hockey with a small core of super-powers that dominate professionally and internationally.

But the Korean team has moved steadily up the world rankings – and those are determined on the ice.  Scoff at the Olympic berth if you wish, but twelve years ago, the Korean team was ranked 33rd in the world.  Now, they are 19th, with opportunities at the Olympics and World Championships to earn valuable points and climb even higher.

Paek had accepted the appointment with a year left on his contract with the Red Wings, but says Detroit management was understanding of his situation.

Of course, there was an additional logistical challenge that came with running the Korean hockey program – it's in South Korea.  The Paek family was settled, and enjoying life in Grand Rapids, so Jim commuted between Michigan and Seoul for the first two years.

“It was a difficult decision because my family is my Number One priority and easy because if I didn't take the job, Kortney would have killed me,” Jim joked.  “She reminded me that it was a dream of mine to be a part of the Olympics.”

So, 48 years after his own father made the decision to move Jim and the rest of the family from South Korea to Ontario - a life-changing decision for all of them - Jim decided to move his family from Michigan to South Korea.  It was not a decision he took lightly.

“It was difficult to uproot my family right away,” said Paek.  “But they have made the transition very well since coming to Korea.”

Kortney, Megan and Kyler joined Jim in Seoul in July of 2016.  The kids are in their second year of school there - a unique cultural opportunity for a pair of Korean-American kids that they would not otherwise have been afforded.

THE MIRACLE IN KIEV

You can argue the merits of using a shootout to decide a hockey game - any hockey game.  But how about determining who moves up a level in the world championships – or a world junior gold medal which happened in 2017 – with what amounts to hockey’s version of a slam dunk contest?

Just try to imagine the tension on the Korean bench during that game, much less the pressure on Sanghoon Shin as he skated up to the puck and cradled it back and forth - the hockey fortunes of his homeland on the blade of his stick.

2018 will be the first time for any Asian team to play in the top division of the IIHF World Championship since Japan in 2004, when the Asian qualifier had an automatic spot. Korea overtook Japan as the top-ranked Asian nation for the first time in 2016.

“It’s very important for us to be promoted. We get to play against top-division teams and get that experience,” Paek said immediately following the historic win over Ukraine.  “For many years we haven’t been able to play against such countries, so it’s important to get this experience.”

The improvement on the international stage legitimizes Korea’s entry in the Olympic tournament.  Sure, they would not be in the 12-team field without the automatic slot reserved for the host nation, but that is an exception that is made not only in hockey, but in every event. 

Usually it is not an issue, as the host nation for the Winter Olympics more often than not has a strong hockey program, but in 2006 the Italian team was ranked 17th in the world but given a spot in Torino.  They failed to win a game (0-3-2), but competed admirably - although with the help of 11 "passport" players.

The Yugoslavian team was allowed to compete in Sarajevo in 1984 and actually won a game – beating Italy, 5-1.

Japan did not ice a team in either Sapporo (1972) or Nagano (1998) – the first event to include NHL players.

Had the Korean team still been buried in the world rankings, it remains to be seen if they would have been granted a spot in the 12-team field.  Showing improvement in their international results was essential.

“Being promoted to the top division at the world championships showed how hard we worked to absolutely validate that we belong.”

Paek’s contributions to the evolution of Korea as a hockey-playing nation cannot be understated.

“We have a NHL-caliber coach that has won two Stanley Cups heading the team,” said goaltender Matt Dalton, one of seven North American-born players with South Korean citizenship who are on the team.  “We always have the chance to learn something new.”

There was another advantage to somebody like Dalton, who played Division I NCAA hockey at Bemidji State and spent two seasons in the minors, but is still relatively new to Asian hockey and culture.

“I can talk with him in English and discuss various team and game strategies,” he said.

If this team is going to be successful facing up to the immense challenge in front of them, they need contributions from the entire team.  Paek is uniquely positioned, with a foot in each of two disparate worlds, to bring this team together.  He can not only help to ease the transition for the import players, he understands the native Korean players as well. 

It should be noted that 11 of the 13 goals scored by the team at the 2017 IIHF World Championship were scored by Korean skaters.

