Olympia 2018: Ice hockey: South Korea misses sensation at Olympic premiere only slightly

With concentrated support from North America, South Korea has barely missed a sensation at its Olympic ice hockey premiere

With six Canadians and one American in the team, the hosts even led their first appearance in Pyeongchang against the twelve-time world champion Czech Republic, but they had to admit to the favourites, beaten 1:2:2,0:0,0:0,0:0.

The enthusiastic spectators in the Gangneung Hockey Centre, which for the first time was almost completely filled, could even dream of a surprise after the goal of Cho Minho (8th). But Jan Kovar (12th) and Michal Repik (17th) turned the game in favour of the 1998 Olympic champion in the first period. The South Koreans, who were strengthened by seven naturalized North Americans and who had climbed into the top division of the World Cup last year, offered the technically superior Czechs a great battle, even after the backlog.

Record Olympic champion Canada and world champion Sweden started the tournament with safe wins. Even without their NHL stars around Sidney Crosby, the maple leaves at 5:1 (2:0,2:0,1:1) were too big for Switzerland.

The Tre Kronor, with only five world champions from last year in Cologne, also had no problems against Norway at the 4-0 (2-0,0-0,0-2,2-0). The two-time Olympic champion will be the second opponent in the preliminary round on Friday (21.10 a. m. OZ/13.10 CET) of the German national team, who lost 2:5 against Finland at the start.

As in the games of the unified women’s team, the cheerleaders of North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un provided the atmosphere in the arena during the Olympic debut of the South Korean men. They sang, danced and started La Ola. The cheers were particularly high when the blatant outsider, coached by two-time Stanley Cup winner Jim Paek, took the lead. Canadian goalkeeper Matt Dalton, like the other North Americans with dual citizenship, kept his team in the game with strong parades.

Rene Bourque (3rd/25th), Maxim Noreau (8th) and Wojtek Wolski (26th/55th) scored goals for Canada, Simon Moser shortened for Switzerland (48th). For Sweden, Pär Lindholm (6th), Anton Lander (17th), Dennis Everberg (49th) and Mikael Wikstrand (50th) were successful.