Redesigned Halla defeat High1

With the Asia League celebrating its tenth year of operation, Anyang Halla found itself with a lot of new faces on the ice.  In 2018 South Korea will host the winter Olympics and in preparation for that event some of the best players are being sent to Finland to participate in the leagues there. The hope being that they will be able to bring something back to Korea to help them improve their program. Gone were many of the heavy hitters that the team had come to rely on. Players like Sang-wook Kim (F, 38 pts), and Min-ho Cho (F, 27 pts) will be hard to replace offensively. The team already had to deal with Ki-sung Kim (F, 41 pts), and Woo-sang Park (F, 34 pts) departing the year before. Defensively they will be missing Don-ku Lee (D, +21), Woo-young Kim (D, +13). Additionally, Alex Kim (F, 32 pts) Han-sung Kim (5 pts), a veteran forward, and Kwon-jae Lee, an occasionally used energy and enforcer have also left the team.

It is not all doom and gloom though. Halla acquired Dong-hwan Kim and Bum-jin Kim from High1, both experienced defenders. Offensively the team has added Dong-min Lee, and Kyung-hun Kim. The team has also added a new foreign import in the form of Mark Derlago. He comes to Halla from the 2nd Bundesliga where he had 44 points in 48 games. The team also received its former starting goalie back from mandatory military service. Ho-sung Song returned after completing his mandatory two year military service for South Korea. The former starting goaltender was sorely missed as current starter Hyun-seung Eum had some rocky moments over the last couple of years.

High1 took to the ice with only a few small changes to their team, most notable of which was the addition of Dong-hwan Song, former Halla superstar. Dong-hwan had a poor showing in his last season with Halla but after a season with the Nikki Ice Bucks he seemed to regain his former superstar level of play totalling 45 points. The other big change of note was the absence of Darcy Mitani who retired at the end of last season.

Halla and High1 have a strong rivalry and the Asia League usually opens the season with the two teams facing each other. The tenth season was to be no different and today the teams faced off in Anyang, South Korea. The game got under way after an opening ceremony feature a laser light show, speeches from the owner of the team and Mayor of Anyang as well as a performance of the national anthem by a couple of young school children. The national anthems are usually only performed as an instrumental at ice hockey games in Korea.

The first period saw Halla getting on the board quickly only 2:55 into the game with Radunske easily finding the back of the net. The only penalty came late in the period to High1. The teams seemed eager and energetic, but spent the first period mainly feeling each other out.

The second period was much faster paced. High1 tied the game 16 minutes into the period, with Halla quickly regaining the lead a short time later only to have High1 tie it up again before the end of the period with a goal from Rick Jackman. Swift, the point leader from last season was already starting his run by scoring both goals for High1. The period also so a flurry of penalties to both teams with eight total being called. While each allowing two goals, both of the goalies seemed to be very sharp making some excellent saves.

In the third period High1 got into heavy penalty trouble, giving up consecutive 5 on 3 opportunities, taking a total of four penalties in just over two minutes. Halla finally found the back of the net as Derlago scored his first goal for his new team. High1 tried to apply pressure, but a bad pass by Young from behind the net to waiting stick of Won-Jung of Halla led to a crushing goal less than a minute later. High1 pulled the goalie, but failed to get any momentum as Halla chewed up the clock. Halla defeated High1 with a final score of 4-2. They will meet again tomorrow night in Anyang.

 

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