Sang-Wook Kim is one of the top Korean players on the team.  He was the leading scorer and league MVP in the Asia League last season.  He also scored two goals against Canada in the Channel One Cup in December.

A veteran of seven world championships, Kim singled out detail and focus as two main areas that have improved with Paek at the helm.

“We are much getting better in details like good body position, stick position and angling,” said Kim.  “How to read the game situations, special teams play, defensive zone coverage, These kind of things.”

Paek, who played with Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, and for legendary head coaches Scotty Bowman and Bob Johnson, has surrounded his players with a first-class environment, adding more support staff for team:  managers, physiotherapist, team doctor etc.

“We have a great dressing room, video analyzing system,” Kim continued.  “Now we can focus on the game and that has made a change for us.”

He also brought Richard Park to join his staff as an assistant coach.  Park is the only other Korean-born player to reach the NHL.  He is a veteran of 738 NHL games - mostly with the New York Islanders and Minnesota Wild.

During the 1996-97 season, Larry Gordon effectively cornered the market on Korean hockey talent, as Paek and Park were teammates in Cleveland

DON'T CALL THEM RINGERS

The Korean Olympic Team includes seven imports or “passport” players – a common practice among second-tier hockey nations to help bolster their roster and help with the development of domestic players.

The following players are certainly not ringers in the traditional sense - players with little or no connection to a team that are brought in at the last minute to help them win. 

All of the import players on the Korean Olympic roster have played multiple seasons in the Asia League and two of them were already playing in Korea before Pyeonchang was awarded the 2018 Games.

Matt Dalton – The Korean’s #1 goaltender signed with the Boston Bruins after a big sophomore year at Bemidji State, but went to the Russian KHL after just two seasons in the minors.  Dalton has been with Anyang Halla since 2014 and provided the Korean team with excellent goaltending at the last two world championships.

Alex Plante – A first-round pick (#15 overall) by Edmonton in 2007, Plante spent three seasons on the shuttle between Edmonton and their farm team, appearing in 10 NHL games.  He is in his third season with Anyang Halla.

Eric Regan – This former Oshawa Generals (OHL) captain played three years of minor pro, then two in Germany, before heading to Asia in 2013.  He’s in his third season with Anyang Halla.

Bryan Young – Another Oilers pick, he played 17 games in NHL.  The stay-at-home defenseman has played in the Asia League since 2010.

Brock Radunske – A third-round pick of Edmonton in 2002, Radunske turned pro after three years at Michigan State, but played mostly in the ECHL for three years.  His last pro stop in North America was in GR in 2006-07.  He has played for Anyang Halla since 2008 and has accumulated 485 points in 352 career Asia League games.

Michael Swift – Swift posted a 100-point season as captain of the Niagara IceDogs (OHL) in 2007-08.  He rode the buses in the AHL for three years, then moved to the Asia League in 2011.  He has been a prolific scorer, piling up 503 points in 286 career games.

Mike Testwuide – A member of Anyang Halla since 2013, Testwuide was a four-year player at Colorado College and served as captain his senior year.  He played three seasons of “AAA” pro hockey in the American Hockey League.


Asia Hockey League website

OLYMPIC-SIZED CHALLENGE

Circle your calendars for 7:10 a.m. EST on Thursday, February 15.  Jim Paek will be leading the Korean team onto the ice to face the Czech Republic in the Olympic games.

Four years of work - and in many ways an entire lifetime spent in hockey - have led up to taking his spot behind the bench for that game.

Two days later they will play Switzerland, and then they will wrap up their preliminary schedule the following day against Canada. 

All 12 teams move to the single elimination round, so the Koreans are assured of a fourth game, but will have to earn anything past that the hard way.  Nothing new there.

Some Olympic athletes spend their entire lives training and preparing for a few runs down the bobsled track or two ski jumps or a single run on the downhill course.

For the Korean Olympic hockey team, it's those four games in six days, but what result can possibly be expected?

“Our strength is we work extremely hard,” Paek said when asked to analyze his team.  “Our weakness is the lack of high-level international competition.”

Dalton brought up that same word – "work" – when asked for his take on the team.

“The native Korean players have a lot of raw skate speed and energy,” said the former Boston Bruins farmhand.  “I see a lot of them working really hard together as a group rather than focusing on their individual skills. Every time we go out there as a team and we’re working hard it makes my job a lot easier as I can focus just on keeping the puck out of my net.”

And he’s not kidding when he says they are fast.  You can go on YouTube and watch recent IIHF events and that is one thing that will likely jump out at you.  They are a quick team for sure.  Shin's shootout goal is Exhibit A.

Although the men’s hockey team was largely spared the political interference some of the other teams experienced – the women’s hockey team for example – There were other outside forces that impacted the men’s side of the tournament. 

Part of the Olympic Dream for Paek was the anticipation of watching his team go up against the Alexander Ovechkins, Connor McDavids and Erik Karlssons of the world, but that did not come to pass as the NHL decided not to to send their players.

“Of course, it was disappointing to find out I was not to be able to coach against the great NHL players,” Paek admitted.  “I know it was disappointing to the players too.”

Did it also create a problem of managing expectations?  Just because the NHLers are not going to be there does not greatly increase the prospects of the Korean squad advancing or winning a medal.  They are up against it either way.

They fell, 8-1, to Russia in their final pre-Olympic tune-up last week but, then again, the Soviets thrashed Team USA 10-3 a week prior to Lake Placid.

“All I know is there are great hockey players all over the world that will participate and the competition will be fierce,” he said.  “Of course, the expectations rise but also with the understanding that these countries still have many great players.”

KOREAN OLYMPIC SCHEDULE

PRELIMINARY ROUND

Thursday, February 15
vs. Czech Republic

Saturday, February 17
vs. Switzerland

Sunday, February 18
vs. Canada

QUALIFICATION ROUND
Tuesday, February 20

QUARTERFINAL ROUND
Wednesday, February 21

SEMIFINALS
Friday, February 23

BRONZE MEDAL GAME
Saturday, February 24

GOLD MEDAL GAME
Sunday, February 25

Click here for full schedule


IIHF Olympic Hockey website

WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTER

"Great moments are born from great opportunities."
--- Herb Brooks

While the Olympic tournament may be the only thing the casual sports fan remembers about Korean hockey years from now, the story will extend past this week-long event. 

The truth is, all of that work was not just for four games in the spotlight at the Olympics.  Here’s the twist from an international hockey purist standpoint – the 2018 IIHF World Championship event in Denmark, May 4-20, is actually a much bigger deal.  That event will consist of a larger sampling of games (7-10) and the Koreans will be playing at a level of competition that their play on the ice brought them to - no automatic hosting bid.

"It will be a good test to evaluate Korean hockey," said Kim.

Paek agrees.

“In all sports, the Olympics is the grand stage,” he admitted.  "But the World Championship is more of a grind on the players."

So, in many ways, Pyeongchang is just the beginning.

Asked if the dramatic shootout win over Ukraine last spring was the biggest moment in Korean hockey history, Kim actually replied in the negative, preferring to look forward.

"Definitely not," he said.  "I believe that Korean hockey has the potential to make a bigger success in the future and promotion in the world championships is just a small part of it."

"It's not the end of the story," he added.  "It could be the beginning of the story."

The road won't get any easier.  The groupings for the Worlds have already been determined.  The Koreans will face off with the likes of Team USA, Canada and Finland – three of the heaviest hitters in international hockey.

But maybe the next great moment in Korean hockey will happen in one of those games - the next in a series of moments that have all led to the next in Jim's very unique story:

Bong-hyeon Paek deciding to move his family from South Korea to Ontario in 1968...Jim, the first Korean-born player in the NHL holding the Stanley Cup over his head...landing a coaching job in the Detroit Red Wings organization...Pyeongchang being awarded the Olympics and setting his two hockey worlds on a collision course...Shin's shootout goal...stepping behind the bench Thursday to coach against the Czech Republic in the first game of the Olympics.

But, as Kim suggests, maybe the defining moment in Korean hockey history has not happened yet.  Maybe it will come in the near future.

Maybe it will come this week.